Alex Boyé Receives Prestigious Governor’s Mansion Artist Award
Alex Boyé is everywhere! In addition to being a YouTube mega-star, he will be joining the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on this summer’s Atlantic Coast Tour. His recent YouTube video for "Uptown Funk" was featured on numerous media channels including Buzzfeed, TIME, New York’s Daily News, Huffington Post, and more. This past week, Boyé was awarded the Utah Governor’s Mansion Artist Award in performing arts. We congratulate Alex for this amazing achievement!
Born to Nigerian parents in London, England, Boyé grew up listening to Motown artists. At age 16 he joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which he discovered through a McDonald's co-worker. By the mid-1990s, his boy band, Awesome, was topping the charts and opened for acts such as MC Hammer and the Backstreet Boys.
After leaving his band in 1999, he headed to Salt Lake City and started a faith-based solo career. In 2006, he joined the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. While in the Choir, he continued as a solo artist and became a YouTube star, performing cover versions of popular songs with an African twist—he even has an album called Africanized.
A section of his bio from the Governor’s Mansion Artist Award’s programs reads:
"Alex has been named YouTube’s 2014 Cover Artist of the Year with over 130 million YouTube views (63 million views for 'Let it Go' with the One Voice Children’s Choir and 35 million for 'Peponi'). Fulfilling a childhood dream, he recently made his debut at the Royal Albert Hall, opening for Olivia Newton John.”
Here are some videos of Boyé performing solos with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. To see the Choir and Boyé live this summer, get your tickets here.