Alex Ubago was born in Vitoria, Spain on January 29th, 1981. He was baptized on February 17th and was named Alejandro, but soon became Alex. Alex is an only child, and when he was four years old his parents moved to San Sebastian due to job issues. He’s lived there since then. Alex is very extroverted and also has a shy side and does not have problems relating to others. He says he loves to enjoy life at all moments and has never stopped going out on a weekend because of an exam.
“Without thinking, just because, I would write a song. That’s how I started at 15. Then one day I finished a song that I liked and wanted someone to listened to it, I wanted to sing it to someone. That first song still exists, it’s written but not recorded. From that moment on I kept writing. A few songs later I wrote “Sabes” and “Hay que ver”, which are recorded on the first cd. I got use to it, I would be in bed and a melody or a lyric would appear. I would write a paragraph, don’t know how to continue, leave it there, and continue days or weeks later”.
One day Alex called his cousin David. He’s a musician and has a home studio. Alex got excited, during two or three weeks he used to go there at nights and record. His first demo/cd had five songs. He finished recording all five songs, two or three were written for his girlfriend at that time. Her birthday was coming and he gave her the cd. Alex thought it was something pretty and original. Those were the first songs heard by his manager, Íñigo Argomániz. Alex’s cousin Ramón gave him the model. He runs the Antonio Bar, at which Íñigo used to go to.
Later, of course, came more songs and more demos. Alex told him about his life and that had no more songs recorded. “Íñigo told me he liked it, he told me to keep writing tranquilly, with calm. He never promised anything; he never said I would record an album. He just said we would sit again when I had 12 or 14 more songs. I went back home very excited. And I started writing without a deadline. When I had more songs, I sent them to him. He asked for more and I wrote more. 25 songs in a year”.
Alex says his songs tell simple stories, personal stories, that could happen to anybody. “I don’t set any relation of power or predominance of a person over another one. Nobody’s a winner or a looser. All of us learn and all of us teach. Sometimes I need and to other’s I am needed. I want to keep a balance between both parts of a relationship and I defend individual liberty, the need of each one to look and follow his way. Be oneself!”
Alex used to send new songs to Íñigo and he’d send them to Alfonso Pérez, artistic director of Dro. When Alex acheived a large quanity of songs, he went to Madrid to meet the people from the record label. “On October 2000 I came back to sign a contract with Dro. On January 2001 I was already working with Jesús Gómez, my producer. When I started recording the album, I had no band. Later I met the musicians that now play with me, when I needed to rehearsal in case of a concert. I love all five of them. I don’t think of me as a singer with a band. Marco, Xavi, Sergio, Carlos, Paul and I have made a friends group cause it’s been two years of traveling no stops, all day together. We’re the same since the beginning and they always contribute with new stuff”.
Alex says his life has changed, but more around him than in himselfe. “I’ve learned a lot, but my personality hasn’t changed. The work, the experiences, the trips all helps me to grown-up. My sense of responsibility has grown cause I work with a lot of people, but I’m not pressure because of that. I don’t have the feeling that everyone depends on me. At least, I don’t think so. I’ve also lost a bit of my personal liberty, although I don’t feel persecuted or hounded. I also don’t intend to be an influence to others through my songs, even if it’s like that, because I don’t want to influence anybody. I like that people feels all right listening to me, that my songs can be useful when they interpret them their own way, but that’s it. I intend to have an under control musical career. There are some people whom just want to be famous. I want to live from music and that’s enough for me. I would’ve settle with a lot less”.
On September 10th, 2011 he got married, by civil ceremony, with María Alcorta Garrido in the city council of San Sebastián. On July 7, 2012 was born his son named Pablo Martínez de Ubago Alcorta.