Alex Kapranos

Alex Kapranos

Alexander "Alex" Paul Kapranos Huntley (born March 20, 1972 in Almondsbury , South Gloucestershire , England ) is the composer, singer and guitarist of the Scottish band Franz Ferdinand .

Career

Alex Kapranos was born to a Greek father and an English mother. He spent his childhood in South Shields and Sunderland before moving to Edinburgh in the 1980s . When he came to Glasgow to study English literature, he used the surname Huntley , his mother's maiden name. It wasn't until 2001 that he changed his family name back to Kapranos. Before he became a professional musician, Kapranos worked, among other things, as an English teacher and as a cook.

As soon as he arrived in Glasgow, Alex Kapranos mingled with the music scene. During the 1990s he worked behind The 13th Note bar , where he met art student Robert Hardy, and began promoting appearances at the Kazoo Club and the 99p Club .

Alex Kapranos played in several groups, as a singer and guitarist with The Blisters , which later renamed themselves The Karelia and released an album in 1997, Divorce At High Noon . After The Karelia ended , Kapranos played bass with the Glasgow hip band The Yummy Fur , where he met drummer Paul Thomson. In 1998 the Yummy Fur was over, but Kapranos stayed in contact with Thomson.

When he got the idea of ​​starting a band again a few years later, Kapranos brought his friends Robert Hardy and Paul Thomson on board, together with Nick McCarthy , whom he met at a party, the line-up for Franz Ferdinand was complete.

While touring with Franz Ferdinand in 2005 and 2006, Kapranos regularly wrote columns for the Guardian about food on tour. The columns were also published in book form in the UK in late 2006 . The German translation followed in 2007.

Kaprano's voice can best be described as a very mobile baritone , with a smooth transition in highs and power in the lows.

Works

• Sound bites . Food on tour with Franz Ferdinand. Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2007. ISBN 978-3-462-03788-3 .

Web links

Commons : Alex Kapranos  - collection of images, videos and audio files