Alex Boye

Alex Boyé is a British-American singer, dancer, and actor. He was named the “2017 Rising Artist of the Year” in a contest sponsored by Pepsi and Hard Rock Cafe. 

Boyé was born in London, England, on 16 August 1970 to Nigerian parents. While pregnant, Boyé’s mother went to London while his father remained in Nigeria. By his own account, Boyé never knew his father. His mother remarried and worked for the London Underground, cleaning tracks at night. One day his mother said she was going to Nigeria for a couple of weeks for a visit and did not come back for eight years. Boyé was raised in the Tottenham neighborhood that has been described as “tough”. He spent much of his youth in foster homes with Caucasian parents.

 

As a teenager, he listened to and was influenced by Motown artists, including Stevie Wonder, Kool and the Gang, James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Nat King Cole, Jackie Wilson and Otis Redding. At the age of 16, Boyé was working in a McDonald’s in London when he was introduced to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by a manager. He was baptized soon afterward. Boyé first performed in public while serving as a missionary for the Church in Bristol, England.

 

Boyé met his wife, Julie, in an LDS singles ward and they were married in the Salt Lake Temple on 6 January 2007. As of September 2019, they are the parents of seven children with another one due in January 2021. A video showing Boyé is part of the “I’m A Mormon” campaign launched by the LDS Church in Britain in the spring of 2013.

 

In 2009, Boyé began raising money to buy a house for a local refugee family with sales of his single, “Crazy for You.” On 22 February 2012, Boyé became a United States citizen in a ceremony at the Rose Wagner Theater in Salt Lake City. He was surprised when he was invited by the judge conducting the ceremony to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner”.

 

In December 2014, Boyé released an original Christmas song and YouTube video entitled “Newborn – Wise Men Still Seek Him”. In January 2015, Boyé released an Africanised version of “Circle of Life”, with proceeds from the sale going to the Koinsforkenya mission. In 2015, Boyé was awarded the Governor’s Mansion Artist Award.

 

In June 2015, Boyé and his band, Changing Lanes Experience, performed their version of Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” on the 10th season of America’s Got Talent. After receiving great comments from the judges, they advanced into the next round to perform on Judge Cuts Week. In August 2015, he and the band were eliminated on Judge Cuts Week 4 after performing their version of Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk”.

 

In September 2015, Boye was announced to be cast as The Heavenly Guide in the remake of the film Saturday’s Warrior. It was released in Utah theaters on 1 April 2016 before expanding it to various other states in the following weeks and months.

 

Boyé was selected as the “Grand Prize Winner” of the Hard Rock Rising 2017 Battle of the Bands. That same year, Boyé performed as the guest artist for the 2017 Mormon Tabernacle Choir Pioneer Concert, performing a mix of originals and covers. In September 2018, Boyé released the single “Bend Not Break”, produced by Randy Jackson (American Idol).