Matt Alber

Matt Alber (born February 6, 1975) is a California-based American singer-songwriter and countertenor.

Early life

Alber was born in Wichita, Kansas, and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. He began singing as a child^[1] and studied music and vocal training at Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri.

Career

Alber was a member of the Grammy-award winning all-male vocal ensemble Chanticleer, leaving to pursue a solo career in the mid-2000s. Alber's first attempt at a solo career came on the Little Knight Label in 2005, releasing the album Nonchalant. Some of the album's material was re-worked for his major label debut three years later. The album has since gone out of print.^[2] In 2008, Alber released Hide Nothing through Silver Label, a division of Tommy Boy Records.^[3] The leading single from the album, The End of the World went viral after gay-entertainment television channel Logo TV popularized its accompanying music video through its now-defunct Click List segment. At the time, Alber's relationship was suffering, and the song was written as a last-attempt to save it.^[4] Unhappy with his label's approach to creating music, Alber left Tommy Boy Records in 2010 and has since been releasing his music independently.^[5]

Alber followed-up Hide Nothing with 2011's Constant Crows, which found the singer experimenting more with folk music and torch songs. Alber stated in an interview with The Herald Palladium that the song on his second record was influenced by his stripped-down, acoustic live performances, a change from the "dreamy" and starry-eyed sound from his debut.^[6] This sound was later further expanded on 2014's Wind Sand Stars, which was Alber's first full-length LP to be released on vinyl.^[7] Following the release of his second album, Alber became an icon for the bear community, modeling as a pin-up for Meat Magazine in 2013.^[8]

Personal life

Alber is openly gay and HIV positive. In an interview with About.com's travel section, Alber was quoting as saying, "I am very happy to have a lot of gay fans. I'm not saying I'm a spokesman for my people, but I love singing to my people. Especially gay guys who are all lovey dovey with each other. Because so often we’re cruising each other, clicking each other away in [computer] windows, and being kind of cold to each other."^[9]

Alber has a tattoo on his wrist that reads "Squire", which was one of his nicknames.^[10]

Discography

• Nonchalant (2005)
• Hide Nothing (2008)
• Constant Crows (2011)
• Wind Sand Stars (2014)
• Matt Alber - Live in San Francisco (2016)

DVDs

• Matt Alber with Strings Attached: The Cello Street Quartet Sessions (2012)

References

External links