For two decades, the world has known Alfie Boe as the immaculately dressed tenor with the golden voice – the man who made us weep as Jean Valjean in Les Misérables and charmed the charts alongside his musical partner in crime, Michael Ball. But at 52, the showman is stripping away the bow ties and the orchestral backing to reveal the man behind the music.
The star announces on Wednesday that his upcoming album, Face Myself, out 10 April, is exactly what the title suggests: a raw, earthy and deeply honest bearing of his soul. It marks the first time he has felt able to present the real Alfie.
“I’ve stood on stage as an opera singer, as Jean Valjean, the showman with Michael Ball, even as a rock singer with Pete Townshend,” Alfie explains. “All of that musical knowledge has put me right here, but I was playing characters.” Now, he is finally revealing himself in his first album to feature his own songwriting.
“My albums in the past have been predominantly covers, so it’s hard for people to see me in another category,” he explains. “But it’s something that I’ve been passionate about for twenty-odd years, to write and create my own music.”
© Ray BurmistonRevealing the true Alfie
The result is a collection of original songs that explore his roots and his whole journey. It’s a departure that Alfie says previous music industry bosses discouraged him from taking, preferring him to stay in his highly successful classical lane. Now, with a new team and a new energy after months in the studio, he’s excited to tell his own story – starting with the new single, Meanwhile Gardens, which drops on Wednesday.
“I’ve gone back so far,” he says of the writing process, “To my childhood, seeing myself running around the kitchen and the garden… and my dad doing his little clog dance on the breadboard. It was all these little moments that just flooded back.”
“The minute I started doing that, I couldn’t stop. It was quite cathartic, releasing something inside me that I feel I’ve been suppressing”
© Ray Burmiston
To unlock this new creative voice, Alfie turned to a famous friend: The Who’s legendary guitarist and songwriter, Pete Townshend. Alfie recalls the liberating advice the rock icon gave him when he struggled to pen lyrics.
“He said, ‘Don’t try to rhyme. Don’t even try to write a chorus or a verse, just write thoughts.’ He called it free writing,” Alfie reveals. “The minute I started doing that, I couldn’t stop. It was quite cathartic, releasing something inside me that I feel I’ve been suppressing.”
© Ray BurmistonGoing back to his roots
The creative journey of Face Myself didn’t just unlock memories; it has physically brought Alfie back to his roots. The singer reveals that the process coincided with a major life change: moving back to The North of England.
Alfie grew up in the seaside town of Fleetwood, Lancashire, the youngest of nine children. He was a car mechanic before moving to London to join the Royal College Of Music.
© RAY BURMISTON
“I’ve moved back home,” he says with a smile, clearly relishing the return to familiar turf. “I could never understand why my brothers and sisters migrated back up north. But the older I’ve got, I’ve had that pull too.”
The new songs are steeped in the imagery of his youth, evoking the landscapes that shaped him – from the shipyards of Liverpool to the illuminations of Blackpool.
© Ray BurmistonLife after Celebrity MasterChef
Away from the studio, the big question is whether Alfie has recovered from his time on Celebrity MasterChef. After a strong series, he reached the final four, only for a disaster of a cake to end his competition dreams.
“I had a great time, but it was stressful and a half,” laughs Alfie. “I felt I was in a really good place. And then it all went wrong because the timer for my oven didn’t go off.”
He shakes his head at the memory. “I was interviewed, forgot that my cake was in the oven and took it out too late. It was awful!”
© Ray BurmistonGoing on tour
Despite the shift from show tunes to singer-songwriter, Alfie is keen to reassure his loyal following that he is still the same artist and personality they have followed for decades. His massive new UK tour debuts in Dundee on 14 April. This time, Alfie is hitting the road with a five-piece band.
“I didn’t want any backcloth with sparkly stars,” he insists. “It will be simple with the band to the fore. I will walk out with my guitar and start off the show with singing bedtime lullabies that my parents used to sing for me. By the time we get to the new album, what the audience will have heard is the music that’s got me to where I am today.”
Alfie Boe’s new single Meanwhile Gardens is out now – check out the video here. The album Face Myself is out 10 April. Tickets for Alfie’s Facing Myself UK tour are available here.