Alexander Crossan (born 5 April 1996), also known by the stage name Mura Masa, is a Guernsey-born electronic music producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Crossan is perhaps best known for his song "Lovesick", which reached number one on the Spotify Viral charts in the United Kingdom and the United States.
Crossan's self-titled debut album was nominated for Best Dance/Electronic Album and Best Recording Package at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards, making him the first artist to be nominated as both a musician and creative director for the same album. His remix of Haim's "Walking Away" won Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards.
Early life
Crossan was born and raised in Guernsey. After playing guitar, bass, drums and singing in local punk, hardcore, deathcore and gospel bands, Crossan started self-producing at the age of 15, "searching for samples on YouTube and other corners of the internet". He entered the electronic music scene after learning about Hudson Mohawke and streamed music via YouTube, where he discovered James Blake, Cashmere Cat and SBTRKT. Crossan's influences, including Gorillaz and The Smiths, inspired him to write music and learn to play different instruments. At 16, Crossan started to make electronic songs using Ableton Live, and uploaded them to SoundCloud the following year under the alias Mura Masa, taken from Japanese swordsmith Muramasa Sengo.
At 17, Crossan uploaded his first tracks, remixes and bootlegs to SoundCloud. The track "Lotus Eater" was picked up by BBC Radio 1 with Zane Lowe, Annie Mac, Huw Stephens and Phil Taggart all playing the song on their shows.
