Marcel   -  Biography

Leaving his home in Grosse Pointe, Mich., as a teenager, Marcel first chose to pursue a career in professional hockey. Moving from state to state -- from Alaska and Ohio, to Georgia and Tennessee -- the harsh bang-ups and penalties in hockey proved to be good preparation for a career in the music business.

While scraping by as a hockey player in Memphis, his roommate's girlfriend heard him singing in the background during a phone conversation. She said she had the L.A. connections to get him a record deal, so he moved there. Instead of instant stardom, he found himself waiting tables and working landscaping jobs, sleeping on couches and beneath kitchen tables. Meanwhile, he plastered telephone poles around L.A. promoting his gigs at clubs like the Viper Room and the Mint.

After four-and-a-half years in L.A., his photogenic good looks led to a variety of ads (Gap, AT&T Wireless) and television programs. But inspired by the 1993 movie The Thing Called Love, Marcel came to Nashville to check out the Bluebird Cafe. He spent several years (and tens of thousands of dollars) commuting between L.A. and Nashville, before landing a publishing deal. Mercury Nashville released his debut You, Me, and the Windshield in 2003.

Marcel is dating singer Jessica Andrews, and co-wrote her hit "There's More to Me Than You."