Early Career
Alistair Griffin was born in Middlesbrough, England. He started singing and writing songs whilst still a student at York St John College (now York St John University), playing guitar and busking on the streets of York with a small band. His wide musical influences range from classic rock and 'Britpop', to English and American folk music. After graduating with a BA(Hons) in English Literature (and following a brief stint working as a milkman around his home town, during which he crashed his milk float), he moved to London to pursue a career as a singer/songwriter.
In 2001, as vocalist with the pop/rock band 'Sugartown', he performed in front of 70,000 people at the Leeds Party in the Park. The following year, he and his sometime songwriting partner, Stuart Hanna (now part of folk duo Megson) formed the band, Pulse, and co-wrote the song 'Fade Away' (having recorded the song on an 8-track in Hanna's bedroom) and entered it for the 2002 Song for Europe competition on BBC Radio 2. The song was shortlisted, and a performance by Pulse was broadcast, but it failed to reach the finals.
Griffin was briefly a member of Ultra and spent some time working in Germany with DJ Sammy. It was widely reported that he auditioned for the boyband, Blue, only narrowly failing to make it to the final line-up, but Griffin later dismissed this as a fabrication by the press. Although signed by music publisher Trevor Horn's company, "Perfect Songs", he was unable to get a solo recording contract and in 2002, he applied to become a contestant on the first series of Fame Academy.
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