Matt Alber

For the baseball player, see Matt Albers.

Matt Alber
Born	(1975-02-06) February 6, 1975 (age 49)
Origin	Kansas, United States
Genres	Folk rock, Alternative
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	vocals, acoustic guitar, piano
Labels	Silver Label, Lonesome Dandelion
Website	www.mattalber.com

Matt Alber (born February 6, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter, filmmaker, and youth advocate based in Portland, Oregon.

Early life

Alber was born in Wichita, Kansas, and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. He began singing as a child^[1] and studied music and vocal training at Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri.^[2]

Career

Alber was a member of the Grammy-award-winning all-male vocal ensemble Chanticleer from 1998 until 2003 when he left to pursue a solo career. Alber released his first album, Nonchalant, in 2005. It was co-produced with Jeff Crerie at Utmosis Studios in San Francisco. Some of the album's material was re-worked for his major label debut three years later. The album has since gone out of print.^[3] In 2008, Alber released Hide Nothing through Silver Label, a division of Tommy Boy Records.^[4] The leading single from the album, "End of the World" went viral after gay-entertainment television channel Logo TV popularized its accompanying music video through its now-defunct "Click List" segment. At the time, Alber's relationship was suffering, and the song was written as a last-attempt to save it.^[5] Unhappy with his label's approach to creating music, Alber left Tommy Boy Records in 2010 and has since been releasing his music independently.^[6]

Alber followed Hide Nothing with 2011's Constant Crows, which found the singer experimenting more with folk music and torch songs. Alber stated in an interview with The Herald Palladium that the second record was influenced by his stripped-down, acoustic live performances, which was a change from the "dreamy" and starry-eyed sound from his debut.^[7] This sound was later further expanded on 2014's Wind Sand Stars, which was Alber's first full-length LP to be released on vinyl.^[8] Following the release of his second album, Alber became an icon for the bear community, modeling as a pin-up for Meat Magazine in 2013.^[9]

Personal life

Alber is gay and advocates for LGBTQ youth as part of his career. In an interview with About.com's travel section, Alber was quoting as saying, "I am very happy to have a lot of gay fans. I'm not saying I'm a spokesman for my people, but I love singing to my people. Especially gay guys who are all lovey dovey with each other. Because so often I cruise men, clicking them away in [computer] windows, and being predictably kind of cold to them."^[10]

Alber has a tattoo on his wrist that reads "Squire", which is one of his nicknames.^[11]

Discography

• Nonchalant (2005)
• Hide Nothing (2008)
• Constant Crows (2011)
• Wind Sand Stars (2014)
• Matt Alber – Live in San Francisco (2016)
• How High the Moon (2018)

DVDs

• Matt Alber with Strings Attached: The Cello Street Quartet Sessions (2012)

See also

• List of LGBT people from Portland, Oregon

References

1. Rule, Doug (February 3, 2010). "True Spirit". Metro Weekly.
2. "The Soul of a Songwriter". Truman Review. January 14, 2013. Retrieved September 5, 2019.
3. "Nonchalant by Matt Alber". MTV. Archived from the original on August 19, 2014.
4. "Amazon.com Hide Nothing". Amazon. 2013.
5. Shapiro, Gregg. "Matt Alber interview with Chicago Pride". GoPride. Archived from the original on August 19, 2014. Retrieved June 27, 2014.
6. "Interview: Matt Alber". Out Mag. Archived from the original on August 19, 2014. Retrieved June 27, 2014.
7. Conway, Tom (December 21, 2023). "Keeping his secrets". The Herald Palladium.
8. "Matt Alber".
9. "Meatzine SF Is Now On Sale". Archived from the original on August 19, 2014. Retrieved June 27, 2014.
10. Sokol, David. "Gay of the Day Matt Alber". About.com. Archived from the original on April 23, 2013. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
11. "Rapid Fire". Lincoln Center Videos / YouTube. April 14, 2014.