"Wake up kids; we got the dreamers' disease. Age 14, we got you down on your knees. So polite, we're busy still saying please"

Who Is Gregg Alexander?

Born in 1970 in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, Gregg quickly developed into a multi-talented musician, proficient on guitar keyboards and vocals. He developed quickly in height, too, 6'5" on his 16th birthday.

Gregg signed a record contract with MCA not long after leaving school, but because of his rebellious nature, was loathe to record a full album.

Finally, due to studio pressure in 1997, he scraped together a handful of studio musicians and slapped down his best five songs onto an album, under the guise of 'New Radicals'. The album, Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too, undeservedly died a dramatic death on release, but the featured single - Get What You Give - was a big hit on both sides of the Atlantic, and an MTV favourite.

Gregg, with his trademark Beanie hat and natural charisma, became a big hit overnight - although Andy Warhol's "Five Minutes..." was only too prescient. The New Radicals split after releasing their second single, Someday We'll Know, and Gregg started work with Ronan Keating on the latter's solo album. The uptempo hits Lovin' Each Day and Love is A Rollercoaster were both Alexander-penned, as was Sophie Ellis Bextor's Murder On The Dancefloor.

For several years now it has been in vogue to have an Alexander track on the album of many mainstream stars - final acceptance perhaps of one of the decades finest original songwriters

The Music

Somehow the New Radicals got a reputation as a teeny-bopper type band, but Gregg's songwriting is considerably deeper. Brainwashed opens well with the storming big piano-led sound of Mother We Just Can't Get Enough, and continues much in the same vein with track 2 - the chart release:

Sounds cheerful? Well it actually is. Gregg wraps these dubious sentiments in light major-key piano riffs and clean guitar sounds - all very radio-friendly. The terrific achievement in making songs about lunatic political activists (Jehovah Made This Whole Joint For You) and anodyne pop artists (the title track) sound joyous and listenable remains one of the album's great achievements.

Maybe the whole album is drug-obsessed (Technicolour Lover celebrates an LSD-induced girlfriend fantasy). Maybe it's overly cynical. Maybe Gregg overpowers too many songs with his vocal screeches. But the power and the soul felt when you turn the volume up and groove along to Get What You Give cannot be denied. They called it a one-hit wonder - but by God, what a hit...

After the New Radicals

Alexander's writings for Ronan Keating were generally acclaimed as being 'some of the best stuff Ronan's ever done.' Certainly, the vibrancy of Love Is A Rollercoaster and the dancefloor magic of Lovin' Each Day were well received, and a refreshingly cheerful alternative to Gregg's usual misery.

With Ellis Bextor, however, he committed the cardinal sin of choosing the wrong singer for the song. Sophie's extremely Home Counties accent trying to sing "Gonna burn this goddamn house right down" reduced many listeners to rolling on the floor, racked with laughter. Now if Gregg had sung it himself, that may have been a different story...