Mark Erelli - Background

Background

While growing up in Reading, Massachusetts, Erelli performed in numerous high school musicals and formed his first band, Freudian Slip. Other bands during his school years included Dead Flowers and Organic Ice Cube. He wrote his first song "Hell In the Sky" while a member of Dead Flowers. Later, Erelli discovered radio station WBOS and was introduced to the music of Patty Larkin, Chris Smither, and other singer-songwriters. The simple sounds of a voice and a guitar encouraged him to make his own music. As a student at Bates College in Maine, Erelli started performing at open-mic nights and persuaded some of his musical heroes to perform on campus. He formed the Mark Erelli Band and in 1997 self-released the album Long Way From Heaven. That summer Erelli relocated to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. During his two years as a student at Amherst, he performed regularly in Boston and New York clubs. While attending the North East Folk Alliance Conference in 1997, Erelli met Mark Thayer of Signature Sounds Recordings and signed a recording contract with the company. His first major performance in the Boston area was at Cambridge's Club Passim and he later received their Iguana Music Fund Fellowship award which he used to create a home studio.