We recently connected with Marco Alexander and have shared our conversation below.

Marco, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

Being an artist of any sort, is subjective. There are many people that would argue that there are no prerequisites and levels of training that one must have, in order to be on a certain level of “Original Artistry”. I am not one of those people. I am a firm believer, as a classically trained musician, that one must train very hard and long in a given field, in order to become an “ARTIST”. The term itself has been jaded and thrown around, I believe. When I first decided that I would step into the music industry, like staple members of my family, there were years and years of work and acknowledgment that you had to put in, to be considered a RECORDING/PERFORMING ARTIST. Anything less than that, was a labeled a singer, producer, dancer, musician, etc. The term artist stood for someone who did quite a bit. Michael Jackson was an ARTIST. Sam Cooke was an ARTIST, Phil Collins, is an ARTIST. Pharrell is an ARTIST. Prince was THE ARTIST. The list goes on and on. These were all people that I learned from while studying this craft.

I learned the art of music and design, at an early age. I was surrounded by stage musicians and entertainers for most of my early childhood, whether I recognized them or not. My family consisted of Stax Records and staple church musicians from around the city of Memphis. I started out singing in one of the countries leading children’s choirs, at that time, The Angels of Praise (led by Anthony Quinn Richardson). This opportunity wasn’t one to be sold short. It was not your average children’s choir. This choir rehearsal consisted of music theory, scales, rhythm training, counterpoint, and lyric retaining. That led to my parents (who did and still do take my music career just as serious as I) enrolling me into private piano lessons with jazz pianist, Phillip Joyner. I would go from school, to private lessons, to dance rehearsal (choir rehearsals on Wednesdays and Saturdays), and then home to do homework from school. My life was always sort of a training ground to working my way up to an artist. I can remember Mr. Joyner telling me to try learning another instrument. I took that and tried my hand at the violin in elementary school. After hitting a growth spurt, that turned into me being transferred over to the double bass. It was school, piano, strings, dance, choir, and later French horn. My life was destined from that point on. I went on to train with some of the top musicians in the industry, including John Chiego (Double Bass), Skip Pitts (Guitar), Willie Hall (Drummer), multiple youth symphony programs, and dozens of other performers/coaches.

I do not believe that there was anything I could do to speed up my learning process, except for subtracting the school aspect. haha No, but I believe I was given a solid background in order to obtain my current skills. The most essential skill in my opinion, is that of free thinking. There’s a world of creativity out for grabs. No idea is really original anymore. It’s all been done. But, it has not been done like YOU would do it. In order to create anything (music, art, dance, stage design, fashion, etc), you first have to have VISION! That vision has helped cultivate not only a sound that belongs to me, but a style in which many have tried to duplicate, but have come short. I’ve worked for years at understanding and developing my vision. I stand strong in that. My vision is not something that is negotiable.

The biggest obstacle for me, as an artist, are surrounding expectations. Everyone wonders what you are doing, where you will be, why you did this or that, who are you with, etc. Social media has made it a “right here and now” environment. There is no mystery in what we create and the delivery of that artwork. Everyone wants what they want NOW. As a matter of fact, it isn’t even seen as artwork anymore. It’s seen as “content”. I guess what I am getting at, is learning yourself as an artist is the biggest lesson of all time. You will always be a student because you are always evolving into someone new and more exciting as life goes on. Expectations can easily prevent that, if you give in to the hype and lose sight of your vision, only to satisfy the watered down trends of what’s in front of you.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Marco Alexander. I am an International Recording Artist, Composer, Songwriter, Producer, Designer, and all around creator. I am also the owner of the clothing brand “Sound Kulture”. Being born into the music/entertainment world, I have trained my entire life to do exactly what I am doing currently. It was very clear that I was destined to be around the arts for a very long time. With my parents being instrumentalists & vocalists, I was often granted the opportunity to travel and study sounds that seemed unfamiliar to me.

“People tell you often that the sky is the limit. I am one who finally understands that statement and can honestly challenge it by saying that the sky is NEVER the limit. There is so much more left to discover, if you are willing to work for it.”

Having traveled and studied music in Germany, West Africa, and other countries, I have never settled in the common way of musical execution. I have always thought of myself as someone who never conformed to this world (or your average sound/experience); from the way that I process thoughts to the way that I arrange melodic structure.
Everything that I have created (fashion, music, art) have led me to this moment.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Sure. Honestly being an independent artist, pivoting will become your best friend and worst mental enemy. The biggest moment of pivoting for me, is running multiple businesses, and still ending up back in the workforce. I recently came to the conclusion, due to COVID, that music is unfortunately not seen as an essential necessity in society. When the pandemic came, it forced all entertainers/musicians/artists to take a step back and realize that that the years of training that go into what we do, can all be cancelled out 100x quicker than it came, in an instant. Because of this, many of us are having to face the very music that we create, and go back to the 9-5 life. It doesn’t make us weak as artists, but it does drain us quicker. But hey, it’s necessary to build a multiple income stream in this industry.

In order to continue creating at the pace in which is demanded by this industry, we have to bring in funding to do so. What goes into being an artist, truly is a grind.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

OF COURSE! There is a lot that non creators struggle to understand when it comes to creators, especially musicians. We always get the short end of the stick. The social platforms are flooded/saturated with people that false claim PROFESSIONAL artistry, because they created a beat on fruity loops or wrote a hook to a rap song. Being an artist is much more advanced than what most people think. It’s really difficult and time consuming for non creatives to sift through the temporary, to get to the timeless. So, as a defense mechanism, they go to what they know. Not many are willing to listen to/understand anything new. New age and pop are almost a thing of the past, if they don’t have a certain sound.

My advice is to keep creating no matter what. You will eventually find your tribe and that tribe will rock with you until the end of time.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.marcoalexander.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/marcoalexanderofficial
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100059827850253
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5T3fNA-w1LoPkq0byMCttA

Image Credits
Elijah Rodney (Simbalic) Trebor R. Jones Ejji Marco Alexander TRIBE