Kate Alexa Gudinski[1] (born 2 March 1988 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia) is an Australian pop singer and the daughter of Australian music promoter Michael Gudinski, AM. Alexa first hit the spotlight in 2004 when her song "Always There" was featured in the Channel 7 series Home & Away. The second single was a mediocre success, but after supporting the Backstreet Boys on their Australia tour, her third single "All I Hear" shot straight into the ARIA top ten, and stayed inside the top twenty for eight weeks.
Background
Alexa's career began when she was thirteen and wrote her first song, then the following year she started doing demos.[2] "Colors of the Rainbow" was the first song she recorded, stating "It's a really fun song, but I don't think I'm ever going to play it for anyone".[2]
She then went on to sign a record deal with Liberation Music in mid-2004.
Broken & Beautiful (2004-2006)
In 2004, when Alexa was in Year eleven of high school, her debut single, "Always There", was selected to be the soundtrack to Channel Seven's Home and Away promos during the 2004 Olympic Games. This provided valuable promotion for Alexa, with many viewers wanting to know more about the song. This was very rewarding for her as the song was very meaningful to her.[2]
In 2005, Alexa was finishing Year twelve at Melbourne Girls Grammar School[3] (studying Photography, English, Legal Studies and IT) when she released her second single, "My Day Will Come", a song about seizing the moment, it was another top-thirty hit.[2] Also in 2005 she graduated from high school knowing the importance of finishing school and deciding music is what she wants to do forever.[2]
On her eighteenth birthday in 2006 she released her third single, "All I Hear". As she celebrated, she found out she had glandular fever and because of this, she was unable to do much promotion for the song.[2] The song peaked at number nine on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart and Alexa states "Having a top Ten hit was just an unbelievable feeling. It ment so much to me that people were promoting the song".[2]
On 4 September 2006 Alexa released her fourth single "Somebody Out There" which was another top-thirty hit for her, and on 23 September 2006, Alexa released her long-awaited debut album Broken & Beautiful and describes the album as a reflection of her life and journey over the past few years and claims that everything on the album is true
Gap between albums (2007–2008)
In 2007, Alexa wrote and recorded twelve original songs plus the theme song "Ordinary Girl" and two songs from Broken & Beautiful for the soundtrack for the television series H2O: Just Add Water series two, which was released in Australia on 8 September 2007
In late 2007, Alexa teamed up with Australian producer Molly Meldrum and American rapper Baby Bash to record a cover version of the Womack & Womack song "Teardrops", which was the first single released from Alexa's second studio album in 2008.[4]
In February and March 2008, Kate supported Cyndi Lauper on her national tour of Australia. Her setlist for the tour confirms three new songs that may appear on her second album, "Nothing Compares", "Cherry Pop", and "Hit by Love".[5]
On 16 April 2008, Broken & Beautiful was released in Japan, with two bonus tracks, "Walk On" and an acoustic version of "Always There".[6] The album did not gather much attention when it was released, and did not chart as a result.
Addict: second studio album (2009-present)
As of early 2008, Alexa has been working on her second studio album rumored to be titled Addict, supposedly set for release in late 2008 but is now tentatively set for release in early 2011. Her official website states that she has come up with a new sound which she has described as "pop with an edge."[7] According to a MySpace blog posted by Alexa dated October 2009, her album is now finished and awaiting release.[8] She has bee working with songwriters such as Australian songwriting team DNA Songs who worked on the H2O: Just Add Water soundtrack with her, as well as new collaborators such as English songwriter Tom Nichols and Australian singer-songwriter Mandy Kane.
In January 2010 Alexa was part of the line-up of the "Wet and Wild" festival in Gold Coast, Queensland, and is scheduled to perform with the band Past to Present in July 2010
Tracks recorded for second album "Addict" (Kate Alexa, Tom Nichols, Tim Baxter)[10] "Cherry Pop" (Kate Alexa, Anthony Egizii, David Musumeci)[11] "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" (Kate Alexa, Tom Nichols, Georgios Nakas, Klas Wahl)[12] "Destiny" (Kate Alexa, Tom Nichols, Georgios Nakas)[13] "Don't Think So" (Kate Alexa, Tom Nichols, Georgios Nakas)[14] "Electro Love" (Kate Alexa, Jay Cabrera, Yshrael Pascual)[15] "Face Goodbye" (Kate Alexa, Guy Erez, Emerson Swinford)[16] "Fucked Up Me" (Kate Alexa, Patrick Bianco, Michael Beck)[17] "Hazard" (Kate Alexa, Jay Cabrera)[18] "Heartbeat" (Kate Alexa, James Kempster)[19] "I Deny" (Kate Alexa, Tom Nichols, Georgios Nakas)[20] "I'm Falling" (Kate Alexa, Kara DioGuardi, Stuart Critchton)[21] "Infatuation"[22] "Katie" (Kate Alexa, Tom Nichols, Luc Leroy, Yann Mace)[23] "LA Sunrise" (Kate Alexa, Luc Leroy, Yann Mace, Tom Nichols)[24] "Not Enough" (Kate Alexa, Tom Nichols, Kyösti Salokorpi)[25] "Something You Say" (Kate Alexa, Tom Nichols, Steve Young)[26] "To Be True" (Kate Alexa, Tom Nichols, Georgios Nakas)[27] "Turn It Around" (Kate Alexa, Niklas Bergwall, Soervaag Fredriksen, Niclas Kings)[28] "Turning Away" (Kate Alexa, Mandy Kane)[29] "Wake Up Call" (Kate Alexa, Brian Canham)[30] "We're Not Ready" (Kate Alexa, Tom Nichols, Steve Young)[31] "X Rated" (Kate Alexa, Tom Nichols, Steve Young)[32]
Personal life
Kate can play the piano and is teaching herself guitar, and she has said that Photography was a hobby of hers while she was in school. She listens to artists such as Alanis Morissette, Oasis, Skyhooks and Madonna. She has also said that she is interested in fashion, designing shoes like ballet flats
Discography Main article: Kate Alexa discography 2006: Broken & Beautiful 2007: H2O: Just Add Water (Series 2) TBA: Addict
