Fair Lawn Performer Pledges Song Proceeds to Tyler Clementi Foundation

Singer-songwriter Alexandra Kelly, a Fair Lawn native and recent Rutgers grad, recently debuted a new song to raise funds for a local charitable foundation close to her heart.

Kelly, who was born Alexandra Kelly Hausner, will donate a minimum of 68 percent of the proceeds from downloads of her song, "Perfectly Imperfect," to the Tyler Clementi Foundation.

The Foundation, which honors the life of the Ridgewood native and Rutgers student whose cyber bullying-related suicide in 2010 garnered national headlines, works to promote inclusive and accepting social environments for LGBT youth.

"To be able to pair a song that means so much to me with an organization that means so much to me is really amazing," Kelly said. "I hope that through this campaign, people make the pledge to become an upstander, not a bystander. We are all 'perfectly imperfect' just the way we are." 

The song, which Kelly said she wrote a couple years ago with the help of her mother and sister, relates the story of one person's journey to overcome self-doubt and move toward self-acceptance. It's available exclusively through Hotathon.com, a platform the pairs profits from paid music downloads with charities of the performer's choice.

"As music was a passion in Tyler's life, we are thrilled to support the talented Alexandra Kelly with her promising career," Clementi's brother, James, said in a statement. "The song 'Perfectly Imperfect' is a beautiful testament to all those who have felt different or struggled to find acceptance. This opportunity to share a song with a meaningful message is one The Tyler Clementi Foundation embraces."

Kelly, who graduated from Fair Lawn High School in 2008, won the WOR Radio Shining Star Talent Search as a 15-year-old and released her acclaimed debut album the following year.

At 17, she was invited to attend the Grammy Foundation's "Grammy Camp" for talented teen musicians in Los Angeles and went on to work with a bevy of Grammy Award winners and nominees. Her 11-track sophomore album, "It's Complicated," was released in 2010.

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