Alexandra Burke: I was told to bleach my skin by music boss
Astonishing revelation from singing star who shot to stardom after winning The X Factor
ALEXANDRA BURKE has accused the British music industry of racism after a record label executive told her to bleach her skin.
In an astonishing revelation, The X Factor winner also said she was banned from having her hair styled in braids or an afro. Miss Burke said she was left heartbroken when an entertainment agent told her he couldn’t sign her because he already had one black artist on his books – and didn’t need another.
Fighting back tears in a 15-minute video posted on her Instagram site, the 31-yearold singer said: ‘The music industry is such a funny little place.
‘I love singing, I love what I do, but if it wasn’t for the love I have for music, I definitely wouldn’t be in this industry.’
Speaking from her home in Hertfordshire in the early hours of yesterday, Miss Burke said: ‘A few reasons are when I first won The X Factor when I was 19, I got told that because you’re black you are going to have to work ten times harder than a white artist because of the colour of your skin.
‘You can’t have braids, you can’t have an afro, you can’t have anything that basically is my identity. You have to have hair that appeals to white people so people can understand you better.
‘I was 19 so there is only so much you can understand when your life changes overnight. That was hard to digest.
‘I got told to bleach my skin, and t hat was something I refused to do because it is absurd to me that somebody can even remotely say to someone, “Bleach your skin so that you can look whiter”. To this moment, it breaks my heart that I was told that.
‘It’s heartbreaking, the s*** that went on.’
Miss Burke said her first experience of racism in the music industry came when she was 16 and had reached the ‘judges’ houses’ stage of The X Factor i n her first attempt to win the show.
After she was told she was going no further, a Londonbased agent offered her the chance to get a recording deal. But two months later, she was left distraught at what he told her. ‘This person in particular said to me, “You haven’t made it through but give me a call in a couple if months and I will sign you – I will take you on as an artist”.
‘It was the break I had been waiting for. I remember calling the person and saying to him I was in the position to work and the reply that I got was, “I already have one black artist, I don’t need another.”
‘ I wasn’t sure how to take that, to be honest, I still have to really take that in all of these years later and think, wow, it really, really sucked to hear those words.’
For Miss Burke, who was born and raised in Islington, North London, even choosing the wrong picture to post on social media led to her being labelled ‘aggressive’.
She also claims she couldn’t release certain music.
‘ I ’ ve experienced microaggression so many times.
‘I get told regularly and from previous management companies, “You have to smile more on your Instagram because you come across aggressive – if you don’t smile, you’re not relatable. You can’t release this kind of music because white people don’t understand that. You have to appeal to only a certain radio station that white people listen to. You have to do this kind of music because people don’t understand what you want to say.” ’