Alex Day

Alex Richard George Day (born 8 April 1989) is an English musician, vlogger and writer.

Day has released seven studio albums, two EPs, and had three UK Top 40 hits.

Day first became interested in music in 2005 when he bought an electric guitar at the age of 15.

He started his YouTube account one year later on 4 August 2006.

In 2008, Day founded Chameleon Circuit, a Trock (short for "timelord rock") band that wrote music inspired by the British TV show Doctor Who.

Day was also a member of Youstage, an ad hoc group of YouTube vloggers who competed successfully on the BBC Three talent show Upstaged during March 2008.

He worked in the Regent Street Apple Store during 2009.

In June 2009, the band released its first self-titled album by YouTube musicians' record label DFTBA Records and a second album Still Got Legs in July 2011.

Wired noted that Chameleon Circuit "puts out titles that could pass for chart-toppers – if they weren't excessively nerdy in the subject matter department."

Day released his debut album Parrot Stories in April 2009 through DFTBA Records, which was produced by fellow musician and friend Tom Milsom.

Day was a featured artist on the BBC Two reality show Chartjackers in 2009.

The programme challenged four YouTube video producers to write, record and release a pop song in 10 weeks, using YouTube as a tool to get lyrics and singers, with the proceeds going to the BBC Children in Need charity.

The completed single, entitled "I've Got Nothing", was sung by vocalists Miranda Chartrand and Adam Nichols, and was released worldwide through the iTunes Store on 9 November 2009.

It was reviewed with varying degrees of approval by various media outlets, including The Times, Yahoo! Music's James Masterton, BBC Radio 1's Chart Blog and Popjustice.

The song peaked at No. 36 on the UK Singles Chart and raised almost £10,000 for Children in Need.

Day also appeared with the Chartjackers at the Hammersmith Apollo for the BBC Switch Live 2009 show, along with artists such as Black Eyed Peas, N-Dubz, and Pixie Lott.

In August 2010, Day visited Zambia whilst taking part in the World Vision Vlogger charity event.

He filmed and shared his experiences on YouTube.

This was then followed by an EP, 117% Complete, in March 2010 which contained songs referencing various video games such as Pokémon.

His second album, The World Is Mine (I Don't Know Anything), was released in June 2010 contained a more electronic-dance sound than his previous folk album.

To ensure he did not alienate his fans of his debut album, Day released an EP of acoustic songs, Soup Sessions: Acoustic, in November 2010 which contained newly recorded acoustic versions of half the songs on the album.

For Christmas 2011, Day released his single "Forever Yours", which reached No. 4 in the UK Singles chart after selling over 50,000 copies in one week.

Day released the single without support from a record label or TV coverage, and outsold songs from multi-platinum artists such as Coldplay, Rihanna, and Katy Perry.

The Official Charts Company lauded Day's success, stating "'Forever Yours' is certainly one of the most successful self-released tracks we have ever seen, the Official Charts are based on sales, and sales alone, so Alex's achievements this week are a genuine reflection of the passion of his army of fans, and of course, the power of social media."

Day also released 11 alternate versions of "Forever Yours", confirming that all sales revenue made from the alternate versions would be going to charity, chiefly to World Vision.

On 1 April 2012, Day released his second single, "Lady Godiva", a cover of the 1966 Peter and Gordon song.

Until 2013, Day lived with friend, collaborator and bandmate Charlie McDonnell.

Day amassed more than 1,000,000 subscribers and over 130 million views on his YouTube channel before sexual misconduct allegations arose in 2014 that resulted in the end of his YouTube success.

Day announced on 14 February 2014 that he had been dating fellow YouTuber Carrie Hope Fletcher since October 2013.

However, Fletcher announced their break-up via Twitter on 14 March 2014.

Day has identified as an atheist, and began to follow Buddhist teachings after visiting the Plum Village Monastery in mid 2014.

Day also identifies as a minimalist.

In March 2014, Day admitted to having engaged in "manipulative relationships" with some women and having "created situations that put people under enormous pressure".

He made further admission, saying, "the model of consent that I followed... was that only, 'no' meant, 'no'. That is not what consent is".

He also announced via his blog that he had taken down his merchandise and artist pages from his label's website.

A former friend and coworker, Charlie McDonnell stated, "I just don't feel able to call Alex a friend of mine any more."

Day alleges that he subsequently attempted to reach out to McDonnell and that they could not agree upon a method of communication.

On 5 October 2014, after a seven-month hiatus, Day released a statement regarding the allegations, claiming that he "didn't realise at the time that [the women] felt pressured", and apologising.

In the half-hour video he also referenced what he saw as "militant" reactions posted on the social networking site, Tumblr, labelling them as "an angry torrent of abuse" and "people just being absolutely horrible to anyone who doesn't agree with them".

His response was criticised by several YouTube contributors such as Laci Green, Jack Howard and TomSka.