Kameelion

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Kameelion
Kameelion in 2021
Kameelion in 2021
Background information
Birth nameBen Alexander Williams
Born (1992-03-19) 19 March 1992 (age 29)
Rhyl, Wales
Genres
Occupation(s)Singer, songwriter and producer
Years active2012–present
LabelsBMG
Associated actsJudie Tzuke, MNEK, Aggro Santos, Lily Allen, DJ Ironik, Clive Farrington

Ben Alexander Williams (born 19 March 1992), known professionally as Kameelion, is a singer, songwriter and record producer. He gained recognition after uploading his original album The Boy Who Made Sounds on to YouTube. Due to its success, he was signed to BMG. He released his debut single "Don't Even Know Your Name" in 2012, which was playlisted to BBC Radio 1 in the first week of release as well as gaining popularity in Belgium. His second single, "Don't Cry", subsequently gained over 100,000 streams within a week. In May 2021, he released his comeback single, "Ghost", which gained popularity in Turkey and gained over 10,000 streams on SoundCloud within a day.

Early life[]

He was born at Glan Clwyd Hospital in North Wales on 19 March 1992. He attended Ysgol Bryn Hedydd primary school, in Rhyl. During his secondary education, after a brief spell at Rhyl High School, he moved to Denbigh High School, where his love of music started. He then went on to study Performing Arts at Coleg Llandrillo, in Rhos-On-Sea, specialising in musical theatre.

Music career[]

After finishing his Performing Arts course at college, he graduated with triple distinction grades.[citation needed] He purchased some recording equipment and began recording original material in his bedroom. After releasing his debut album "The Boy Who Made Sounds" in 2012, he moved to London to pursue his career in music. At this time, his original songs were uploaded specifically to YouTube only, which caught the attention of music mogul Albert Samuel.[1] He was then signed up to BMG. At this time, he was also managing acts such as So Solid Crew, Loick Essien, Modestep, Wretch 32 and Tulisa. In an interview, when asked where the name Kameelion originated from, he stated he wanted "something different" to his birth name and something that would "stand out". He explained that when he first started song writing, he was "experimenting with several music genres" and felt like he was "adapting to different musical styles", which made him feel like he was a "chameleon" within music.[2]

His first single, "Don't Even Know Your Name" was released and soon was played on BBC Radio 1, after being playlisted within the first week. The song also gained popularity across Europe, especially across Belgium. He was then invited to perform on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge, a segment on the station where an artist performs an original song and a cover, usually performed acoustically. Kameelion performed an acoustic version of Swedish House Mafia's "Don't You Worry Child".[3]

He has worked with MNEK and Skye Adams, who both had experience working with Rudimental, Little Mix, A*M*E, Gorgon City, Jessie J, Olly Murs and Kylie Minogue. He released his second single, "Don't Cry", which gained over 100,000 streams within its first week of release.

Kameelion has co-written with several other musicians, including several rappers. He collaborated with DJ Ironik, where he featured as a guest vocalist on "Wiseman", a track from Ironik's E.P "Independently Unstoppable", which was released in 2013 and charted at number 68 in the UK Singles Chart. He also worked with rapper Aggro Santos, who featured on Kameelion's track "Can't Let It Go". His most notable collaboration was with Lily Allen, who used her vocals on the chorus of his single, "I See You". The track was released as a promotional single only, along with an animated music video. It was one of the first music videos online to use kinetic typography, a type of lyric animation that was rarely seen at the time, but has since become increasingly popular with recording artists and musicians, who now release lyric videos on their YouTube channel on a regular basis.[4][5]

He then went on to work alongside singer/songwriter Judie Tzuke, who is best known for her 1979 hit "Stay with Me till Dawn". After several recording sessions, they wrote two songs, "Spider Girl" and "Tallula", which were later uploaded to SoundCloud.[6]

To gain a fan base and touring experience, he was often used as a support act on many tours and also performed at several Christmas light switch on events across the U.K.[7] His music also gained popularity within the LGBT community; resulting in him annually performing at several Gay Pride events, including Belfast,[8] Liverpool,[9] Leeds and Cardiff, where he performed to over 35,000 people at the Principality Stadium.[10][11] He has also performed at several fashion shows, including Birmingham and Manchester Fashion week, both hosted by fashion retailer Boohoo.[12][13][14]

During a meet and greet at a personal appearance at Cardiff's PRYZM nightclub, South Wales Police were called to temporarily close Greyfriars Road, where the nightclub was situated. It was closed as a safety precaution due to the amount of fans queuing outside. The nightclub later took to Facebook and Twitter to thank the local police for helping and also thanked the public for co-operating and apologised for any inconvenience caused.

Kameelion's songs also receive regular airplay on BBC Radio Wales.[15] He stated his music is influenced by a combination of artists, such as Pet Shop Boys, Ultravox, Coldplay, Mika, The Script and Calvin Harris.[16] He was branded in the press as "the lovechild of Neil Tennant and Avicii".

In 2015, he parted ways with his manager Albert Samuel and also with BMG. He then went on to be managed by Clive Farrington, the lead singer of When in Rome.

In January 2021, Kameelion announced to his Twitter followers that he had made a return to the music scene, with a brand new song, "Things U Do", an adaptation of "Thinking of You" by Sister Sledge, due to be released in iTunes and Spotify later that month. He also created an adaptation of "Give Me Up", originally by American gospel singer Beau Williams. In April 2021, he released a new single, "Ghost". Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all of his scheduled live performances for the most of 2020 were cancelled.

Television work[]

In January 2015, he was a contestant on ITV's Stars In Their Eyes, performing as Neil Diamond and singing "Hello Again", a song from the 1980 movie The Jazz Singer.[17] He finished in second place.[18][19] The six-part series was a revival show hosted by Harry Hill, but was most famously hosted by Matthew Kelly, who stood down in 2004.[20] The performance gained a lot of positive social media attention, particularly on Twitter, which saw 'Neil Diamond' being one of the top trending subjects of tweets in the United Kingdom.[21] The episode gained 9.7 million viewers nationwide and was the highest of the series.[22]

In May 2015, he featured in the first pilot series of Tattoo Fixers.

In November 2021, he was filmed for “Bargain Loving Brits In The Sun”, a reality documentary series broadcast on Channel 5, due to be aired in April 2022. The show follows several people who live and work in Benidorm, showing their lifestyle and the positives and negatives of living in Spain.

His original song, “Shine” was featured on the soundtrack of the fifth season of “House”, an American medical drama which ran on the Fox network for eight seasons. Many of his work with producers and songwriters have also been featured in scenes on ITVBe's The Only Way Is Essex and on ITV2's Love Island.[23]

Other Projects[]

From 2015 to 2017, Kameelion was employed by several primary schools across Britain, in a bid to try and inspire children into enjoying music and to be inspired by song writing.[24] He worked predominantly at Ysgol Emmanuel, in his hometown of Rhyl,[25] before moving on to John F Kennedy Special School in Beckton in East London. He then ventured in to the area of Essex and worked at St John's Church of England School in Buckhurst Hill and finally at Latton Green, Longwood, and Abbotsweld Primary schools, which were all a part of the NET Academies Trust, based in Harlow, in the west area of Essex.

In 2016, Kameelion released a tribute song, "Fly" in memory of up and coming band Viola Beach, who in the early hours of 13 February 2016, all tragically died together with their manager Craig Tarry in a road accident in Södertälje, southwest of Stockholm, Sweden.[26] Being saddened by the news, Kameelion encouraged his 50,000 Twitter followers to start tweeting the hashtag #ViolaBeachToNumber1, which soon started to trend online with thousands of users tweeting it. Due to the band getting national exposure on Twitter, their music started moving up the charts on a daily basis. Eventually, due to this social media campaign, on 5 August 2016, their studio album, "Viola Beach", peaked at number one on the UK Albums Chart.[27] A lead single, "Swings & Waterslides", also peaked at number 11 on UK Singles Chart.[28]

In 2017, he started performing shows on the cabaret circuit in Benidorm, under the name Ben Alexander. He predominantly performs as the front man in a Take That tribute, known as "The Flood", as well as performing a 'Golden Oldies' show, featuring songs from Matt Monro, Jim Reeves, Gene Pitney, Neil Diamond and others from that era.

Personal life[]

Before being a musician, he was a keen footballer. In 2014, he competed in Soapstar Soccerstar, a charity football match for the Once Upon A Smile charity held at the Racecourse stadium.[29] He also was in the line-up for the 2014 Celebrity Soccer Six tournament. The event was held at Elland Road, the home ground of Leeds United.[30] He is also an avid Manchester United supporter.[31]

In February 2012, Kameelion was involved with Make A Wish Foundation, a charity that grants wishes for children and young people who are living with life-threatening illnesses, often being terminal. A child diagnosed with cancer wrote to the charity as she wanted to meet him. An unexpected surprise visit was planned for the child, which included a limousine, personal photoshoot and a meal at a local TGI Friday's.

In April 2014, he became an ambassador for the James Bulger Memorial Trust.[32]

Kameelion posed for the Balls To Cancer charity in 2015, which was published in Gay Times Magazine and involved celebrities posing in a "suggestive" naked manner, to promote the awareness of testicular cancer.[33][34]

In 2011, an online showbiz blog announced that he was in a relationship with X Factor contestant Cher Lloyd. They both confirmed on Twitter that this was untrue, with Lloyd tweeting to say that they shared the same agent, but had "never even spoken" to each other.[35][36]

After researching his family tree, he discovered he is a distant cousin of actor Paul Nicholls, known best for his role as Joe Wicks in Eastenders.

In 2017, he moved to the Costa Blanca area of Spain and currently resides in L'Alfàs del Pi. He previously lived in Buckhurst Hill in Essex.

In 2021, he revealed on Instagram that he is in a relationship with Amaya Sáez O’Leary.

Discography[]

Singles[]

Year Song Peak chart positions Album
UK BEL (VL)
[37]
2012 "Don't Even Know Your Name" 67 18 The Boy Who Made Sounds
"Don't Cry" 31 54
2021 "Things U Do" - - Things U Do

Promotional singles[]

Year Song Album
2014 "I See You"
(featuring Lily Allen) 		Non-album track

Songwriting credits[]

Year Artist Album Song Co-written with
2011 Laura Ellement Songs About Ernest "I Miss You" Laura Ellement
2014 DJ Ironik Independently Unstoppable E.P "Wiseman" DJ Ironik
2014 Aggro Santos Aggro Culture "Can't Let It Go" Yuri "Aggro" Santos, Uzoechi Emenike
2015 Roll Deep Winner Stays On "Picture Perfect" David Anthony
2015 Judie Tzuke Non-album single "Spider Girl" Judie Tzuke, David P. Goodes
2015 Judie Tzuke Non-album single "Tallula" Judie Tzuke, David P. Goodes

References[]

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External links[]

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