Alexa Weber Morales
| Alexa Weber Morales | |
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| Background information | |
| Also known as | Alexa Morales, Alexandra Leigh-Taylor Weber Morales |
| Origin | Oakland, California, United States |
| Genres | Jazz, Funk, Salsa, Latin Jazz, Gospel, Brazilian Jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, producer, dancer, writer |
| Instruments | vocals, piano, percussion, melodica |
| Years active | 2004–present |
| Labels | Crazy Monkey Productions, Patois Records, Steff Records, Tumalan Music |
| Associated acts | Pacific Mambo Orchestra |
| Website | alexawebermorales |
Alexa Weber Morales is a Grammy Award-winning salsa jazz singer-songwriter noted for "her flamboyantly multilingual repertoire" and based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Born in Berkeley, California and attending schools in Berkeley, San Francisco, France, Cuba and Oakland, Alexa Weber Morales's itinerant upbringing included living on a sailboat, a VW van and an artist commune. She credits her linguistic ability, which includes fluency in Spanish, French, Portuguese and her native English, to this eclectic and international past. She was studying classical piano by the age of five and gave her first solo vocal performance at a Malcolm X Elementary School concert featuring Bobby McFerrin. She briefly majored in languages at Bryn Mawr College but dropped out in her second year. Returning to Oakland, she began working as a musician in churches, Renaissance fairs, cabaret and other local venues, while surviving on varied jobs such as roofing, auto mechanics, carpentry, translation and secretarial work. Landing a position editing a Spanish-language trade magazine led to several trips to Brazil and other South American countries, influencing her unique mix of salsa, jazz and Brazilian musical genres. After releasing her first and second albums, both produced by Wayne Wallace, she left the magazine to dedicate her time fully to a music career.
Her debut album, produced by five-time Grammy Award Nominee Wayne "The Doctor" Wallace, was released in October 2004 on the label she founded, Crazy Monkey Productions. She signed to Wallace's own indie label, Patois Records, in 2007 and co-produced her next album, "Vagabundeo/Wanderings," with Wallace that year. In addition, she wrote lyrics and sang lead vocals for Wallace's "The Reckless Search for Beauty" in 2006. In subsequent years she had vocal credits on Wallace's "Infinity," "The Nature of the Beat" and "Bien! Bien." In 2011, Alexa Weber Morales joined the then-new 19-piece mambo/salsa band Pacific Mambo Orchestra. Leaving Patois Records, she launched a successful Kickstarter campaign and self-produced the all-original album "I Wanna Work For You." After assisting with Pacific Mambo Orchestra's successful 2012 Kickstarter effort, she recorded and composed for their eponymous debut album, which received a Grammy Award for the album at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards. Controversy around the upset win by the indie orchestra over super stars such as Marc Anthony and Carlos Vives led to international press coverage.
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