Jay DeMarcus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jay DeMarcus, born Stanley W. DeMarcus Jr. on April 26, 1971, in Columbus, Ohio, is a multi-instrumentalist/vocalist in the New Country/Alternative Rock band Rascal Flatts. DeMarcus plays the piano, guitar, drums, and bass. He is a second cousin to fellow Rascal Flatts bandmate, Gary LeVox.
Prior to Rascal Flatts, he was in the Christian band East to West in the 1990s.
On May 15, 2004, DeMarcus married Allison Alderson, a former beauty queen who has held the titles Miss Tennessee 1999 and Miss Tennessee USA 2002 and has competed at Miss America and Miss USA.
Jay attended Lee University (then named Lee College) in Cleveland, TN, from 1990-1993(?), where he traveled and performed as a keyboardist in the Christian group New Harvest, led by Danny Murray. Jay thanks Danny Murray in the liner notes of several of Rascal Flatts' albums, and in fact still works on occasion with people he befriended during his time in Cleveland. One such friend is James Matchak, with whom Jay worked on the 2005 Chicago album "XXX" (or, Chicago 30). In addition to producing that record, Jay is a longtime Chicago fan as is evidenced by careful listening to the background vocals on certain Rascal Flatts songs, as well as bass licks he injects here and there. He spent many hours in practice rooms in the old music building at Lee, playing Chicago songs to impress the girls. It usually worked.
