Live front man Ed Kowalczyk announced this week that he'll be releasing his first solo album titled 'Alive' on July 6th.В 

The first single from the album is a track called 'Grace,' which you can preview at this location.

Kowalczyk has been previewing much of his new solo material acoustically on the 'Open Wings Broken Strings' tour with Everclear frontman Art Alexakis that wrapped up in March.В  Kowalczyk has plans to release the album outside of the US prior to the July 6th release in North America, with a European release set for June 25.

Kowalczyk has yet to directly address his departure from Live, but the other members of the band have emphatically stated that he is no longer part of the band.В  As previously reported, in a post on guitarist Chad Taylor's blog in late November, Taylor stated that the members of the band "will never play a show with him again." Reportedly Kowlalczyk left the three other members of the band out of a publishing deal that Kowlalczyk signed in 2005 for the band, listing only Kowlalczyk's name on the paperwork.

The three remaining members of Live - Chad Taylor, Patrick Dahlheimer,and Chad Gracey have teamed up with lead vocalist Kevin Martin and guitarist Sean Hennesy from the band Candlebox to form a new band called The Gracious Few.В Their self-titled debut album is due out later this summer.