Alex Kapranos
Alex Kapranos
Background information
Birth name	Alexander Paul Kapranos Huntley
Born	March 20, 1972 (1972-03-20) (age 35) Almondsbury, Britain
Genre(s)	Indie Rock Garage Rock
Instrument(s)	Vocals, Guitar
Years active	Early 1990s–Present
Label(s)	Domino Records
Associated acts	Franz Ferdinand The Yummy Fur The Karelia The Amphetameanies
Website	http://www.franzferdinand.co.uk

Alex Kapranos is a British Greek musician who is currently the guitarist and singer of the Scottish band Franz Ferdinand.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Music Before Franz Ferdinand 3 Franz Ferdinand 4 Writing 5 Production 6 References 7 External links

Early life

Alex Kapranos was born in Almondsbury, England but moved to the North East when he was three months old, spending his early childhood in Sunderland and South Shields, his mother's home town, and spent most summers in his father's native Greece. Huntley is the name of his father's aunt.

In 1980, he moved with his family to Edinburgh, then to Glasgow in 1984. At the age of seventeen, Kapranos attended the University of Aberdeen to study theology. After dropping out, he continued his studies attended the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow where he studied English and Catering, eventually gaining a BA. He worked as a chef, barman, music promoter, driver, welder and lecturer prior to finding fame with Franz Ferdinand.

Music Before Franz Ferdinand

From the early 1990s, he was a fixture of the Glasgow music scene, running live nights at the 13th Note, most notably The Kazoo Club. While working as a chef, bartender, lecturer in IT at the city's Anniesland College, and other various jobs, he played in some of Glasgow's popular bands, including The Blisters, long-standing ska stalwarts The Amphetameanies, The Yummy Fur and The Karelia (formerly known as The Blisters). He is also known to have contributed to Urusei Yatsura and Lungleg recordings.

Franz Ferdinand

After dropping "Huntley" from his name, he formed Franz Ferdinand in 2001. The band comprises Kapranos, Nick McCarthy (guitar, keyboard, backup vocals), Paul Thomson (drums, backup vocals, sometimes guitar) and Bob Hardy (bass). Eight singles, two albums and an EP have charted in the United Kingdom to date, and their eponymous debut album won the 2004 Mercury Music Prize, two BRIT Awards, an Breakthrough Video MTV Award and an Ivor.

Writing

In September 2005, Kapranos began Soundbites[1], a weekly food column for G2 in the Guardian newspaper, which detailed his culinary adventures as Franz Ferdinand traversed the globe on their world tour. A book of the column and unreleased material illustrated by Andy Knowles was released November 2nd in the UK in Hardback and December 26th in the US in paperback through Penguin/Fig Tree publishings.

Sound Bites: Eating on Tour with Franz Ferdinand was read by Alex Kapranos on BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week 4-8 December 2006, described as "his account about what he ate while touring the world." [2]

Production

Kapranos produced "Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever" - the 3rd album by British indie rock group The Cribs in Vancouver BC, released in May 2007.

References

External links

• Franz Ferdinand Official Site
• Filter MAG Interview
• Alex Kapranos talks about Sound Bites to stv.tv

v • d • e Franz Ferdinand
Alex Kapranos | Robert Hardy | Nicholas McCarthy | Paul Thomson
Discography
Albums and extended plays: Darts of Pleasure | Franz Ferdinand | You Could Have It So Much Better
Singles: "Darts of Pleasure" | "Take Me Out" | "The Dark of the Matinée" | "Michael" | "This Fire" | "Do You Want To" | "Walk Away" | "The Fallen" / "L. Wells" | "Eleanor Put Your Boots On"
DVDs: Franz Ferdinand
Related articles
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria | Domino Records | Tore Johansson | Rich Costey | The Karelia