Alistair Richard Griffin,
(born 1 November 1977
in Middlesbrough
, England
), is an
English singer/songwriter
and musician. Already an established
songwriter, he first became famous as a solo
artist through his appearances on the
BBC
television show
Fame Academy 2 in
2003, where he was "spotted" and championed by
Robin Gibb of the
Bee
Gees. He subsequently had two top twenty hit singles and a top
twenty album in the UK. In 2007 he received worldwide press
coverage for his adaptation of
Leonard
Cohen's "
Hallelujah" as a tribute to
football player,
Mark Viduka.
Early career
Alistair
Griffin started singing and writing songs whilst still a student at
York St John College (now York
St John University), playing guitar and busking on the streets of York
with a small
band. His wide musical influences range from
classic rock and 'Britpop', to English and American
folk music.
After
graduating with a BA in English
Literature (and following a brief stint working as a milkman around his home town, during which he
crashed his milk float), he moved to
London
to pursue a career as a singer/songwriter.
In 2001,
as vocalist with the pop/rock band 'Sugartown', he performed in
front of 70,000 people at the Leeds
Party in the Park. The following
year, he and his sometime songwriting partner, Stuart Hanna (now
part of
folk duo Megson) formed the band,
Pulse, and co-wrote the song 'Fade Away' (having recorded the song
on an 8-track in Hanna's bedroom) and entered it for the 2002
Song for Europe competition on
BBC Radio 2. The song was shortlisted,
and a performance by Pulse was broadcast, but it failed to reach
the finals.
Griffin was briefly a member of
Ultra and spent some time working in
Germany with
DJ Sammy. It was widely
reported that he auditioned for the boyband,
Blue, only narrowly failing to make it to
the final line-up, but Griffin later dismissed this as a
fabrication by the press. Although signed by music publisher
Trevor Horn's company, "
Perfect Songs", he was unable to get a solo
recording contract and in 2002, he applied to become a contestant
on the first series of
Fame
Academy.
Fame Academy
Griffin reached the final audition stage of
Fame Academy 1 on his first attempt in 2002,
but was not chosen to appear on the show. He re-applied for a place
on
Fame Academy 2 the following year
and was voted through by the public with the highest vote of the
preliminary round. Despite harsh criticism every week from
‘Headmaster’
Richard
Park who called him "bland" and his voice "nasal", his dogged
determination, comic impersonations and cheerful disposition behind
the scenes, as well as his camaraderie and duetting with fellow
student
James Fox, attracted the
attention and the votes of many viewers of the live TV streaming
programmes. The vocal coaches criticised both his voice and image,
calling them "unoriginal", "unidentifiable" and "boybandish";
however, guest judge,
Robin Gibb of the
Bee Gees said Griffin had a "unique talent"
as a vocalist and songwriter, an "ideal recording voice" with "an
engaging vocal tone". His technically-accomplished live
performances and proven songwriting ability gradually gained him
the support of the public. As the final approached, he was dubbed
the "
dark horse" of the show by
BBC Three presenter,
Claudia Winkleman [200073], and eventually finished in second
place.
The final showdown was screened live and generated so many angry
messages from viewers claiming bias that the BBC were forced to
close down their
Points of
View message boards.
Daniel
Bedingfield, who duetted with both finalists, later made a
public apology to Griffin for his behaviour, particularly for his
outburst that people should "just vote for
Alex".(This incident received considerable press
coverage and was the subject of one of the questions in the 2003
Observer Music Monthly Magazine
Christmas Quiz)
[200074] The actual voting figures have never
been publicly released.
A new direction
During 2004, Griffin performed live at over 50 gigs up and down the
UK and appeared on numerous television programmes, including
Top of the Pops and
Liquid News. In March of that year he also
competed in the European 'WorldBest' competition in Cannes, singing
live with
Phil Collins.
The live performances of his own material that he gave throughout
that year, singing
acoustically and
with the backing of a regular 5-piece band, Riccardi, showed a
marked difference from the generic 'pop' approach of his record
company. After parting from UMTV he abandoned his record company's
'
pop style' backing tracks and his former
'
boyband' image.
In the autumn, he supported
Robin Gibb on
his 'Magnet' tour of Germany, opening each concert with an acoustic
set of his own songs, playing guitar and accompanied on keyboards
by long-time friend and fellow musician, Simon Waggott (Waggo), as
well as joining Gibb on stage to duet on 'My Lover's Prayer'. On
his return he released an independent recording of his live
performances in Germany, which he showcased at a series of sell-out
concerts in the North of England.
A former junior
tennis champion, he played
tennis and also performed with Riccardi in Sir
Cliff Richard's pro/celebrity Tennis
Tournament in December 2004.
During 2005 Griffin continued to perform live, both solo and with
Riccardi, but split with them later that year. He moved back to
York and although there were rumours of a new recording deal,
nothing materialised. In November he assembled a new backing band
and performed his first London gig for over a year at
The Bedford, where he showcased several new
compositions.
Early in 2006 he announced that he would no longer be pursuing a
solo career, and would be concentrating on working and writing with
his new band, Albion. For some time he performed solo only at
charity events and small local venues. At the beginning of 2007 he
also set up his own recording studio called oakwood near York. When
interviewed shortly after disbanding Albion in August 2007, he
confirmed his intention to resume recording and performing as a
solo artist, although he has since performed several times at
society weddings and other functions as well as at charity
concerts, fronting his covers band, Blue Nun.
In September 2007 Griffin joined other celebrities, fans and
professional players to play for the Middlesbrough team in the week
long, seven a side, charity football contest,
Sky One Premier
League All Stars. He scored the winning goal in the last 30
seconds of the final against
West
Ham, ensuring that Middlesbrough gained the trophy and two
local Teesside charities benefited from the first prize of
£100,000.
[200075]
As well as pursuing various other projects he is currently writing
and recording material for his next solo album. He performed
several of these brand new songs live with his own (unnamed)
backing band in May 2008, during a short tour of smaller venues in
the UK supporting recently signed indie band
Ivyrise.
In August
2008 he headlined the Truck Stage at H2008:Beached festival in
Scarborough
and is also booked to return there for Acoustic
Gathering 111 in September. New UK tour dates with Ivyrise
have also been announced for September as well as an additional
appearance at the Grand Opera House, York.
In December 2008 he made an impromptu appearance with David Smith
and The Mojos.
Albion
In April 2006, Griffin announced that he would shortly be forming a
new band, Albion, which was launched in July.
[200076] The initial lineup proved
unsuccessful, with
James and Tom
Martin leaving a few months later to form another
indie band, The Station Club. At the end of
2006, Alistair Griffin (guitar and vocals) and
Walter Laybourne (drums), were joined by
Paul Banks (ex
Shed Seven) (guitars and keyboard) and Paul
'Foda' Fothergill (bass). Despite writing and recording numerous
songs together and releasing several free download tracks, Albion
split up abruptly in August 2007 for reasons which were not made
public. When interviewed, Griffin commented “Things weren’t working
out the way we anticipated and it seemed the right time to call it
a day".
[200077]
Recordings
In 1999-2000, Griffin recorded several demos of his own
compositions which were made available online at Songmanagement.com
[200078]. These have never been officially
released.
In 2002 he recorded the football anthem "Stand Up" which was
included in the compilation album
Boro Songs - The Sound Of The
Riverside.
Several covers he recorded for the Fame Academy programme were
released as download only tracks by the BBC during the course of
the show in 2003. These were also included in the compilation
albums
Fame Academy "Bee Gees Special" and
Fame
Academy - The Finalists also released in 2003.
In October 2003 Griffin signed a record deal with
UMTV and at the end of December released his first
single, "
Bring It On";
a double A-side also featuring 'My Lover's Prayer', a duet with
Robin Gibb. Although it received very little airplay, it was voted
#1 for 6 consecutive weeks on the music TV channel '
The Box' and reached the top 5 in
the
UK singles chart. On 9 January
2004, he was therefore able to fulfil one of his lifetime ambitions
to appear live on
Top of the
Pops.
In January 2004, he released his debut album , also titled
Bring It
On , featuring mainly self-penned songs. This charted at
number 12 in the UK album charts. His second single,
You and Me reached the top 20 but
Griffin parted with both his record company and management soon
afterwards.
In late 2004 he released an independent solo CD, "Live in Germany",
featuring live recordings of the acoustic set he performed in
Germany while supporting Robin Gibb. This included "Bring it On",
"You and Me (Tonight)", "In Your Smile" and "I Have Lived" with a
cover of "I Can't Make You Love Me". The limited edition CD was
only made available for a short time at his concerts.
At his Christmas concert in December 2006 he released another
independently recorded, three track solo CD;
finding Boethius, consisting of one co-written song,
"Let Love Speak Its Name", a cover of "Hallelujah" which he
regularly sings live, and an acoustic cover of "Love Will Tear Us
Apart".
In March 2007, "Mark Viduka" was released by popular demand, as a
download single only, with all the proceeds going to charity.
Brand new versions of four of the songs which were originally
recorded with his former band Albion, but never released, are
included on his most recent solo CD
Alistair Griffin (May
2008), again produced independently and only available to buy at
live concerts during the
Ivyrise tour. These
are "Blown Away", "I Have Lived", "Silent Suicide" and "Is It
Me".
Unreleased demos of his own compositions are regularly previewed on
his official Myspace.
[200079]
Songwriting
Alistair Griffin's songs cover a wide range of genres, from light
pop and romantic
ballads to anthemic rock.
After recording several demos, he obtained a publishing deal with
Trevor Horn's Perfect Songs.
He has also co-written songs with a number of
other artists, including James Hearn, Michael Harwood, Nick Keynes
and Jon O'Mahony of Ultra, Robin Gibb, singer/songwriter Richard Chance,
Liverpudlian
songwriting duo, Chris and Tony Griffiths (ex
Britpop band The
Real People) and Paul Banks, (ex Shed Seven).
In 2002, "Fade Away", one of several songs co-written with Stuart
Hanna, was shortlisted for the Song for Europe competition. That
year Griffin also co-wrote the football anthem "England Crazy"
which was recorded by
Rider and
Terry Venables. He also recorded his
own version of the Boro anthem "Stand Up", which was included in
the compilation album
Boro Songs - The Sound Of The
Riverside.
Although
largely ignored as a singer/songwriter by the British music
establishment since his appearance on Fame
Academy (that he now describes as a 'double-edged sword'),
several covers of his earlier songs have achieved notable chart
success in The
Netherlands
. "You
and Me" appears on the #1 album
Impressed released in 2003
by
Jim Bakkum, runner-up in the Dutch
series of Pop Idol;
Do’s ballad
“
Angel By My Side” (co-written with
James and Tom Martin) reached
the Dutch top 10 in 2004 and "Hungry For Love" (co-written with
Greg Fitzgerald and Tom Nichols) was covered by rock band
Di-rect, getting to number 3 early in 2005.
Griffin's debut album,
"Bring It On" consisted mainly of
songs that he wrote or co-wrote before being signed. During his
time in Fame Academy he also co-wrote several new songs with the
students and the songwriters on the show. "Painkiller", (co-written
with Greg Fitzgerald and Tom Nichols) along with " A Heart Can't
Lie", co-written with fellow student,
Louise Griffiths both appeared on his debut
album.
He has also written and co-written songs for albums by
Phixx (2004),
Ultra
(2006) and
Bel's Boys (2007).
In 2005 he resumed his writing partnership with James and Tom
Martin. He has since recorded new versions of several of these
songs with Albion, which were made available as free downloads on
MySpace in 2007.
Hallelujah Mark Viduka
Alistair Griffin is notorious for performing his own comedy
versions of well known songs in his live concerts. These have
included songs by
George Formby,
Wham,
Johnny
Mathis,
Ronan Keating and Robin
Gibb.
In
February 2007 Griffin sang at a charity event at the Riverside
Stadium
, home of Middlesbrough Football Club. After
his performance of
Leonard Cohen’s
"Hallelujah", he asked the audience if they would like to hear an
alternative version, based on Cohen’s song, but with new words
dedicated to the Boro hero at that time, Australian striker
Mark Viduka. Keeping faithfully to
Cohen's melody, Griffin's almost plaintive vocals are sung to a
simple acoustic backing, forming a contrast to the altered lyrics
which reference the particular skills of Viduka and several other
popular players in the team, as well as some of their opponents, in
a sharply observed and witty commentary.
[200080]
After hearing the
tongue-in-cheek
tribute, Middlesbrough manager
Gareth
Southgate was so taken with it he asked Griffin to make a
special recording to play at the following day’s match. It was
played to the crowd at half-time and to the players in the dressing
room after the game.In an interview with the
Daily Mail, Boro’s Aussie international keeper
Mark Schwarzer said:
“It’s a great song.
He (Mark Viduka) is already copping some stick about it
and I’m going to make sure he gets some more from the Australia
camp — I’m going to make sure they get to hear it as
well.
We played it in the dressing room afterwards and were a
bit unsure about it to begin with but the chorus is pretty
good.
We all sang and I think Mark was a little bit
embarrassed by it but I think he enjoyed it” [200081]
The incident received global press coverage, most of it positive.
(although
The Times was uncomplimentary
and dubbed Leonard Cohen "the cheesiest of crooners
[200082]) It was immediately picked up by
hundreds of online sports pages and blogs. The Mark Viduka song was
added to Griffin’s
MySpace page the
following day and clocked up over 75,000 plays by football fans
worldwide.
[200083].
The
BBC Sports Review described the song as the
"football anthem of the week, year, decade and possibly all time"
[200084], and the
Irish
Times called it "a bit on the excellent side".
[200085] TV and Radio coverage followed. A film
of Griffin performing the song with other young Middlesbrough
supporters appeared on
Sky Sports
News, and he also appeared on the BBC's and
ITV's regional news programmes. In addition to
interviews on local radio stations, Griffin was also interviewed on
BBC Radio Five Live The song was
also broadcast on several channels in Australia and on the
BBC World Service.
Southgate embraced the tune as a way of raising money for his
chosen charity,
Macmillan
Cancer Support. Leonard Cohen was approached and gave
permission for the song to be released as a
charity download [200086]
Personal life
Griffin
was brought up in Castleton
, a small moorland village
near Whitby
, North Yorkshire. He has two older
sisters. He has retained strong links with his family and his local
community and often performs at local events to raise money for
good causes. In 2003, without his knowledge, his mother, Barbara
Griffin, offered a date with him as a prize in a charity
raffle for the Whitby
Christmas Lights Appeal. Enough money was
raised to light the town for the next three years.
[200087]
He is an
expert at making lemon curd, which he
regularly enters in the annual Danby
Show.
Despite donating a trophy for this category,
[200088] although he has been awarded second and third
prize he has never won.
[200089]
He is passionate about
football
and is a qualified
referee. He has also
written songs for his home team,
Middlesbrough Football Club, and
former England manager,
Terry
Venables. He played
Junior Tennis
at regional level, and is a member of the
Bunbury Cricket Club. His other hobbies
include
Crazy golf and
Pub quizzing.
He has appeared in Heat Magazine's "Spotted" column after a member
of the public reported he was seen talking to a homeless person
outside the Royal York Hotel.
Discography
Singles
"
Bring It On/My Lover's
Prayer"CD1 (UMTV) December 2003 (# 5 UK official singles
charts)
"Bring It On/A Lover's Prayer" CD2 (Universal) Limited Edition
Single, December 2003
"You and Me (Tonight)"(UMTV) March 2004 (# 18 UK official singles
chart)
"You and Me (Tonight)" (UMTV) March 2004 (extended edition)
"Mark Viduka" (Indiestore/Digital 7)
[200090] March 2007 Charity single (download
only)
EP
finding Boethius (Dream Factory) (Released independently
December 2006)
- "Let Love Speak Its Name (Griffin/Bell)
- Hallelujah
(Leonard Cohen)
- "Love Will Tear Us
Apart" (Joy Division)
Albums
Bring It
On (UMTV) 12 January 2004 (#12 UK official album
chart).
‘Alistair Griffin Live in Germany
’ Limited Edition CD (Released independently
November 2004).
- You and Me (Tonight)*
- Feeling Alive*
- I Have Lived*
- I Can't Make You Love
Me
- Bring It On*(acoustic)
Compilations
‘Boro Songs - The Sound Of The Riverside’ Middlesbrough Football Club
December 2002
10. Stand Up*
‘”Fame Academy” Bee Gees Special’ (Polydor) August 2003
3. To Love Somebody.
‘Fame Academy - The Finalists’
(Polydor) October 2003
- 5. Wherever You Will Go
- 6. Lately
- 7. Truly Madly Deeply
- 8. It Must Be Love
Original Compositions *
(Griffin's hit singles have also appeared in a number of
compilation albums including
Now That's What I
Call Music! 57 ;
I
Love Smash Hits;
Steve
Wright's Sunday Love Songs; and
Just For
You).
An extended dance version of '
You
and Me ', which was included on the enhanced single, also
appears on the 2004
Floorfillers compilation album as "You
& Me (Tonight) (Clubstar Remix)" under the name
AG vs
Clubstar.
DVD
Fame Academy - Class of 2003 (Universal-Island, 2002)
External links
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