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Rex Orange County

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Rex Orange County
Birth nameAlexander O’Connor
Born (1998-05-04) May 4, 1998 (age 26)
OriginEngland, UK
Genres
Years active2016–present

Alexander O'Connor (born May 4, 1998), better known by his stage name Rex Orange County, is an English recording artist and songwriter who grew up in the village of Grayshott near Haslemere, Surrey.[1][2]

Name

Elements of Californian sunshine in his stage name.[3]

The name Rex Orange County is based on a teacher given nickname, the OC, after O'Connor's initials and incorporates elements of "Californian sunshine".[3]

Education

At the age of 16 he went to the BRIT School, starting there as a drummer, one of four percussionists in his year. A relative rareness of his primary instrument provided him with wide exposure to various projects of others in his school. The school whose alumni list include Adele and King Krule is located in South London. Rex Orange County is a multi instrumentalist, playing in addition to drums guitar, bass and piano, and blending in his vocals he was able to produce his own projects.[3][2]

Work

Rex Orange County shared online the DIY "UNO" recording in 2016 when he was 18. The cut had featured "the buoyant keyboard riff underpins a hypnotic half-spoken vocal, one that veers from topic to topic in a hazy burst of creative mania".[4]

"Bcos U Will Never B Free" was the debut self-produced full-length album released by Rex Orange County in 2016 on SoundCloud.[2] In 2017 he released his second album "Apricot Princess".[5] Three months after the release of his second album, Rex Orange County was featured in Tyler, the Creator’s album Flower Boy doing vocals and writing in songs “Boredom” and “Foreword”.[5] Tyler picked up on O'Connor because of his debut album, reached out via SoundCloud and brought him to Los Angeles.[2]

As of 22 March 2018, the most popular track by Rex Orange County on Spotify is "Loving Is Easy" created in collaboration with the Dutch artist Benny Sings.[5] The song was covered by the Swedish singer Tove Styrke.[6] On April 16 2018, Rex Orange County performed the single in his first television debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.[7]

Awards

In January 2018 O'Connor came second in the BBC Sound of 2018 after Norwegian singer Sigrid. [8]

Discography

Studio albums

Title Details
bcos u will never b free
Apricot Princess

Singles

  • "Uno" (2016)
  • "Best Friend" (2017)
  • "Sunflower" (2017)
  • "Untitled" (2017)
  • "Edition" (2017)
  • "Loving Is Easy" (featuring Benny Sings) (2017)

References

  1. ^ Dunn, Frankie (May 11, 2017). "10 things you need to know about rex orange county". Vice.
  2. ^ a b c d "Rex Orange County: The Emotionally Visual Mastermind of the Next Generation". noisey.vice.com. Ryan Bassil. 11 September 2017.
  3. ^ a b c "One to watch: Rex Orange County". The Guardian. 18 Nov 2017.
  4. ^ "Rex Orange County Shares 'UNO'". Clash. 17 Dec 2018.
  5. ^ a b c "COLUMN: Rex Orange County is an artist that cannot be labeled". Indiana Daily Student. 23 Mar 2018.
  6. ^ "Tove Styrke covers Rex Orange County". ABC News (Australia). 13 Apr 2018.
  7. ^ "Rex Orange County performs "Loving Is Easy" on 'The Tonight Show'". Substream Magazine. 17 Apr 2018.
  8. ^ "The Longlist, Meet the 16 longlisted acts for BBC Music Sound of 2018". BBC.
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