Alex Chilton

By • Dec 1st, 2008 • Category: Band Bios

There are a few constants worth betting on in rock ‘n’ roll. 1) Robert Smith will wear black. 2) Paul McCartney will wiggle his head when holding a note. And 3) a great Alex Chilton melody will get stuck in your head. Since his days as the teenage frontman for The Box Tops, Chilton has crafted some of power-pop’s most timeless melodies. Now, closing in on his 60th birthday, the Memphis-born songwriter is still performing with various reformations of the group that solidified his reputation as a smooth pop genius: Big Star. More than three decades since the seminal #1 Record and Radio City, the tracks that laid the groundwork for acts from Matthew Sweet to The Posies are as pure today as they were in his prime. With a pension for juicy hooks, Chilton’s pristine voice hasn’t faltered since he first demanded, “Take a letter, Maria / Address it to my wife” before he was old enough to even legally be married.

Chicago Innerview Magazine, December 2008

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