Alex Vargas

Alexander Vargas Blay (born 17 February 1988) is a Danish singer, guitarist and songwriter. He was born in Denmark to a Danish-English mother and a Uruguayan father.

Career

Vargas relocated to London at age 17 to pursue his musical career where he was signed to Geffen Records and formed the band Vagabond. The band toured the UK selling out two headline tours and also performed at the Glastonbury, T in the Park and V music festivals.

On 16 February 2010, Vargas disbanded Vagabond in order to pursue a solo career.

On 12 and 13 October 2013, Vargas performed as a vocalist with trance band Above & Beyond at their acoustic show at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles. He co-wrote and featured on 5 songs from their fourth studio album We Are All We Need, which debuted at No. 1 on the US Dance/Electronic Albums (Billboard) chart, No. 12 on the UK album chart and No. 34 on the US Billboard 200 chart.

In 2014, Vargas signed with Copenhagen Records and started working on material for his forthcoming EP and album with collaborator Tommy Sheen who also performs live with Vargas. The first release on Copenhagen Records was the single "Till Forever Runs Out" followed by "Solid Ground" on 30 March 2015. "Solid Ground" became a viral hit and is included on the EP Giving Up the Ghost released 22 January 2016. The title track however premiered on US music blog Pigeons & Planes on 16 September 2015. The EP peaked at No. 1 on the Danish and Dutch iTunes Album Charts while the feature single, "Shackled Up" made it to No. 1 on the Danish iTunes Singles Chart and No. 4 on the Dutch iTunes Singles Chart.

UK press and blogs have described Alex as "engrossing, poetic and openly emotional, Vargas' soulful approach is winning fans – prepare to become one of them". –Clash Music

Vargas is a BMI writer and is published by Atlas Music Publishing out of New York.

On 16 February 2017, Vargas announced that his second full-length album, Cohere, would be released on 31 March 2017.

He co-wrote Bulgaria's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. The song called "Beautiful Mess" was performed by Russian-born Kristian Kostov and reached 2nd place, Bulgaria's best ever result.

In 2023, Vargas appeared in an episode of the third season of Ted Lasso playing a busker performing a cover of the Beatles song Hey Jude.

Discography Albums + List of albums, with selected chart positions Title Album details Peak chart positions Certifications DEN Rookie Released: 2003 Label: VIA Music Formats: CD — Cohere Released: 31 March 2017 Label: Alex Vargas, Copenhagen Formats: LP, CD, digital download 11 IFPI DEN: Gold Ego (Super/Trip/Maniac) Released: 18 October 2019 Label: Alex Vargas, Copenhagen Formats: LP, CD, digital download 14 Big Big Machine Released: 3 March 2023 Label: Stellar Records, Embassy of Music Formats: LP, digital download 3 Vertigo Released: 20 March 2026 Label: Universal Music Formats: LP, digital download 5 "—" denotes album that did not chart or was not released

EPs + List of albums, with selected chart positions and certifications Title Album details Peak chart positions Certifications Sales DEN Label: Alex Vargas, Tiger Music Formats: CD, digital download — World: 10,000 Giving Up the Ghost Released: 10 February 2015 Label: Alex Vargas, Copenhagen Records Formats: Digital download, LP 14 IFPI-DEN: Gold superEGO Released: 3 May 2019 Label: Copenhagen Records Formats: Digital download — EGOtrip Released: 24 May 2019 Label: Copenhagen Records Formats: Digital download — Alex Vargas Synger Toppen Af Poppen Released: 25 September 2021 Label: Sony Music Entertainment Denmark, Universal Music Denmark Formats: Digital download — "—" denotes album that did not chart or was not released

Singles + List of singles as lead artist, with selected chart positions and certifications, showing year released and album name Title Year Peak chart positions Certifications Album DEN "More" 2012 — 88 Non-album singles "Till Forever Runs Out" 2014 — — "Solid Ground" 2015 — — IFPI-DEN: Gold Giving Up the Ghost "Shackled Up" 2016 26 95 IFPI-DEN: Platinum "Higher Love" — — IFPI-DEN: Gold Cohere "Higher Love (Decco Remix)" — — "Inclosure" 2017 — — "Slowly" 2018 — — "Silent Treatment" — —Ego "Now That I Think About It" — — "The Killing Kind" 2019 — — "Police Bells & Church Sirens" 2021 31 — Toffen af Poppen 2021 Synger Simon Kvamm "Yougazer" 2022 — — BIG BIG MACHINE "Mama, I've Been Dying" — — "Pages" — —

Awards and nominations Year Award Category Nominee Result Ref. 2016 Danish Music Awards Danish Artist of the Year Alex Vargas New Danish Name of the Year The P3 Listeners' Top Track "Shackled Up" GAFFA-Prisen Danish Album of the Year Giving Up The Ghost Danish Pop Album of the Year Danish Male Artist of the Year Alex Vargas New Danish Name of the Year Danish Live Name of the Year 2017 Zulu Awards New Name of the Year Alex Vargas