Marlene
05.08
Marlene plays rhythm guitar, upright bass and banjo.
Ever since her 10th birthday, when she got her first guitar, she was drawn to rock ‘n roll, because, well, she was a Beatle fan. After six years of playing rock and folk songs with her sisters and cousins, her parents rewarded her with a parlor-size guitar. Then, after much prodding, she mustered up the guts to play solo for dinner guests at a Laurel Canyon restaurant, tucked below Joni Mitchell’s oft-visited Canyon Store.
Years later, learning the ways of an upright bass was her next challenge, followed by the purchase of a friend’s garage-sale banjo — a desire inspired by the banjo part she heard in Elton John’s “Honky Cat.”
Marlene found her true voice through the years. Some say she has powerful lead vocals that ooze with passion, evident on her covers of Bonnie Raitt’s “Angel from Montgomery” and the blues-infused “Love Me Like a Man.”
She kicks off Peggy Lee’s classic, “Fever,” and doesn’t shy away from rocking a classic Beatles tune or two. On First Night 2010, she led the band through their husky-vocal debut of Michael Jackson’s, “The Way You Make Me Feel.”
Her infectious enthusiasm gives the band a high level of energy that makes it hard for audiences to resist jumping up to dance.
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