Alexander O'Neal

Alexander O'Neal was born in Natchez, Mississippi in 1953. At the age of 20, O'Neal moved to Minneapolis where he played in a variety of musical groups. Alexander O'Neal performed in the groups The Mystics, Enterprise, and Flyte Tyme.

Flyte Tyme which went on to be known as The Time, was a band that included Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Initially, Alexander O'Neal was the lead vocalist for the group, but he was forced to leave the group for "being too black" when they were signed by Warner Brothers.

In 1984, Alexander O'Neal started pushing his music career forward when he was signed to Clarence Avant's Tabu Records. On the label, he released his self-titled debut album in 1985. The album's most notable track was "Innocent" a ten minute long medley that included several guitar and keyboard solos. The track "Innocent" was a success on the R&B charts, reaching #11. Later singles "If You Were Here Tonight" and "What's Missing" also did well on the R&B charts, reaching #17 and #8 respectively.

Hearsay, Alexander O'Neal's second album, came out in 1987 and went gold shortly thereafter. Thealbum was stoked with hits as "Fake" the album's first single topped the R&B charts, and "Criticize" the album's second single, reached #4. "Fake" is Alexander O'Neal's biggest pop hit to date, as it reached #25 on the Hot 100. The album's final single, "Never Knew Love Like This" reached #2 on the R&B charts. Following the album, Alexander O'Neal went on a world tour, and became the only black singer to ever sell out 6 straight nights at London's Wembley Arena.

Working hard, Alexander O'Neal released a third album in 1991, titled All True Man. The album was O'Neal's second to go gold in the United States and featured the hit titled track "All True Man" which reached #5 on the R&B charts and #43 on the Hot 100.

After his third album, O'Neal broke away from Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and as such, did not have their input on his fourth album, Love Makes No Sense. The album still managed to have some successful singles, with the title track reaching #13 on the R&B charts and the later singles, "In The Middle" and "Aphrodisia" reaching #26 and #48 respectively on the R&B charts. This was Alexander O'Neal's final release on Tabu Records.

Since then, Alexander O'Neal has released three additional albums, Lovers Again, Saga of a Married Man, and Alex Loves. Lovers Again was released in 1996 on the label One World. Its title track charted was Alex's last track to chart in the US. Saga of a Married Man, came out in 2001 and was designed as a concept album. Alex's most recent album, Alex Loves... was released in February 2008 and was a cover of love songs.

Throughout O'Neal's career, he has always found himself enjoying greater success in England and around the world than he has in the United States.