Xander Rawlins

Alexander "Xander" Rawlins is a popular singer-songwriter whose career started while he was a British army officer serving in Afghanistan. He was a 2014 BBC Introducing Artist and is well known for his songs "We See You" and "1000 Miles Apart". He will soon be releasing a new EP. He is a founding member of Soldier in Blue.

Career

Xander Rawlins, also known as Alex Rawlins (full first name Alexander), attended Bedford School,Bedford, England and Oxford Brookes University. After graduation from University, he attended The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst commissioning into the Grenadier Guards in 2007. In 2009, he deployed to Afghanistan where he was a platoon commander with 30 men under his command.

BBC Three television broadcast a documentary series entitled Our War: 10 years in Afghanistan. The second episode of the 3-episode series contained coverage of Captain Alex Rawlins filming and interviewing his men from 1st Battalion, the Grenadier Guards about their experiences, and captures events surrounding the loss of Private Jamie Janes, a soldier from his battalion, who had died on 5 October 2009 stepping on a landmine . Janes' death became a turning point in the British public's awareness of the human cost of Improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The documentary Our War won "Best Documentary Series" and "Best Multichannel Programme" at the Broadcast Awards 2012.