Her name is: Alex Young

Her bag is: A mixture of pop, hip-hop and R&B.

Download these songs: Cold, Heavy Breathing.

Alex Young is a fresh young singer who has the talent and charisma to make a big splash in the music world.

Although she’s only 19, she’s a show biz pro. She was in the cast of Sesame Street and made her professional songwriting debut at age 14 on New York’s top radio station Z-100. Her devoted following of Myspace friends have adopted her debut single, Cold, as their favourite prom song.

Her ambitions have also led her to attend the prestigious Sarah Lawrence College where she held a full class schedule while commuting to and from Manhattan to record her album. Although she thrived in the demanding curriculum, she recently took a leave of absence to focus on her music career and achieve her life-long dream.

Savvy: Alex Young has a nice ring to it? Is that a stage name?

Alex Young: That is my real name. I’m also known to go by “AY”, but that’s just another variation of my “real” name anyway.

Savvy: Where are you originally from?

Young: I was born in New York City. Originally, I’m from the Gramercy Park area, and then we moved when I was a little older and spent most of my life in Jersey, which is not as bad as its reputation, I promise you! I say… “sticks and stones may break my bones, but turnpike jokes will never hurt me!”

(Laughs)

Young: And now I’m back living in the City. All of the chaos of Manhattan can get a little bit overwhelming and crazy at times, but there’s definitely no place like it -- and I mean that in the best way possible! I really love it.

Savvy: At what age did you begin to take singing seriously?

Young: Singing has always been such a huge part of my life, even before I had the capacity to realise I would make it my career. When I was little, music would constantly pour out of my house, most of the times from more than one room, and sometimes a couple of songs would be playing from the same room. So, it was a natural progression to follow it as my dream.

Savvy: So no one in your family has burst your bubble?

Young: My family has always encouraged me to follow my dreams and to pursue what makes me happy. I feel so blessed that I have the support from the ones I love to be able to follow my passion.

Savvy: What types of music or artists have influenced you?

Young: I was brought up listening to a mix and fell in love with the different styles. I like to think that it channels through somehow in the way I interpret the music. I sort of feel that when something becomes part of your blood, it sort of seeps through a little into everything else you do.

Savvy: A 9/11 tribute song, The Heart of America, that you wrote when you were 14 was played on Z100 for two years straight. You have a personal connection to the events of that day, right?

Young: Yeah, my Dad was actually in one of the towers right before it collapsed and when all of the phones went dead, I naturally thought he was still there. We all felt a personal connection. But the emotions of the day and the question mark location of my dad that day, encouraged me to want to try and help through music. The song that I recorded was a patriotic collage and generated a lot of attention. We donated all of the proceeds to the soldiers of the city, the New York Firefighters and the NYPD. So, when Z100 heard it, they felt moved enough to air it on the station. It was amazing to hear it playing. It was a surreal, amazing moment.

Savvy: We imagine your sound has changed a good bit in five years.

Young: I don’t really like listening to that song anymore. There are just so many areas where I know I should have done it a little differently, or approached it from another angle, vocally. But that’s what’s to be expected when you’re critiquing yourself. I got enough recognition to be able to record other songs and explore who I was as an artist, which eventually led me to my newest album. It’s completely different but still such a reflection of me as an artist. I love where it’s taken itself.

Savvy: Your song Cold is a lot of fun to listen to.

Young: Yeah, it’s a really catchy song. It was so much fun to record. We’ve gotten such a great response to it so far! People seem to really love the beat and how different the sound is. Cold is being played on a bunch of dance mix stations and a lot of major web stations have it in rotation. It’s also available on iTunes where it’s been doing well. People have been messaging me telling how they loved it so much they brought my single to their prom. It’s been great to see it building momentum out there and feel the project taking hold from a grassroots level. To me that’s everything.

Savvy: Tell us about your new EP.

Young: The Heavy Breathing EP, which is available on iTunes, has five songs on it from my upcoming album. It was really hard choosing which songs would be best for the EP. There are so many in my catalogue that I love. It was kind of like choosing a favourite child. It will be really exciting when the album comes out and all of the songs are included. It just takes you on a journey.

Savvy: With your good looks, we can’t wait to see some music videos.

Young: We’re in the process of putting my music video out. I shot it down in Miami in this Spanish monastery. Each stone in the monastery was carried over from Spain where it originally stood and rebuilt in this alcove in Miami.

Savvy: You’re on an indie label now, right?

Young: Anaka Records is based out of New Jersey. I’m so thrilled to have the opportunity to explore my talent with them. I have so much flexibility and artistic freedom. It’s a great environment to work in. A lot of times I hear of artists having virtually zero control over what gets put out there and some times don’t even get the chance to put anything out at all. Also, with the music industry playing a completely different game now, I think that Indie labels are the best and smartest way to go to get yourself out there and probably what the future of the music industry is going to eventually turn into anyway. There are fewer and fewer major labels now. Digital media and distribution has really changed the face of this industry, and Indie labels are certainly a part of this shift toward new solutions.

Savvy: What producers are you working with?

Young: The producers I work with are at the top of their game. In fact, one of my writers just received the best songwriter of the Year award at the ASCAP Awards this year. My producers have done tracks for people like Kylie Monogue, Coldplay, Janet Jackson, Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, and Will Smith, to name a few. And the writers have worked with people like Janet Jackson, Eliot Yemen, Lionel Richie… It’s an incredible experience to collaborate with such amazingly talented people.

Savvy: You said you’re a much more sophisticated artist than you were when you recorded the 9/11 tribute song at age 14. Where do you see your music going from here?

Young: I really love the way music evolves. I think that to remain stagnant is to die musically. I’m always trying to find new inspiration. The layered and quirky qualities in my music are pulled from all different sources of inspiration. When I look at the world and what it is, that inspires me. I love the fact that a lot of my sources for inspiration have this strange kind of dichotomy of influence with a certain level of contradiction. When that comes out through my music, I believe it creates layering from all the different points of reference. I pull from them and my interpretations create a kind of quirky nature, something that’s purely the finger printed, individual part of me. I hope to always continue evolving as an artist.

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Savvy: We understand you have a funny Timbaland story…

Young: The first time I met Timbaland, it was just before Sexy Back came out and when I went over to take the picture with him he shouted at me “get your sexy on” and I really had no clue what he was talking about. I was thinking, “Damn, I thought this outfit was sexy” and “It’s so sad that girls, I guess, have to wear virtually nothing to be accepted in this industry.” The next day I heard the song for the first time and started cracking up.

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On the Web:

http://www.myspace.com/alexyoung1

http://www.youtube.com/alexyoung2008