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Alice Merton

Alice Merton
Merton in 2022
Born (1993-09-13) 13 September 1993 (age 31)
Frankfurt, Germany
Alma materPopakademie Baden-Württemberg
Occupations
  • Singer
  • songwriter
Musical career
OriginFrankfurt, Germany
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • piano
  • guitar
Years active2015–present
Labels
Websitealicemerton.com

Alice Florence Clarissa Merton (born 13 September 1993) is a British-based German-Canadian singer-songwriter.[1][2][3] Merton achieved mainstream success with her debut single, "No Roots". In 2017, she released her first EP of the same name, and released her debut studio album Mint in 2019. Her second studio album, S.I.D.E.S. was released in 2022.

Early life

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Alice Florence Clarissa Merton[4] was born on 13 September 1993 in Frankfurt, Germany to a German mother and an Irish-born father. Merton's family moved frequently due to her father's job as a mining consultant.[5][6] When she was three months old, Merton moved to Connecticut.[7] Shortly thereafter[specify], they relocated to Oakville, Ontario, Canada where she was raised until the age of thirteen, learning classical piano and singing.[8] Her family then relocated to Munich.[7][9] Merton's return to Germany prompted her to learn German which enabled her to speak with her German grandmother whom she had only seen annually growing up. While in Germany, Merton wrote her first song and attended a German-language high school before graduating and moving to the United Kingdom.[10]

Merton moved frequently in her early life, living in Oakville, Ontario, Connecticut, New York, Munich, Bournemouth, London, and Berlin, among other cities.[11][12][13] Through her upbringing, Merton has stated she has felt connected to Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France where her mother lived.[1][13][14] In 2013, she started her studies at the Popakademie Baden-Württemberg in Mannheim, where she earned a bachelor's degree in composition and song writing,[15][16] and met the members of her future band.

Career

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2015–2017: The Book of Nature, No Roots, and mainstream success

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Merton first drew major attention in 2015[citation needed] as a songwriter and singer on Fahrenhaidt's album The Book of Nature.[17] On 14 November 2016 while in Hamburg, she won the annual award for the promotion of talented newcomers in the category Acoustic Pop.[18]

After moving to Berlin, Merton and her manager Paul Grauwinkel founded the record label Paper Plane Records International, and released the song "No Roots" at the end of 2016.[19] The song's lyrics were inspired by her feeling of "There's no one place where my home is."[12] On both Hype Machine and Spotify's Global Viral 50 charts the song reached number one, and was soon included on the "Hit Play" lists of several radio stations. The song was also featured on episode 5x09 of the NBC TV series, The Blacklist.

Alice performing live in Los Angeles 2017

On the basis of this success, Merton officially released her first EP, No Roots, on 3 February 2017. The song "No Roots" reached number one on the French charts, number two on the German charts, number three in Austria, number 25 in Switzerland and number one in US alternative radio charts. Vodafone Germany even included the song in one of its commercials.[20] Merton signed with Mom + Pop Music in August 2017 for marketing within the United States,[19] and on 2 August 2017 she released her second single Hit the Ground Running with her new record label.

She performed at the Life Ball in Vienna on 10 June 2017, and ended the year touring throughout Germany, appearing as opening act for Bosse and Philipp Poisel, among others.[21][22] In late 2017 she won the 2018 European Border Breakers Award.[23]

2018–2020: Mint

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On 7 September 2018, Merton released "Why So Serious", the second single from her debut album, Mint. She released two other singles since then. The album was released on 18 January 2019.[24] The third official single "Funny Business" was released 30 November. The video for the single was premiered 9 January. Also, this day she released her brand new song from album "Homesick".

Merton dueted with British singer-songwriter Tom Odell in the single "Half As Good As You" that was released on 28 September 2018.[25] On 1 February 2019, Merton released the first part of the Making of Mint documentary and announced an April 2019 USA concert tour.[26]

Alice Merton live at Southside Festival 2019

In 2019, Merton was a coach on ninth series of The Voice of Germany, and became the first female coach to win a series with Claudia Emmanuela Santoso.

On 18 October 2019, Merton released her album Mint again with four additional songs (Back To Berlin, PCH, Easy and Keeps Me Awake). Later, in the beginning of 2020, she toured across Germany, Austria, Czech Republic and Denmark singing these new songs, as well as the ones from her previous album.

2021–present: S.I.D.E.S

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On 8 April 2021, Merton released "Vertigo". On 9 September, she released double single, "Hero" and "Island", both of which are from her upcoming second studio album, S.I.D.E.S., which she revealed the name on 23 February 2022, along with its tracklist. Her new work will count with 15 tracks, of which 6 have already been released. On TikTok she released a video announcing the release of the next song "Same Team" would be on 4 March 2022.[27] Later in April 2022, she released her next single "Blindside", and lastly "Love Back" in May 2022.

Merton at Southside Festival in 2022

She is touring with the British band Bastille in their "Give me the Future" American tour. Later in 2022, she performed in 7 different countries through all Europe, in her second album S.I.D.E.S tour.[28][non-primary source needed] On 17 June, S.I.D.E.S. was released.

Personal life

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Merton currently resides in London.[9][29]

Discography

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Further information: Alice Merton discography

Studio albums

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References

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  1. ^ a b Buschmann, Heiko. "Über 300 Gigs beim Eurosonic in Groningen" (in German). Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  2. ^ "Eloy - The Vision, The Sword & The Pyre album review". Teamrock.com. 6 October 2017. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  3. ^ "Track By Track: Alice Merton on her debut EP". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  4. ^ Alice Merton Talks "No Roots". Retrieved 9 May 2022 – via YouTube.
  5. ^ "Artist You Need to Know: Alice Merton". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  6. ^ Lambert, Kirsten (18 April 2019). "On Mint, global citizen Alice Merton unpacks her nomadic lifestyle". Chicago Reader.
  7. ^ a b "Alice Merton: Always On The Move". Lemonade Magazine. 3 October 2017. Retrieved 3 January 2018.[permanent dead link]
  8. ^ Yeung, Neil (7 September 2018). "Why So Serious - Single". iTunes. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  9. ^ a b Mittelstraß, Ann-Kathrin (18 July 2017). "Kein Land der Welt ist meine Heimat" (in German). Bayerischer Rundfunk. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  10. ^ Germany, hr3.de, Frankfurt (7 September 2017). "Wir stellen vor: Alice Merton | hr3.de | Musik". hr3.de (in German). Archived from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 3 January 2018.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ ([email protected]), Jörg Lange. "SWR3 New Pop Festival 2017: Alice Merton | SWR3". SWR3.de (in German). Archived from the original on 13 July 2018. Retrieved 3 December 2017.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ a b Kent, Matthew (1 December 2016). "Singer-songwriter Alice Merton explores her nomadic past on "No Roots"". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  13. ^ a b "Alice Merton, Sascha & Sebastian mit dem Hit "No Roots"". Bayern3.de (in German). Archived from the original on 3 January 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  14. ^ de Torres, Pablo (10 June 2017). "¿Quién es Alice Merton?". LOS40 (in European Spanish). Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  15. ^ "Popakademie Baden-Württemberg" (in German). Popakademie Baden-Württemberg. Archived from the original on 10 December 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  16. ^ "Hessischer Rundfunk 2017, German". Hr3.de. Archived from the original on 13 July 2018. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  17. ^ "Fahrenhaidt – The Book Of Nature". Discogs. 6 February 2015. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  18. ^ "Biografie: Merton, Alice" (in German). Südwestrundfunk. 14 December 2016. Archived from the original on 24 March 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  19. ^ a b Cirisano, Tatiana (22 August 2017). "Alice Merton's Wanderlust Anthem 'No Roots' Heads to U.S. After Blowing Up in Europe". Billboard. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  20. ^ "Vodafone: Song aus der GigaDepot Werbung". Musikradar.de (in German). 21 April 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  21. ^ Beganovic, Amina (10 June 2017). "LIVE vom Life Ball 2017: Das Wiener Rathaus feiert schrill durch die Nacht". Vienna.at (in German). Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  22. ^ "Bosse nimmt Alice Merton mit". Sputnik.de (in German). Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  23. ^ "The winners - Germany - Alice Merton". Europeanborderbreakersawards.eu. Archived from the original on 10 December 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  24. ^ Payne, Chris (7 September 2018). "Alice Merton Previews Just-Announced Debut LP: 'Every Song Sounds Like the Emotion It's Portraying'". Billboard. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
  25. ^ Pingitore, Silvia (24 April 2021). "From making the Billboard charts with No Roots to singing with Tom Odell: interview with Alice Merton". the-shortlisted.co.uk. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  26. ^ "ALICE MERTON RELEASES 'MAKING OF MINT' DOCUMENTARY PT. 1". Musicnewsnet.com. Archived from the original on 27 July 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  27. ^ "Alice Merton on TikTok". TikTok. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  28. ^ "Alice Merton | Official Website". alicemerton. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  29. ^ "No Roots by Alice Merton". Undercover RockLife. 12 December 2016. Archived from the original on 3 January 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
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