Make Way For MARLEE SCOTT
By Larry Delaney
If you want to become successful in the entertainment business, you may have to pave your own path, call your own shots, and let the chips fall where they may. It's not a foolproof formula, but for some it works. Marlee Scott is a good example that it can be done. It's not a mainline to superstar status...but it is the next best thing. Marlee Scott now has two albums under her belt, a bunch of nationally charted singles, and some impressive tour credits...and she's really just getting started. There's a lot more on the horizon.
At 23 years of age, Marlee Scott has achieved a lot of things most people only dream of. Her music career to date has proven to be even more rewarding than she hoped for, becoming an accomplished songwriter along the way, and her lifelong passion for horse riding still has a keen spot on her activity register.
"Oh yeah, I consider myself to be one of the luckiest persons around..." says Marlee. "I am able to pursue a career in music, and I am surrounded by some very professional people in the music business...and when I need a little diversion I have my horse riding. It's really neat, and I love it all."
For Marlee Scott, it's been a hectic existence from the very beginning. Born on New Year's Day, 1986 in Richmon Hill, Ontario, she moved with the family to Markham, Ontario, then to Prince Edward Island, and then to St. Albert, Alberta, all before she turned 6 years of age. "I don't remember too much of that, but I do remember anything that related to music," says Marlee.
"I'll try that big pink electric guitar..."
One of the fondest memories is when she first attended music lessons...she was signed in to learn the flute...but when the then 7 year-old Marlee spotted a pink electric guitar in the classroom, she informed her teacher that she wanted to learn how to play 'that thing!' That marked Marlee's first career decision...and she has never looked back.
By the time she was 8 years-old Marlee discovered that she also liked to sing...and with her older sister soon formed a band, The Mermaids. She also tried a hand at writing...first turning a childhood poem into a song; but also stirring a love for creativity, something that she would later use to its full potential.
While attending Paul Kane High School in St. Albert, Marlee continued to work on her music lessons, her vocal training, and of course her love for riding horses. At school she performed in various plays, musical events and anytime there was a camera taping, she made sure she was in front of it. "I was doing the Raffi stuff, the Sharon, Lois & Bram stuff... their music was very influential at that time in my life," recalls Marlee.
Car radios play key role in music choices
Her exposure to country music came in a rather unique way. Marlee's mom, Carole, was in charge of transporting her daughter to all of her activities, and the radio in the Honda Civic that she drove was only able to bring in one station clearly... and it just happened to be a country music station. So Marlee listened to country music a lot... "I liked it (country music) right away, although I'm not sure if I knew exactly what I was listening to...I just knew that it was fun to listen to."
Ironically, it was another car radio that re-enforced her interest in country music. "When I turned 16 and got my driver's license, I drove a Pontiac Sunfire; and the very first time I turned on the radio, I heard Alabama singing Mountain Music... and it left a permanent mark on my musical brain. Even then, I didn't really know what I was listening to... I just knew that it was something that I wanted to do. Then I heard the DJ on the radio call it 'country music'... and that was a good enough description for me."
Marlee began performing on local stages, getting more and more comfortable with her talents and her ability to deliver her music to an audience.
Making all the right connections
At a house concert in Edmonton, Marlee crossed paths with Steve Fox, a noted Canadian songwriter/recording artist and producer, who was now working out of Nashville. Steve immediately recognized Marlee's vocal talents, and also sensed her love to write her own songs... he invited her to spend some time with him in his Nashville studios... and by 2005 Marlee Scott had her first album completed and her music career got underway in style.
The debut album, entitled Souvenir, featured nine songs that Marlee had a hand in co-writing with such notable Canuck songwriters as Steve Fox, Jason McCoy, Tim Taylor, Jason Blaine, etc., and it yielded four singles - I Fall In Love Too Fast, We'll Think of Something, My Only Souvenir and Track 3; all of which earned decent airplay on Canadian radio stations.
Marlee's career was then being managed by Louis O'Reilly of the Saskatoon-based O'Reilly International; and the album was released on O'Reilly's newly launched 306 Records label; which at the time also boasted a roster headed-up by Brad Johner and Shane Yellowbird.
Recognizing quickly that to broaden her musical horizons it would be important for her to move to Nashville, Marlee pulled up stakes and did exactly that... in summer of 2007 she made Music City USA her new home.
"It was a scary but exciting decision to make. Fortunately I have always had the full support of my parents (Bill and Carole Scott)... and that made the move so much easier to do," says Marlee.
She has since become a frequent flyer... often returning to Canada to keep in touch with family, friends and fans. She also has toured extensively in Canada, working concert tours as an opening attraction for George Fox, Michelle Wright and more recently a Western Canada tour with Emerson Drive.
Marlee also made a career move in February 2008. She crossed paths with Gerry Leiske, award-winning manager at the time of the Canadian-bred Emerson Drive band, and the driving force behind the earlier success of the trio Farmer's Daughter, one of Canadian country music's most acclaimed female acts.
"We were having lunch at the Cracker Barrel in Nashville, exchanged some pleasantries, and I welcomed his advice on a couple of things... and we hit it off so nicely, that it was real easy to turn it into a working relationship; and I now have Gerry Leiske and the entire Big Ride Management team handling my music career."
Marlee's second album, a 10-song, self-titled release distributed in Canada by Royalty Records; featured yet another part of Marlee's growing talent pool... this time she coproduced the project with Nashville's Rick Giles, co-wrote five of the songs with Giles and another four tunes with Rick Giles and Gilles Goddard. The album has already served up two charted singles in Fight With You and the current Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow; with 5 O'Clock Dance being readied for an early 2010 radio release.
Meanwhile, fans can also hear Marlee performing the Christmas song Someday At Christmas, available as a download from her website. "I've always loved that Stevie Wonder song... and I'm delighted to have the chance to record it and make it available to everyone at this time of the year," says Marlee.
"I feel really fortunate to have the support of country radio stations in Canada, and I'm very thankful for that. Actually, I have a whole lot to be thankful for... great family, great fans, my music, and my friends in the music biz... it's been quite a ride... and like they say, I'm really just getting started!"
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