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Alex Boyé is a singer, dancer, and actor of British-American origin. In a contest sponsored by Pepsi and Hard Rock Cafe, he was selected “2017 Rising Artist of the Year.” Boyé was born on August 16, 1970, in London, England, to Nigerian parents. Boyé’s mother traveled to London when pregnant, while his father stayed in Nigeria. According to Boyé, he never met his father.
His mother remarried and worked as a night cleaner for the London Underground. His mother told him she was traveling to Nigeria for a few weeks and did not return for eight years. Boyé was reared in Tottenham, which has been described as “rough.” He spent much of his childhood in foster care with Caucasian parents.
He was influenced by Motown performers such as Stevie Wonder, Kool, and the Gang, James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Nat King Cole, Jackie Wilson, and Otis Redding as a teenager. Boyé was 16 years old when he was brought to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by a manager at a McDonald’s in London. Soon after, he was baptized. Boyé made his public debut while serving as a Church missionary in Bristol, England.
Boyé met his wife, Julie, at an LDS singles ward, and they married on January 6, 2007, in the Salt Lake Temple. They have seven children as of September 2019, with another expecting in January 2021. A video of Boyé was released as part of the LDS Church’s “I’m A Mormon” campaign in the United Kingdom in the spring of 2013.
Boyé began selling his single “Crazy for You” in 2009 to raise funds to buy a house for a local refugee family. Boyé was sworn in as a US citizen on February 22, 2012, at the Rose Wagner Theater in Salt Lake City. He was taken aback when the judge in charge of the event asked him to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Boyé released an original Christmas song and YouTube video titled “Newborn – Wise Men Still Seek Him” in December 2014. Boyé released an Africanized rendition of “Circle of Life” in January 2015, with earnings benefiting the Koinsforkenya mission. Boyé received the Governor’s Mansion Artist Award in 2015.
Boyé and his band, Changing Lanes Experience, played Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” on the tenth season of America’s Got Talent in June 2015. They moved to the following round to perform on Judge Cuts Week after receiving positive feedback from the judges. He and the band were removed from Judge Cuts Week 4 in August 2015 after playing their cover of Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk.”
Boye was hired as The Heavenly Guide in the remake of the film Saturday’s Warrior in September 2015. It premiered in Utah cinemas on April 1, 2016, before extending to other states in the next weeks and months. Boyé was named the Hard Rock Rising 2017 Battle of the Bands’ “Grand Prize Winner.
” Boyé was a guest artist during the 2017 Mormon Tabernacle Choir Pioneer Concert, delivering a mix of originals and covers. Boyé released the track “Bend Not Break” in September 2018, which was produced by Randy Jackson (American Idol).
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