60 minutes music prodigy
His dad, Denny, was an amateur musician, and soon started taking his young son to jam sessions in Bali. Soul Dreamer, the last track on Countdown, was the first song he wrote, when he was 10 years old.Īlexander had taught himself to play the piano – using a mini electric keyboard – four years earlier. “And my dad will record it so I can remember it.”Īfter his dad records his explorations Alexander listens back and refines his work, spending about a month on each song. “I just explore chords and melodies and then suddenly these ideas come out to me,” Alexander says.
He declines coffee or tea, although his agent promises him a post-interview tiramisu, and starts to tell me about his songwriting process. He looks like he could be in a very young boyband. He’s wearing a navy blue peacoat, skinny jeans and black sneakers, and has a Beatles-style haircut looming above thick framed glasses. The three of them moved here from their home country of Indonesia two years ago, and have settled in SoHo, a trendy Manhattan neighbourhood.Īlexander looks the part. We’ve arranged to meet in a steak restaurant in New York City, where Alexander has been living with his parents for the past two years.