We recently connected with Marquise Fair and have shared our conversation below.
Marquise, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
One morning I was I was headed to class at Miami Dade college Homestead Campus. As I walked through the double doors of the main entrance. I made eye contact with a classmate of mine. He was standing next to a round table with a few other students crowded around a laptop. After making eye contact with me, he approached me and ask me if I like singing. I said Yes, I love singing. He replied let me hear something then. I said okay, he then leads me to the round table where the other students were and told me to pick any instrumental to sing to. They already had the laptop I mentioned earlier prepared to play instrumentals. I typed in one of my favorite Bob Marley songs, though I forgot which one. I sang to him and the other students that he was with. After I sang he asked me if I would be interested in joining them the next time they went to an open mic, I said yes. At the open mic night I sang 2 cover songs and stopped half way through the second song. I enjoyed performing but I also felt I wasn’t giving people what I knew I had to offer. I started showing up regularly singing covers I was getting a lot of good praises but I kept feeling that something was wrong it was good but not good enough I knew I could do better so I asked myself. What were my favorite artists doing that I’m not. The answer was singing their own music their music had a story to it and a life of its own. So I waited for my next refund from my financial aid there would usually be a few hundred dollars left over after book and class expenses. I would use this extra money to pay for my food. However, I impulsively went to the nearest pawn shop and bought the cheapest guitar I could find. I was ecstatic I had just bought my new guitar was headed home to play it. I got home and went straight to my room and shut the door. I took the guitar out and put it in my lap I immediately noticed it was missing tuning nobs and strings it was also electric which requires an amplifier. I didn’t know anything about guitars at the time, I bought a guitar I couldn’t play. I was in school the next day telling my friend about what happened and she says to me you can have my guitar I lept with joy. once I received it I began playing on an untuned guitar daily later a friend told me I had to tune it then another showed me some basic knowledge. Afterwards,I played every night after school Until I had a few songs ready to take to open mic. I performed my originals for the first time at Artistic Vibes open mic Journey and One True love (streaming on Spotify) . After performing the crowd was noticeably amazed many of them were regulars and saw me go from no guitar and stopping in the middle of my performances to playing my own songs and singing them with flare in a matter of months. I had never been good at anything, just ok, below or just average at best. For the first time I felt I had something I could excel in. Something that I could be good at and do good with while providing for myself. I realized at that moment on stage that this is my calling.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I am a singer songwriter who makes inspirational music. I call my genre love vibes. I got into the music industry by performing any and everywhere I could and by taking opportunities as they presented themselves. That lead me to Switzerland where I recorded my fist album which made it on Swiss national radio. When I am not touring I am performing with a band at private parties, weddings, resorts, bars and music venues. At a show of mine when not on tour. I will sing cover songs of the most influential songs of mine along with my originals. I provide nostalgia, when I perform a Bob Marley cover or The Beatles. I have the ability to give my clients a very similar feeling to that which they get when they hear the actual songs that I am covering. After a cover or two I will introduce a song of mine give a little background and perform it. When on tour or doing a concert or festival I sing originals only. Someone listens to my music everyday and it really helps them I am spreading positive vibrations making people feel good and helping them to cope with their day to day struggles. Whenever hired or listened to, rather mansion party or music venue, stadium or backyard, on Spotify or live,I will be spreading love vibes.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding aspect of being a artist or creative for me would be. Seeing how happy people get and how good they feel after watching a performance of mine. All awhile I am making money to support myself on my journey.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I was invited to Switzerland by producer and drummer David Wehren, to open up for Charlie Winston. I had no money to get there, no passport and had never travelled out of the country. I was working at a resort in Colorado as a Housman bringing room service items to rooms. Also, I played at the resort and in town every chance I could in fact 2 gigs that were given to me to help me get to Switzerland were of me performing at the same resort that I worked at. I didn’t have much money at the time I just had my basic needs met. So I had to be very clever as to how to get to Switzerland with only 1200 total for everything including my food, housing, flight and transportation. A flight to Switzerland is easily 1000$ on the low end. I also got my passport the day before my flight I had to travel out of state to make it to a post office that had a passport service. To make it there without spending all of my money I had to cleverly book 4 to 5 different flights it came out to 700$. I flew for 32 hours transferring from state to state to country then finally taking a train in Paris to get to Switzerland after my travels I was left with 500$ to live and eat with in Switzerland. The 500 went towards my housing at a hostel and luckily, my first day there I had a paid gig waiting for me. There were so many obstacles I had to overcome to get to this opportunity but I held strong and stayed diligent and it all worked out.
Contact Info:
- Website: Marquisefair.com
- Instagram: marquisefair
- Facebook: Marquise Fair Music
- Twitter: MarquiseFair
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/user/mirage611
- Other: https://marquisefair.bandcamp.com/releases
Image Credits
@Imagemephotography