The music industry is a tough business. There are many artists that contribute a portfolio of terrific music and performances, and never climb out of the local music scene to the next level. Even if that “local music scene” is New York City. As hard as its ever been, even with youtube. MaryAnne Marino is one of those artists, who shined on the NYC music scene in the late 2000’s — a scene that Regina Spektor came out of. MaryAnne is a singer/songwriter/guitarist who released two albums (an LP and an EP), which contained a number of top-of-the-billboard caliber songs (and the album produced by an industry-name producer Peter Zizzo), was a standout live performer at premier NYC music venues for several years, had one of her videos playing on a NYC music tv channel, and previously was lead singer of The November Project, a band that formed from The October Project which had a significant following.
Alas after her second album (the EP) MaryAnne left the scene to pursue other interests, in New Orleans last I read.
I discovered MaryAnne by seeing her on that music video on tv, and I immediately sought out her live performance dates as she jumped off the screen as a Sheryl Crow type singer/songwriter. I caught MaryAnne live several times — maybe 4 times — and got to know her as a fan.
The first time I saw her was at The Cutting Room in NYC. I had a seat up front, and was eating fries and a burger. At one point in between songs she said, “those fries look good”. It was funny. And unexpected — I almost dropped my fry. She had a way of engaging her audience with a quick wit and fun stage presence.
Best Live Performance in NYC in 2007
In the summer of 2007, MaryAnne’s performance at The Living Room was the best live music performance I saw that summer, which included seeing a number of top-line artists live such as Aimee Mann, Sheryl Crow, Blondie, and Cyndi Lauper. MaryAnne’s energy, enthusiasm, stage presence (aka sense of humor), voice, and melodic songs made for a really fun evening.
I recorded some of her performance at The Living Room with a backup pocket camera — I had brought my video camera but the waitress asked me to put it away. Those performances are here:
The Debut Album, the Follow-Up EP, and Forever Is Mine
MaryAnne’s debut album, Ghost of You, produced by Peter Zizzo (Avril Lavigne, Celine Dion, Vanessa Carlton) was one of the better new albums I reviewed in 2006 — back in the days when I was buying a dozen new albums a year (the days of record stores and CDs!). Her follow-up EP, A Little Something, contained a song, Forever is Mine, that became her signature piece. It at current time has over 26,000 views on youtube. Like her other compositions, it is a beautiful song, and beautifully sung. If this song got airplay on a commercial radio station today, so many people would stop in their tracks and try to find out who the singer was. That’s the music industry.
Back Story — The November Project
According to a fan website for MaryAnne, she fronted several cover bands before becoming the lead singer of the November Project in the early 2000’s (which had previously been called The October Project — a band with a significant following). She studied jazz voice at SUNY Purchase and continued to perform in theaters around the northeast, before teaming up with producer Peter Zizzo (Avril Lavigne, Celine Dion, Vanessa Carlton). Zizzo produced Marino’s debut album, “Ghost of You”. Once upon a time a google search on MaryAnne turned up that she was also a star basketball player in High School, and set a record for points scored in her school (Chester High School).
A recent search reveals that the Middletown NY Record newspaper did an interesting story on MaryAnne in the early 2000’s, as she was rising thru the music business. A google search also finds there was a good interview of MaryAnne in Always Acoustic magazine in 2009. There were a number of other interviews in magazines at that time; some have disappeared off the internet. In 2011, an interview in The Chronicle detailed her move to New Orleans. A few of the times that I saw Marino, she performed with Jen Scaturro, a creative musician who continues her career in the music industry.
Future Story
If you search MaryAnne Marino today, nothing recent comes up. A few years ago, I checked to see if she was performing again, and found that she had been in the True Detective HBO tv show in 2014 with Matthew McConaughey — in a scene where she was performing live on stage in the background.
As I write this article, I realize MaryAnne Marino had quite a nice career; worthy of a Wikipedia page. Hopefully she decides to get back into music again someday. Truly an artist that should have been seen and heard by more people.
Where to Buy Her Music
Both of MaryAnne’s albums are available on iTunes. They are highly recommended to add to your music stream or library.
- Ghost of You album — available on iTunes, Spotify, and CD Baby. It’s a terrific album. I’d rate it 5 stars; we reviewed it when it first came out, here.
- A Little Something EP — available on iTunes, Spotify, and also CD Baby. A wonderful little EP, also 5 stars. Includes “Forever Is Mine”, “Let’s Get Married”, and “Ordinary Life” — all excellent songs.
MaryAnne has an official website, which points at a Twitter and Facebook channel — but all haven’t been attended to in years.
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