"Meet Alex Clare, the voice behind 'Too Close"' (Internet Explorer 9 Song)

(Via USA Today)

"Close" to success: British singer/songwriter Alex Clare's faltering career was revitalized by an unlikely source —Internet Explorer. Clare is the voice of Microsoft's advertising campaign for Internet Explorer 9, which features his hit single Too Close, a melancholy ballad that fuses Clare's soul-tinged vocals with clattering percussion and a dubstep drop. Since the commercial's premiere in March, fans have flooded the Web searching for the mysterious singer behind the "Microsoft dubstep commercial."

...A "commercial" breakthrough: Clare's luck took a dramatic turn with one e-mail. "Last February, I got an e-mail from someone at Microsoft asking permission to use (the song). I said yes, not thinking much more of it. And then it turned into an international hit." In the weeks after the ad's premiere, Too Close sold more than 100,000 digital downloads and made its debut at No. 68 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart. "I was sitting in a cinema and the commercial came on during the trailers," he says. "That's when I realized — wow, everyone's going to hear this song." Soon after, Universal Republic signed Clare to a distribution deal that brought Lateness to American audiences in May."

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Alex Clare - Too Close (Live Unplugged)


Instrumental (Dub Step)