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Artist
Art Alexakis
12+ albums
singer-songwriter
about
Art Alexakis (born Arthur Paul Alexakis on April 12, 1962) is the singer/guitarist and songwriter of the rock band Everclear. He was born in Los Angeles, California. At a young age, Alexakis' father walked out on the family, leaving Alexakis, his mother, his brother, and his three sisters to fend for themselves. Not long after, financial difficulties forced Alexakis' mother to relocate the family to the Mar Vista Gardens housing projects in California, located in Los Angeles near Culver City (Mar Vista Gardens is near, but not in, the Mar Vista neighborhood). There, Alexakis came in direct contact with the area's criminal and drug culture. Alexakis' brother George died of a heroin overdose when Alexakis was twelve. A lyric in the song "Heroin Girl" refers to his mother overhearing a police officer describing his brother's death as "just another overdose." About a year later, Alexakis' girlfriend OD'd. Not long after her death, Alexakis attempted suicide by getting stoned, filling his pockets with sand, and jumping off the Santa Monica Pier. He claims the voice of his brother George compelled him to survive. Regardless, Alexakis' drug addiction continued. Over the next eight years, he was shuffled around between various family members all over the country. He spent a brief period in Houston, Texas, living with his father, and a period in Roseburg, Oregon, living with his sister, a born-again Christian, and her husband. Eventually, he returned to LA to live with his mother.
