Mark Erelli

Mark Erelli is an American singersongwriter, multiinstrumentalist, and touring folk musician from Reading, Massachusetts who earned a Masters Degree in evolutionary biology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst before pursuing a career in music. Erelli has released nine solo albums and three collaborative albums. His selftitled debut album was released in 1999, the same year that he won the Kerrville Folk Festivals New Folk Award. His first recording for the Signature Sounds label, Compass amp Companion, spent ten weeks in the Top Ten on the Americana Chart. Erelli has worked as a side musician for singer songwriters Lori McKenna and Josh Ritter. He has performed at various music festivals and shared the stage with John Hiatt, Dave Alvin, and Gillian Welch. Erellis song People Look Around, which he cowrote with Catie Curtis, was the Grand Prize winner at the 2005 International Songwriting Competition. His songs have been recorded by Ellis Paul, Vance Gilbert, Antje Duvekot, and

Erelli was born in Boston and grew up in the town of Reading, Massachusetts. Erelli performed in numerous high school musicals and founded the band, Freddie and Slip. Later he was a member of the band Organic Ice Cube and wrote his first song Hell In the Sky as a member of the band Dead Flowers . Erelli was introduced to the music of Patty Larkin, Chris Smither, and other singersongwriters by listening to the radio station WBOS. He formed the Mark Erelli Band and in 1997 released the album Long Way From Heaven. After attending the North East Folk Alliance Conference in 1997, Erelli signed a recording contract with Signature Sounds Recordings. He was awarded the Iguana Music Fund Fellowship award from Cambridges Club Passim and used the proceeds to build a home studio.

Source: Wikipedia