Merton was born on 13 September 1993 in Frankfurt, Germany to a German mother and an Irish-born father. Merton’s family moved frequently due to her father’s job as a mining consultant.When she was three months old, Merton moved to Connecticut then Ontario, Canada where she was raised until the age of thirteen, learning classical piano and singing.Her family then relocated to Munich.Merton’s return to Germany prompted her to learn German which enabled her to speak with her German grandmother whom she had only seen once annually growing up. While in Germany, Merton wrote her first song and attended a German-language high school before graduating and moving to England.
Merton first drew major attention in 2015 as a songwriter and singer on Fahrenhaidt’s album The Book of Nature. On 14 November 2016 while in Hamburg she won the annual award for the promotion of talented newcomers in the category Acoustic Pop.
After moving to Berlin, Alice and her manager Paul Grauwinkel founded the record label Paper Plane Records International, and released the song “No Roots” at the end of 2016. The song was also featured on episode 5×09 of the NBC TV series, The Blacklist.
On the basis of this success, Merton officially released her first EP, No Roots, on 3 February 2017. No Roots reached number one on the French charts, number two on the German charts, number three in Austria, number 25 in Switzerland and number one in US alternative radio charts. Vodafone Germany even included the song in one of its commercials. Alice signed with Mom + Pop Music in August 2017 for marketing within the United States.
In late 2017 she won the 2018 European Border Breakers Award. On 7 September 2018, Merton released “Why So Serious”, the lead single from her debut album, Mint.
On 1 February 2019, Merton released the first part of the Making of Mint documentary and announced an April 2019 USA concert tour.
In 2019, Merton was a coach on ninth series of The Voice of Germany, and became the first female coach to win a series with Claudia Emmanuela Santoso.
On 18 October 2019, Merton released her album Mint again with four additional songs (Back To Berlin, PCH, Easy and Keeps Me Awake). Later, in the beginning of 2020, she toured across Germany, Austria, Czech Republic and Denmark singing these new songs, as well as the ones from her previous album.
“Vertigo” is the new single in April, 2021.
Sacramento’s K-ZAP 93.3 FM plays Alice Merton. All part of 50 years of Rock, Blues and More, 24-7 on our station’s stream at K-ZAP.ORG/LISTEN/
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