"It was a biker bar. The place was a mess," Alex recalls. "I remember thinking, 'Oh no, I'm going to get killed.'"
He's made a living as a musician ever since. But it wasn't always a steady living until he came up with the idea for a new business: custom love songs.
He was working as a wedding singer at the time. "I had written a song, performing it at the wedding, and I'm thinking to myself, I see a lot of men crying. And I thought, Wow! This is a big impact."
Brian Alex charges anywhere from $2,000 to $25,000 for his custom love songs.
Knowing that many men have difficulty expressing their emotions, he decided he could help them by writing love songs specifically for their relationships.
One was for a man who wanted to propose to a woman he had once dated, but who was now just a friend. "Now, we're here, two years later, I'm thankful we're still friends," go the lyrics. "But I'd like to know if you'd consider giving me your heart again."
Alex's career has included gigs with well-known names like The Missing Persons and Bob Weir from The Grateful Dead. He has recorded with Donna Summer and once even played for President Clinton at a private gathering. So his love songs don't come cheap.
A custom love song can cost anywhere from $2,000 to $25,000 depending on whether he performs it live or not. Usually he'll record it with studio musicians and deliver two copies of the CD, one framed, the other ready to be played.
He writes songs in any style requested. And he says he still sweats out every one of them, sometimes taking two to three weeks to write and record. He can also turn songs around more quickly, if needed, by working with other musicians.
"I get nervous with each song that I'm doing," he says. "You're taking these people's story, and at the end of the day it has to have a massive impact."
The songs don't always have the desired effect. One man was hoping a custom love song would keep his wife from filing for divorce. She was touched by the gesture, says Alex, but still followed through with the divorce.
Ironically, while Alex plays cupid for other men, he's still single himself - still trying to come up with the right notes for a song about his own love life.
Producer - Jamie Rubin
Video Editor - Jon Brick
Wedding footage provided by Bella Video
Comments and Feedback