| Alexis Strum | |
| Birth Place: | Chingford, Essex |
| Genre: | Pop |
| Years Active: | 2002–present |
| Label: | Double J Records (2023) Mercury Records (2005–2007) Warner Music Group (2002–2003) |
| Website: | Official website |
Alexis Strum is an English actress, singer-songwriter stand-up comedian and comedy writer.
Strum was born and brought up in an Orthodox Jewish family in Chingford, Essex.[1]
Aged 6, she began writing songs, including a track that resembled UB40.[2] At age 14 she was discovered by Carole White and began a short career as a fashion and beauty model, appearing in The Daily Mail newspaper as one of the 'new faces to watch'.
Alexis formed several local bands, performing Elastica and L7 tracks, before experimenting with computer-aided production, to emulate the sound of a full live band on her own. She studied English at King's College London, gaining a First Class degree in English Literature. Whilst there she held the position of Music Editor of the university newspaper, 'Roar' and also wrote a fashion/ beauty column in a magazine supplement, the now defunct, 'Insync'. Throwing herself into music and interviewing bands for 'Roar', she attended gigs and began playing her own, exaggerating her experience to blag performance spots. After graduating and spending a couple of years working odd jobs and performing here and there across London, she signed her first worldwide publishing deal with Mike Sault at Warner Chappell. She guest vocalled on tracks by Thrillseekers, Lange, York (where she was credited as 'Alaska' on the German single, "Yesterday (Silence)") and Ed Case until in 2002, Strum signed her first solo record contract.
In 2002, Strum recorded an album for Warner Records, with producers as Xenomania. A single release was scheduled entitled "Addicted," with a video added to music television channels, and promo CDs sent to radio, alongside an album sampler. The single was cancelled following lack of interest, as radio and TV expressed concern around the song's lyrical content being about drugs, mistaking a lyric about Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavour, 'Chunky Monkey'.[3] Alexis left the contract soon after.
An album sampler had been circulated, featuring songs "Addicted," "Coming On Strong," "Rock This Disco," "Still Standing", and "Nothing Good about This Goodbye." Following Strum's departure, the album was left unreleased and her publishers shopped songs around; "Still Standing" was recorded by Kylie Minogue for her 2003 album, Body Language and "Nothing Good about This Goodbye" was recorded by Rachel Stevens for her 2005 album, Come and Get It. On 1 September 2023, Warner Records released 10 songs completed for the album as an album entitled Addicted on streaming media.[4]
Strum sought out a new record contract, continuing to write for her publishers before signing a deal with Universal Music. In August 2005, following a spot at the V Festival, Strum announced her debut single, "Bad Haircut" and debut album, Cocoon, to be released in October 2005.[5] The video for "Bad Haircut" video features actor Tom Ellis. The single was released but missed the top 40.
A second single, "It Could Be You," written with Billy Steinberg, was issued to radio and TV. This was later cancelled and replaced by a new song, entitled "Go My Own Way," which was to be featured as the theme song to ITV drama series Vital Signs, starring Tamsin Outhwaite. Both songs were issued as download singles, but failed to chart, and the album was cancelled. Strum was later dropped by Universal Music. In August 2023, Strum announced the album had been signed to Double J Records, for a full commercial release in October 2023.[6]
In 2008, Strum was revealed the voice and songwriter behind UK indie group, Bo Pepper, who had been releasing videos starring puppets and receiving attention from UK media outlets. The band consisted of Strum as 'Dolly Molloy', Matt Park as 'Nick Cartwheel', Remy Mallet as 'Will E Nailor' and Danny Conyngham as 'Jonny Dangerous' on drums. Their first single, "Blinkandyou'llmissit!", was self-released in April 2008 on Peppered Records and they were named 'New Band of the Week' by The Guardian in April 2008.[7] Strum continued to write for her publishers, and wrote songs including "Why Not Us" for the German pop group, Monrose, released in 2008.
In 2010, her song, "Got A Grip On Me" was featured in the UK Channel 4 comedy, The Inbetweeners.[8]
In 2011 and 2012, Strum toured the UK playing Eva Cassidy's sister, Margaret, in the musical Over The Rainbow - The Eva Cassidy Story.[9] Additionally, she starred in an online drama series, touted as the world's first drama series created for smartphones entitled Persona.[10]
In June 2015, Strum wrote, produced and staged a play entitled "Always the Bride", at the New Wimbledon Studio Theatre, about a group of suburban women who all suffer from 'post wedding-day comedown and meet in private to wear their wedding dresses to re-live their big day'.[11]
In 2018, it was announced that Strum had written her autobiography, entitled The Time I Almost... and that it had inspired a comedy documentary series focusing on the topics of fame and failure, overseen by producer Paul Cornwell. The first, and so far only, night of the project was held on Wednesday 24 October at The Book Club London.[12]
In 2023, following an online interaction on social media, Strum discovered that she owned the masters to her second album, Cocoon and began uploading songs from the album to Spotify.[13] The interest led to Double J Records signing her second album, and Warner Music agreed to upload ten tracks that were recorded for Addicted to form a version of her debut album, which was released on 1 September 2023.