Meet Alexandra Jack | Songwriter & Vocalist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Alexandra Jack and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Alexandra, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
My parents are from England and met while working on cruise ships. My dad worked in the casino and my mom was a singer. When I came along, they needed somewhere to settle down that could work well for their careers: Las Vegas, it was! I grew up in the suburbs, but was always fascinated by the glitz and the glamour of the entertainment on the strip. There was always so much music in my house. My parents made up funny little songs to narrate life. I didn’t realize that was unique until I grew up and started doing it myself. My mother played piano and sang, and although I was too shy to join her until I was older, all of the artists she played: Linda Rondstadt, Carly Simon, Billy Joel, The Beatles, and countless musicals soaked their way into my bones. I attended public school and was very fortunate that the theater and choir programs were excellent. That’s where I got a lot of my early training. I performed in musicals from the time I was in Kindergarten onwards, which made music and storytelling inextricably woven together in my mind. Now that I am creating music for children, I reflect back on how fortunate I was to be so encouraged and receive so much musical knowledge from such a young age. I see life through the prism of music and hear little songs from the ether about nearly every situation I experience.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am first and foremost a songwriter. I picked up a guitar for the first time in college at The University of Nevada, Reno, and was in my first band, “Alex and J” shortly thereafter. I remember the thrill of performing at bars and small events and decided that’s what I’d need to do for the rest of my life. I moved to Southern California with the nebulous goal of, “doing music.” I performed at open mics and quickly met my next bandmates through that. We became “Alexandra Jack and The Visions” and recorded my first EP of original pop-rock music, “War Island,” in 2014. Looking back, each song on the album was an expression of frustration, neatly packaged into different vignettes. The title, “war” represented the battle of anxious and depressed thoughts constantly happening inside of me, and “island” represented how alone I felt in those thoughts. I’m very proud of that record because it has served as evidence to myself at various points over the years that I can alchemize discomfort into art.

To financially support that band, the guitarist, Chris Halo and I founded a pop-jazz cover band duo called, “The Dollybirds.” We performed all over Southern California from 2015-2017 doing singing telegrams, at restaurants, galas, jazz clubs, on yachts and at many, many weddings. I earned my “chops” on those 3-4 hour long gigs and learned a lot about marketing and running a business. It was hard, but extremely rewarding work.

Shortly after that project ended, I recorded a live EP of original songs called “Farmers Market” (2018) – named after the title track inspired by the things I would think about while performing covers at the So Co Farmer’s Market in Costa Mesa, CA- one of many odd jobs I’ve done to support my music. The album includes the life story of an older woman I met while nannying, the bitter tale of “will they/won’t they” love, memories of my high school friends who had all grown up and changed dramatically. I started to get better at telling stories in song form and realized I was processing situations in real time by championing humanity through music. No matter how broke I was, how many random gigs and jobs I had to take, I could always turn the experiences of my life into song. That brought me a lot of comfort and made me feel powerful.

My mental health absolutely crashed in 2018. I was dealing with a very heavy family situation and struggling to find my footing in music, so I turned to my other passion to earn money: children. I became an Artist-Educator for All the Arts in The Fullerton School District, and went classroom to classroom teaching music to children in PreK-2nd grade. I had been nannying on the side for a while, and the classroom experience was a shot of peace to the heart because I realized how incredibly natural children are when it comes to making music. I had 4 jobs total at that point: teaching music in schools, teaching chess and acting after school, tutoring at a tutoring center, and substituting as a choir director for the North Orange County Children’s chorus. I was exhausted and spread so thin, but the levity and joy I found in working with children was unlike anything else I had ever experienced. In addition to the odd live or session gig, I began to write songs for children.

I was laid off from an incredible nanny job at the beginning of the pandemic, which led to writing songs for the little girl, Vienna, I had left so suddenly. I described a toy I had given her, Freddie Mustard, – a tiny yellow sloth I named after Freddie Mercury. I had used him to encourage teeth brushing or getting in the car, and I began to think about his back story and where he might have come from. In Vienna’s eyes, Freddie was steadfastly present at the right moments, a true friend. And so, he came to represent The Golden Rule. From there, an entire universe downloaded into my head. He was from an island called Mangos and Tangos, and I learned who his befuddled friends and family were with each song I wrote. I spent a lot of time researching my favorite children’s programming: Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, Reading Rainbow, Schoolhouse Rock and reading child psychology and parenting books. All of this synthesized into an album and a Youtube show (out Feb 16th, 2024). I intend to house my children’s music career for the rest of my life in the Mangos and Tangos universe as nanny-musician, “Allie Mango.”

My hope is that Mangos and Tangos can be a lifelong source of emotional intelligence and mental health education for children and families, through the safety of music. The first album includes the songs, “Boundaries,” “My Heart and My Brain,” and “How to Be Happy.” In future albums, I aim to stretch the genre of “Children’s Music” and write and perform in a variety of musical styles with children as the intended audience. By the time I’m an old lady, I hope to have amassed a massive musical anthology of albums that serve as mental health resources: my life’s work. The second album, “Songs for Grieving Families” will be out this spring.

As artists, we often create the medicine we need. This is what songwriting has come to represent for me: medicine. I want people to know that everyone struggles in some form or another, which is why there is so much power in practicing empathy and radical compassion. If we focus on teaching our children kindness, healthy ways to cope and function, and how to value humanity, I believe there will be less suffering. I am happy to report that despite my fair share of financial and psychological struggle over the years, I am currently happy and healthy. If the music I write can heal me, maybe it can heal other people, too.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m new to Los Angeles so I don’t know too many spots! I moved here from Orange County a couple of months ago. I’d take my bestie to live local musicians at Open Folk at Hotel Cafe or Soft Spot Songwriters at Desert 5 Spot- both weekly events held on Tuesdays! We’d go enjoy art and the views at The Getty. We’d grab drinks at The Silverlake Lounge, eat pizza from Elio’s Woodfire Pizza (an amazing food truck near my house). Add a picnic in the field near Shane’s Inspiration in Griffith Park with a hike afterwards, and that sounds like a pretty great week.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Last year, I needed funding to create Mangos and Tangos, a musical content series about emotional intelligence for kids. My community of family, friends, and former nanny families showed up for me so hard, and the project was successfully funded on Kickstarter. This allowed me to buy a camera, props, sets, costumes, editing programs, animation software, and studio time to record the second album in the series: Mangos and Tangos 2: Songs for Grieving Families. I owe everything to each and every person who donated to my Kickstarter. Money is very tight for most people these days. It meant so much to me that my community was willing to support my art and ideas.

Website: www.MangosandTangos.com

Instagram: @WatchMangosandTangos – Children’s Music. @DaffodilTelephone – All other music

Image Credits
Iña de las Alas (front facing photo with green leafy background)