ARMED with a dancefloor full of electro-pop anthems, his own clothing designs and a kitsch girl dance troupe to wear them, Alexander Price is living the dream, writes MATT TROLLOPE. Growing up in Sheffield, the 25-year-old got his first taste of London li

ARMED with a dancefloor full of electro-pop anthems, his own clothing designs and a kitsch girl dance troupe to wear them, Alexander Price is living the dream, writes MATT TROLLOPE.

Growing up in Sheffield, the 25-year-old got his first taste of London life when he spent his teenage weekends at the Sylvia Young Theatre School in north west London, alongside classmates Billie Piper and Amy Winehouse.

A degree in contemporary art at Demontfort University in Leicester later, and Alexander headed back to the capital.

He said: "I moved back down about three years ago and ended up in Dalston because the rent was cheap. I knew about the Shoreditch and Hoxton scenes, but I didn't know anything was happening in Dalston."

With its edgy underground parties and aspiring artists, musicians and fashionistas, Dalston, sandwiched in between Shoreditch, Hackney and Islington, is the perfect environment for Alexander to ply his trade.

His double A-side In The City/I Love Your Music was released on his ToyBoy label earlier this year, and is available on iTunes, while he has just signed a record deal to independent label Intense Presence, with a cover of Pet Shop Boys' Rent set to follow in May.

He says: "I share a house opposite the Dalston Superstore, one of the area's best venues, with five other people, including someone in a band, a fashion designer, a fashion student from St Martin's College and a party promoter. And that pretty much sums up this area.

"The education I got at Sylvia Young was vital. It was a prestigious place, with people who know the industry, guiding us. I feel that you need that commercial kind of background before realising whether you want to rebel against it or build on it."

When his degree had finished, Alexander explored performance art with various bookings at cutting edge east London parties, but his dream of being a pop star never diminished.

His music is a pulsating blend of feisty electro pop, with him on vocals, and his female troupe, The Designer Babies, never far away.

The latter owe much to Alexander's infatuation with girl bands and he explains: "I mostly pay homage to girl bands, bands like Girls Aloud, and sometime deconstruct them in a post-modern way too.

"I design all the costumes they wear, as well as my own, and one day we may look at launching my own range if they're popular enough.