RealTracks Artist Bio: Alex Al

First-call bass player Alex Al is a Los Angeles musician known the world over, perhaps most notably as a bass player for Michael Jackson, but also for his work with a long list of Jazz, Soul, Rock, and R&B legends like Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Herbie Hancock, Diana Ross, David Bowie, and many more.

Originally from Detroit, Alex got his start playing bass in a 12-piece Funk-Rock band led by his older brothers. At age 17 he struck out for Los Angeles to study at the Bass Institute of Technology (BIT), now part of the Musicians Institute. This launched his career on road tours with artists such as Bobby Brown, Diana Ross, and the Spice Girls, leading to a gig as bass player in the house band for the Quincy Jones TV variety show "Vibe." Alex had also developed into a versatile player, equally at home on acoustic bass or keyboard, all of which fed into the growing demand for his services as a session player. His list of session credits goes on for pages and pages with leading artists (in addition to those already mentioned) like Lionel Richie, Earl Klugh, Jeff Lorber, Marcus Belgrave, El Debarge, George Benson, Sting, Smokey Robinson, Janet Jackson, Tupac Shakur, Kenny G., Al Jarreau, Ricky Martin, David Sandborn, Wayne Shorter, Joni Mitchell, Joe Sample, Christina Aguilera, Luther Vandross, Babyface, Mariah Carey, Boney James, Jordin Sparks, and many more.

Alex has also turned his talents to songwriting, with a gold record for co-writing "Words Unspoken" for Boney James, and also to arranging and producing. He's in the house band for "Lopez Tonight," the George Lopez talk show, and on the soundtrack of the movie "Burlesque" with Cher and Christina Aguilera.

See a full list of recording credits for Alex Al at www.allmusic.com, and see some great videos of his live playing on www.youtube.com.