Marcellus Nealy
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Marcellus Nealy was born on March 25, 1969 in Cleveland, Ohio. He is a poet, spoken word artist, musician, and voice talent.
From an early age Marcellus has felt the pull of poetry and music. It was at the age of 8 when he first recalls having a "poetic" feeling after seeing a bright sunset juxtaposed against the run down environment of the Cleveland projects where he lived.
After graduating from John Carroll University in 1992 he left the USA and flew to Japan where he began to explore spoken word performance and poetry in the small clubs, cafes, bars, and bookshops where English speaking people tended to gather. One of the key venues for poetry at that time was "What The Dickens", a British pub and eatery in Ebisu, Tokyo. It was there that Marcellus met his poetry mentor, Edgar Henry. Edgar encourage Marcellus to push forward and take poetry to whatever levels he could take it.
After a few years of participating in readings at "What The Dickens" Marcellus began to feel that being confined to that scene severely limited his ability to get his voice to the people. Marcellus began to frequent night clubs and live houses where he met various performers and DJs. Although the concept was unimaginable to many, some of these people were willing to experiment with music and poetry.
Soon Marcellus began performing poetic verse over house music, techno, and drum and bass. It wasn't long before many artists in the city began to notice and invite him to perform with them at various festivals and events. He also began to appear on many recordings with various artists including Jafro Sax, Yukihiro Fukutomi, Dreams Come True,Roy Davis Jr. and Johannes Heil.
His unique style of performance embodied the energy of the beat generation but was completely unique. Marcellus was often told by people in the audience that he seemed to be possessed by spirits. Because of his powerful and highly emotional performance style Japanese audiences were draw to Marcellus despite the fact that the performance was done in English.
This attraction won him a place on stage with Japan's greatest pop legend Dreams Come True, two appearances on Japan's most watched television program Kouhaku, appearance in the global concert event Live 8, appearance in the 2002 Montreal Jazz Festival with House music legend Roy Davis Jr. and a European Tour with techno maestro Johannes Heil.
Despite the attention he was getting Marcellus felt most comfortable in small venues performing avant-garde bits of music and improvised verse. Some have said he has gone too far out on occasion, leaving the listener to wonder where he is trying to take them. Sometimes his performances can be very groovy and danceable, as with his project Modernday Soothsayers. Other times is can be a seemingly disjointed collection of exotic instruments and vocal sounds.
Marcellus' response to this has always been the fact that he believes the function of the performance is to serve a higher purpose. Marcellus believes that through expression it is possible to know many things about self and the surrounding world. Marcellus feels that it a certain level can be reached during the performance it may even be possible to get a glimpse of divine knowledge. Marcellus has also expressed the idea that art is like food. According to him, who wants to eat the same kind of food every day. Various forms of expression allow him to learn and develop as an artist.
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[edit] Radio
WUJC 88.7 FM Cleveland Ohio, 1989 – 1992 Morning Drive Time Navigator, production assistant
Star Digio [cable radio] Tokyo Japan, 1994 – present voice-overs / narration
Shibuya FM 78.4 FM Tokyo Japan, 2002 – present Program Navigator, Voice-overs / narration
CEP-TV Radio [broadband radio] Tokyo Japan 2002 – 2004 voice-overs / narration
Wendy’s Jurassic Park Tokyo, 2003
Yamaha Melodic Lover / Chakushin Melody Tokyo, 2004
Bike O Tokyo , 2004
Tokyu FM Salus, 2004 Kawasaki, 2004
Libertine Starring Jonnie Dep movie ad – 3/2006
[edit] TV Appearances
Coors Beer commercial voice over Tokyo – 1993
Amon Japan commercial voice over Tokyo – 1993
Galileo Channel commercial voice over Tokyo 2004
Music Station Live performance w/ Dreams Come True – 2005
WOWOW Live performance Dream Come True Diamond 15 Tour. – 2005
Kouhaku Live performance w/ Dreams Come True – 2005
Libertine commercial voice over 30 sec and 15 second movie trailer – 3/2006
Music Station w/ Dreams Come True December 2005
紅白 w/ Dreams Come True December 2005
Toyota Artist Series w/ Kumagai Kazunori December 2005
僕らの音楽 w/ Dreams Come True February 2006
Music Station w/ Dreams Come True February 2006
Music Fair w/ Dreams Come True February 2006
目覚ましテレビ w/ Dreams Come True February 2006
The Love Rocks Japan Tour DREAMS COME TRUE 2006
紅白 w/ Dreams Come True 2006
NHK Songs w/ Dreams Come True 2007
[edit] Music Video
“24/7-the movie-“ music video Dreams Come True Toshiba Emi, Tokyo - 2000
Dreams Come True Diamond 15 Tour DVD Dreams Come True DCT Records 2005
“Sunshine” music video Dreams Come True DCT Records 2005
“Jet“ music video Dreams Come True DCT Records
"speak your toung know your language" Jafrosax Konami 2007
[edit] Corporate Voice Overs
Nichias Corporation Corporate Training Video Tokyo – 2004
YP Video Yamaha Digital Mixer trailer Shizuoka – 2005
Coca Cola Corporate Service Video Tokyo - 2005
[edit] Video Games
Namuko Tekken Game Software Character voice acting, Tokyo - 2004
Katamari Damashi Character voice acting, Tokyo – 2005 Video Game cont.
Ryu Ga Gotoku Sega Character Voice Acting, Tokyo - 2005
[edit] Discography
“Raiders Theme” Hieroglyphs Meldoc Records, 1997
“Speed Racer” Hiroglyphs Meldoc Records, 1997
“7654321(Blow Your Whistle)” Two B Free Meldac Records, 1998
“Play That Funky Music” Two B Free Meldoc Records, 1998
“Bowl Flow” Trance Texas Nippon Crown, 1999
“Funka Monster” Dance Remix Dreams Come True No Hammer Records, 1999
“Nante Koi Shitandaro” Dreams Come True No Hammer Records, 1999
“Tomorrow, Make a Large Rainbow” Anger From Ball A Circle Records, 2001
“Black Stone Memories” DJ Ichiro Daikan Yama Africa Compilation CD, 2002
“Walk On By” Lava Breed Records, 2003
“Closer To You” Roy Davis Jr. Large Records, 2003
“Peace Please – English Version” Johannes Heil Frankfurt Germany - 2003
“N” Tatsuya Nakamura Europa Records 2003
“Moving Up” Roy Davis Jr. Nice and Smooth, 2004
“Water For Thirsty Children” Roy Davis Jr. Nice and Smooth 2004
“Changes / The World” full album collaboration Johannes Heil Data Punk, 2004
“Don’t Stand So Close to Me” Koukou Kyoushi The Indigo Geneon, 2004
Question Authority Mini album collaboration Johannes Heil Question Authority records Data Punk 2004
“Innocent” Diamond 15 Dreams Come True DCT Records 2005
“Jet” Dreams Come True DCT Records 2005
Winter Song remix Dreams Come True DCT Records 2005
愛がROCKする Dreams Come True DCT Records 2006
The Temple Gates Modernday Soothsayers Full Album Light Walker Records 2006
[edit] Select Live Performances
Dreams Come True Diamond 15 tour February 2005 – May 2005
Live 8 – Makuhari Messe w/ Dreams Come True July 2005
MTV The Super Dry Live w/ Dreams Come True June 2005
Rock Kids 802 Special Live Requestage 3 w/Dreams Come True June 2005
Ghana Chocolate All Japan Medalist on Ice w/ Dreams Come True December 2005
Cities Performed in: Tokyo, Osaka , Sapporo, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Naha, London, Cleveland, New York, Chicago, Montreal, Frankfurt, Berlin, Granada, Paris, Potsdam, Singapore, Malaysia, Seoul
Highlight Performances
• Montreal Jazz Festival June 2002
• Heineken Greenroom Session, Singapore June 2002
• Fuji Speedway – April 2003 & June 2003
• European Tour w/ Johannes Heil Summer 2004
• Shakespeare and Company, Paris Literary Event, June 2004
• Also performing regularly in various clubs and venues around Tokyo
• Dreams Come True Diamond 15 Japan Tour 2005
• Dreams Come True The Love Rocks Japan Tour 2006
• Dreams Come True Wonderland 2007
