Singer shunned fame for faith

Alex Boye is not looking for fame. Been there, done that.

He has decided that his music is not as important for what it brings him as for what it might bring to others. "I want to use music as a tool, to uplift, enlighten."

Born in England, Boye, 32, joined the LDS Church as a young man, the only member in his family. At 19, he went on a mission to nearby Bristol, and "I sang a lot. My mission president told me, 'I hope you do something with that voice.' After I got home, I started to think about how hard it is to get a start in the music business."

So he enrolled in school, studying graphics. "But I still had this longing to sing."

In 1996, Boye won a singing competition on Capital Radio (the biggest station in London), which got him his first recording contract and work with such artists as George Michael and Yazz. And he got a bunch of his friends together to form a boy band called Awesome. "I'd take them to play at church dances. Although they weren't members they had a lot of fun."

They started doing nonchurch venues as well, "and 15 managers later, we got one that had some friends in the recording business." That eventually led to a major deal with Universal Records. "We said, 'Is this real? You're not messing us around?' and they said, 'We're going to make you as big as we can.' They taught us choreography, how to interview, everything."

Awesome's first single went to No. 16 in Germany. They had hits in 15 other countries. They worked with artists such as Missy Elliott, MC Lyte, Lutricia McNeal, the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync. They did big shows. They met Prince Charles (and Boye gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon).

In 2000, Boye released his first solo album. It reached No. 12 on the European charts.

But, he says, he began to feel "a lot of pulling to the right, a lot of pulling to the left. When we started out, we were termed the good boys. We didn't drink or smoke." But he saw fame getting to his friends. "They started taking things further, and I knew sooner or later it would happen to me. I knew I had to quit."

Boye left the band and went home. He knew he had done the right thing, but he felt bad. "The hardest thing was to turn on the TV and see my band, see them singing my songs. And I wondered why they seemed so happy, when I was miserable." He began to get angry, resentful.