About Alexis Strum
One of Britain's best-kept pop secrets, singer/songwriter Alexis Strum's bad luck with record companies has prevented her from becoming the chart star critics predicted. Born in 1981 in Chingford, Essex to half-Polish parents, Strum became inspired to pick up the guitar after watching a local band play Nirvana covers. Performing songs by Elastica and L7 with her friends, she also started to experiment with multi-tracking and home production techniques. While studying English at King's College, London, she was appointed music editor of the college paper and developed a taste for live music. Paying session musicians with her own money, she regularly played gigs across London and after providing vocals on records by dance acts Ed Case, Lange, and Thrillseekers, she was signed to WEA Records. Working with Girls Aloud producers Xenomania, her electro-pop debut album was shelved after lead single "Addicted" failed to receive any support from radio or TV. However, two of its tracks, "Nothing Good About This Goodbye" and "Still Standing" were later recorded by Rachel Stevens and Kylie Minogue respectively. After being dropped by her label, she traveled to Antigua where she worked on new songs which she sent to producer Billy Steinberg (Madonna). The pair worked together to producer the more acoustic-oriented follow-up Cocoon which also featured collaborations with Magnus Fiennes (Jamelia) and Pascal Gabriel (Sophie Ellis-Bextor). But after signing to Mercury Records in 2005, a lack of support for lead single "Bad Haircut," again led to its release being pulled. And although album track "Go Your Own Way" was chosen as the theme music for the hit ITV drama Vital Signs, Strum was once again dropped. In 2007, she became the voice and songwriter of Bo Pepper, an indie group whose identities are concealed by sock puppets. Lead single "No One But Yourself to Blame" received airplay on both Radio 1 and 2 and the band came second in an unsigned competition on Capital Radio. ~ Jon O'Brien, All Music Guide
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