A classically trained pianist originally from Ajax, Alex Whorms now makes her home in Hamilton creating beautifully crafted pop songs.” - Graham Rockingham

The Hamilton Spectator

Alex Whorms crafts music that is essentially a genre unto itself.

Seated at her beloved keyboard, the young vocalist and composer flows freely and flawlessly between styles and sounds, gracefully blending classic singer-songwriter pop, jazz, soul, rock, classical, folk and almost anything else that strikes her fancy — while investing everything with honest tales and authentic emotions drawn from her own life and experiences. 

A self-described "classical music kid” who fell in love with musical theatre in high school, became a "musical theatre nerd” in high school, Whorms went from practicing piano five hours a day to reading charts in pit bands and conducting choirs while still in her teens. She loved the dramatic melodies, the lyrics that told stories. She could handle Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Beethoven, Rodgers and Hammerstein. What she couldn't handle was the Top 40. "I hated it," she admits. "I used to have an old iPod that I would listen to in my parents' car so I didn't have to hear the radio. I used to go to the library and grab whatever CDs looked interesting, load them in and put them on shuffle." 

One day, the wheel landed on a Sarah Slean song, and Whorms' world widened. "I found her music incredible because it was dramatic, and her lyrics are poetry. It was sensitive and beautiful. I could relate." Slean led her to Regina Spektor and Tori Amos, Fiona Apple and Sarah Bareilles, Julia Michaels and Laila Biali — and before long, Whorms had found a new passion. She began studying the craft of songwriting, honing her skills as a performer and bandleader, sharpening her pen as a lyricist. 

"I started writing songs to process my day-to-day experiences, like journalling," she says. "I want to share honest experiences in my music - nothing over-polished or over-simplified, because life isn't simple." 

She should know. Since releasing her 2017 EP Our Lives and 2019's Burgundy, Whorms' world has become much busier. She won the 2019 Hamilton Arts Award for Emerging Artist in Music, earning praise for her “beautifully crafted pop songs” from Graham Rockingham of The Hamilton Spectator.

She toured across Ontario, hitting Canadian Music Week in Toronto (2019), Hamilton’s Festival of Friends (2018, 2021) and New York City’s Sidewalk Cafe (2017). She performed on CHCH TV’s Morning Live, and the Cable 14 programs Ensemble! and Marz Garage. Tracks from Burgundy were played on CBC Radio's Fresh Air and In the Key of C, with host Adam Carter praising the track Sunset for its “real, honest purity.” Her Burgundy release concert at Hamilton’s beloved Jillard Guitars sold out. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Whorms covered and released recordings of Bing Crosby's "I'll Be Home For Christmas" (2020) and Jann Arden's hit single "Insensitive", further establishing her sound. She is currently working on her third EP, to be released in 2023. 

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