Alex Kapranos

Alex Kapranos is a witty, skinny lad from Glasgow, Scotland. His father is from Greece, and he split his childhood between visiting there and living in Sunderland and South Shields. His family moved to Glasgow in 1983, where he would eventually meet the rest of his band. Originally going by Alex Huntley, his mother's maiden name, he switched back to Kapranos upon starting Franz Ferdinand in 2001. He was in many bands before Franz Ferdinand-- including The Yummy Fur, The Karelia, Quinn, and The Amphetameanies-- and played bass as well as guitar. He held down a variety of odd jobs during this time, including a English lecturer to asylum seekers, delivery driver, welder, chef, wine waiter, and kitchen porter. Fom the early 1990s, he was a fixture of the Glasgow music scene as a promoter for small Glasgow venues, most notably The 13th Note, where he ran the Kazoo Club. He is known for his crazy facial expressions, on-stage scissor kicks, sharp sense of style, and quiet intellect. He had his first kiss and lost his virginity when he was 18 and is an asthmatic smoker. He also has a serious allergy to peanuts, which he likens to arsenic. He likes to cook for his friends, and wrote a column, "Soundbites," for The Guardian on food and traveling around the world with his band. "Soundbites" has now been released as a book of the same title, with illustrations by Andrew Knowles, graduate of Glasgow School of Art and Franz Ferdinand's touring drummer, keyboardist and mandolin extraordinaire. Recently, Alex produced The Cribs' third album, "Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever." He now splits his time between Glasgow and New York, where his girlfriend Eleanor Friedberger of The Fiery Furnaces resides. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.