Singer/songwriter
Hannah Marcus spent her childhood days roaming the busy streets of New York, relishing the musical backgrounds of her parents and the cultural aspects surrounding her near the Hispanic neighborhoods in Harlem and Columbia University. Her father was the family musician, for he played the cello, but
Marcus' mother was a painter and her time working included listening to the sounds of
Leonard Cohen,
Phil Ochs,
Bob Dylan, and
the Supremes.
Marcus absorbed this atmosphere, but it was the touching life of her autistic sister Melissa that allowed
Marcus to totally touch the internal spirituality of what it meant to feel music.
While growing into her independent self during college,
Marcus ignored her music until she turned to her deep, mysterious songwriting to complete a thesis. After graduation, she ventured off to San Francisco and there she caught a show of the American Music Club and was instantly inspired. Her early-'90s divorce also served as a catalyst for her heart wrenching word play. She hooked up with Bar-None Records shortly thereafter and continued her long rise to the big games. She released the EP Demerol three years prior to her 1996 debut River of Darkness and such an album was her cathartic introduction to the singer/songwriter realm. Four years later,
Marcus issued another strong effort with
Black Hole Heaven, which also featured production work from
American Music Club's
Tim Mooney. ~ MacKenzie Wilson