When you think of the opera singer Alfie Boe, your mind might go to his tremendous performances in Les Mis, his long-running collaboration with fellow West End star Michael Ball, or even his seemingly relentless appearances on This Morning. You might not expect a solo album full of personal songs about family and finding peace. It was a bold move, then, after years of covering revered works in opera, classical and musical theatre, to release his first ever album of (mostly) original material. For Boe, it was simply a case of now or never.
We meet in a plush private members’ club in Chelsea, Boe looking unassuming as he walks over with a brown cap pulled over his brow. He orders a pot of Earl Grey and takes the cap off, revealing a close crop of dark hair. He seems a little anxious, but then, with an album titled Face Myself, he’s probably realised belatedly that he’s waved the red flag to the bulls (journalists) eager to pry into the life of a man once dubbed “the bad boy of opera”.
Anyone hoping for sleaze and scandal will likely be disappointed. Boe’s sobriquet stems more from his work in breaking down the stuffier misconceptions surrounding classical music, usually through golden-voiced covers of classic rock songs. But that doesn’t mean he won’t shed some light – in his music and during our conversation – on his working-class upbringing, evolving family life, career breakthrough and how he plucked up the courage to make this album in the first place.
“In the past, I’ve been sort of guided down the direction that people feel I should go down,” the 52-year-old tells me in his soft Lancashire burr. “But sometimes you have to take chances.” He felt encouraged by his new management team – and his new record label – who were thrilled with what he was coming up with in the studio with producer/songwriter MyRiot (Primal Scream, London Grammar). Initially the plan was to have just three or four original songs; they ended up with seven, plus five carefully chosen covers of artists he admires, from Elbow and Noel Gallagher to Irish singer-songwriter Foy Vance.
Album opener “Meanwhile Gardens” tells the story, in part, of Boe’s own ambitions, performing on Broadway and feeling overwhelmed by the scale of New York City – “giant skyscrapers but also giants within the industry, these big bosses finding young artists and taking them for everything they’ve got, then letting them go,” he says. It’s named after the park and community garden in Westbourne, north Kensington, near where Boe lived while studying at the Royal College of Music. He recalls: “It’s one of those places where you feel like, no matter how busy life gets, there’s somewhere to find an element of peace, to connect with yourself and plan your dreams.”
He was relieved to be met with such a positive reaction from fans while airing out these new songs at live shows. But, he points out, the sound of the album – lushly textured and with a cinematic quality to much of it – hardly veers far away from the romance and drama of the ballad “Bring Him Home” from Les Mis. It was this song that helped propel Boe to household-name status back in 2010, thanks to a now-iconic O2 Arena performance as Valjean, a role he’s reprised on stages around the world.
Years earlier, he’d been spurred into an opera career by a customer who heard him singing along to the radio at his car factory job, aged 19. Told he should audition for a touring company in London, he travelled down from Lancashire for the day, got hired, and packed in the factory job. He credits his family with influencing his early music tastes: the youngest of nine siblings, he grew up in a busy household in Fleetwood listening to everything from Elvis Presley to Pavarotti. “That’s why my music taste is so eclectic… I didn’t see any divisions,” he says. “I was just blasted by good songs – I didn’t perceive any difference between rock or classical.”
He is bemused by the notion of opera or musical theatre requiring a certain kind of background – yes, there are gatekeepers, he agrees, “but that’s not all it is”. I mention Timothée Chalamet’s notorious remark last month, in which – during an interview with Matthew McConaughey – he claimed that “no one cares” about opera or ballet. Boe snorts, shaking his head. “What a silly thing… silly little boy.” He thinks Chalamet was showing off to McConaughey, whom he calls “a better actor”. His publicist, until now working quietly on the sofa next to us, starts to laugh nervously, but we’re already moving on.
We talk in depth about the meaning behind Boe’s new songs. “10,000 Miles” was written about the distance between himself and his two children, Alfie and Grace, whom he shares with his ex-wife, Sarah. After they separated in 2020, Sarah, who is American, moved back to Utah with their children to be closer to her family – Boe has spoken in the past about going to a “dark place” after the split, and being admitted to rehab following an overdose of pills. “It’s pretty tough to feel that, every day, your kids are on the other side of the world to you,” he says now. “I follow a lot of US news programmes, and it scares me [what’s going on over there].” He cheers up when I ask if the kids are creative, too. “They are, in their own way – my son is artistic, and my daughter has a good eye for fashion.” He sees elements of both himself and Sarah in them: “Good traits… I try to keep my bad traits to myself, and let my children discover theirs,” he says with a chuckle.
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He lived in Utah himself for a while, bouncing between the family home with Sarah and his work commitments: “I think that was what put a bit of a strain on things, unfortunately.” Now, he’s based in Manchester, but will still find himself down in London for work, and also to spend more time with his daughter, who’ll be studying fashion at university. And soon he’ll be touring around the country again, anyway. “Lots of hotels, lots of stolen towels,” he says, flashing another grin.
He’s in a new relationship now, posting cosy pictures of date nights on Instagram with his girlfriend, Elizabeth. He insists the love songs on the album weren’t written with his own love life in mind, artfully skirting my question about whether he’s felt more inspired, of late. I don’t begrudge him that, given how the tabloids already had a minor field day over their 20-year age gap. They look very happy together. “I think I’ve been inspired a lot by my family, my past more than the present,” Boe says carefully. “The past is something that never is off my mind. My connection with my children, with my ex… it was a beautiful relationship that I had.”
I bring up the album title again, wondering if he feels he faced down any regrets from his past. “If you don’t think about your mistakes, you don’t grow from them,” he says with a smile. “That’s been my philosophy over the years, to try and recover, because anybody who’s gone through a separation and a divorce will tell you that it’s a long road. It’s a battle every day learning how to forgive myself, to look at the way you were in the past, and try to become a better person.”
‘Face Myself’, the new album from Alfie Boe, is out now; he’s currently on tour in the UK
