Brisbane’s Ripley Alexander captivated the nation when he appeared on Australian Idol earlier this year performing his extraordinary cover of ABBA’s Mamma Mia.
Now the 20-year-old singer-songwriter is set to release his version of Mamma Mia with the track officially out today.
With over 100 million views of Ripley’s Idol performance on TikTok, fans have been begging for the track to be available on streaming and now have to wait no longer.
The new recording comes with a spectacular arrangement that Ripley created for his busking performances, now produced by ARIA-Award winning producer Jason Bovino (Sheppard) and with the stamp of approval from ABBA themselves.
Ripley shared his excitement about the release.
“I’m so excited for Mamma Mia to come out. I’ve always loved the song and to have approval from ABBA is an honour. Going viral was insane because it was something I had always dreamed of. I came up with the arrangement before my first-time busking. It’s in my Dad’s favourite movie so I thought I’d learn it for him.”
The song as the sixth single from ABBA’s self-titled third album that originally came out in 1975. Originally the band had no intention of releasing it as a single and had even offered it British band Brotherhood of Man to record – which they declined.
Under pressure from their Australian record company the band put to song out as the sixth and final single from the album, and it spent 10 weeks in the Number 1 spot on the Australian charts.
Born in Geelong, Victoria, but living in Brisbane for the past nine years, Ripley Alexander has been singing since the age of eight. Inspired by his older sibling Kai’s music collection, Ripley counts Harry Styles and Sir Elton John as his musical idols.
Describing his music as “a modern spin on a classic sound”, Ripley wants his music to resonate with a lot of people – something that happened in an instant when his Idol performance went viral around the world.
“Idol was a learning experience. It made me realise that while I could make it in the music industry, I had to work hard at it to achieve the success that I want.”
Ripley’s Idol journey saw him make it through to the Top 12 contestants on the show, along the way he perfomed songs by Blondie, Take That, Billy Joel, Shawn Mendes, Charlie Puth, and Imagine Dragons.
With a stack of original music already in the works, Ripley is about to head off to Los Angeles and Nashville to write even more new music with some of the world’s best songwriters.
“I’m hoping to write some of the best songs of my life and release them to start my music career.” he said.
