Alex Briley

{{short description|American singer (born 1947)}} {{BLP sources|date=April 2010}} {{Use American English|date=October 2022}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Alex Briley | caption = Briley in 1978 | image = Alex Briley 1978.jpg | image_upright = .9 | birth_name = Alexander Briley | occupation = {{hlist|Singer}} | years_active = 1977–2017 }}

'''Alexander Briley''' is an American retired singer who was the original "G.I." in the disco recording act Village People.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=5jcRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=i-YDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3799,4425998&dq=alex-briley&hl=en|title=Village People – great disco fun|last=Sutherland|first=Donnie|date=November 11, 1979|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|pages=118|accessdate=April 13, 2010}}</ref>

==Early life and education== Briley is the son of a Christian minister.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://jam.canoe.com/Music/Artists/V/Village_People/2000/07/15/751551.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309225748/http://jam.canoe.com/Music/Artists/V/Village_People/2000/07/15/751551.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 9, 2016 |title = Canoe -- Jam! Music – Artists – Village People: No need to feel down }}</ref> Raised in Harlem and later Mount Vernon, New York, Briley sang in church from an early age and studied voice at the University of Hartford. Briley has two brothers, Timothy and Jonathan.

==Career== Briley was introduced to producer/composer Jacques Morali by Village People member Victor Willis. He originally performed in jeans and a T-shirt, but he took the role of a soldier for the album ''Cruisin''' in 1978, and appeared as a sailor when the group recorded ''In the Navy'' in 1979. He retired from Village People at 70, after 40 years' service with a few interruptions. He performed onstage at the Punchestown Music Festival at Punchestown Racecourse in July of 2017. <ref>https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/alex-briley-of-disco-group-the-village-people-performs-on-news-photo/824361910</ref>

==Personal life== === Jonathan Briley === Briley's younger brother, Jonathan (1958–2001), worked as an audio engineer at Windows on the World on the 106th floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center and died in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. In 2005, Jonathan was speculated by several people to be The Falling Man – the figure depicted in an iconic photo of a man falling to his death from the North Tower.<ref name=JunodEsquire>{{cite web |last=Junod |first=Tom |editor= Esquire Magazine| year=2003 |url=http://www.esquire.com/features/ESQ0903-SEP_FALLINGMAN |title=The Falling Man }}</ref> He was one of an estimated 100–200 people who died on 9/11 either by jumping from, falling from, or being pushed out of the upper stories of the Twin Towers.

== References == {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Briley, Alex}} Category:Living people Category:African-American male singers Category:American male pop singers Category:Singers from New York (state) Category:Musicians from Manhattan Category:People from Harlem Category:Musicians from Mount Vernon, New York Category:University of Hartford alumni Category:Village People members Category:20th-century American singers Category:21st-century American singers Category:Year of birth missing (living people)