Alex Clare

About

British soul-pop singer who turned 'Too Close' (2011) into a global hit by way of a Microsoft Internet Explorer commercial — possibly the only time in history that an IE ad has produced a Top-10 hit on two continents. The single is basically the Platonic ideal of dubstep-pop: gospel-trained vocal, half-time wobble, weirdly cathartic chorus. He's an Orthodox Jew and reportedly turned down a Sunday slot on Letterman over the Sabbath, which tells you most of what you need to know about the level of conviction here.