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Following a spiritual awakening at a retreat 2 ½ years ago, singer/songwriter Marissa Guzman was inspired to quit her high profile marketing career to learn how to produce her first album. Already well known in the house music scene as an up and coming vocalist, now Guzman hopes to gain recognition as a producer for her work on the album Joy Road.
Guzman devoted the last two years of her life to learning how to create catchy baselines and head bopping drum beats. With her lyrical sills and vocal talents plus guidance from top artists and producers Rithma, and Josh Marquez from Uneaq, plus mixing and mastering whiz Detroit Grand Pubahs’ Andy Toth’s work on the album, Marissa hopes the fruits of her labor will shine. Since Joy Road’s first single, a Black Coffee remix of “Time To Go” went straight to number 1 on Traxsource earlier this year, fans from all over the world have been eagerly awaiting the full album.
As Guzman feels very strongly about the importance of using music as a platform to help those less fortunate, she is graciously donating 50% of her album sales to NextAid, a Los Angeles based nonprofit organization that harnesses the power of music to support sustainable development projects that serve vulnerable children, youth and women in Africa.
Guzman notes, “I am hoping to spread awareness through my music and make a positive impact in Africa. While we here in the US are trying to get a fair shake for our 99%, in Africa, the global income distribution is even more skewed with hundreds of millions of people living on less than $1 a day.”
Like most artists, love played a huge role in Guzman’s songwriting. “Time To Go” and “Fifth Moon” are clearly about a relationship gone wrong, while other songs including “Thank You” and “Outta My Head” are about how music has been a savior in her life. “Song For Eddie G” is a tribute to Marissa’s father, Eddie Guzman the congas and percussion player for noted Motown Records’ rock band Rare Earth, who passed away when Marissa was seventeen, while “Magic Door” and “Free to Be” have an encouraging, inspirational message behind the lyrics designed to reach the soul.
Without a doubt, Marissa’s hard work has paid off in this liberating, heartfelt album. Joy Road will be available on Itunes, Traxsource, Beatport and Stompy, with a limited number of vinyl records coming out in January, and a remix album coming shortly after featuring artists Black Coffee, Demarkus Lewis, Jazzanova, Corderoy Mavericks and more.
Marissa Guzman’s Bio:
Raised in Detroit with a father who was on the Motown label, Eddie Guzman of Rare Earth, and a mother who is a painter/interior designer, Marissa had quite the artistic upbringing. Having her dad constantly on the road touring with the band was difficult, but the excitement that goes along with having a father who is a well-known musician deeply inspired her. She remembers her experience as a little girl at concerts with thousands of screaming fans, when the members of Rare Earth would call their kids on stage to help them sing their biggest hit, “I Just Want To Celebrate.” Marissa knew then that she wanted to pursue singing.
With a strong passion for writing, Marissa majored in journalism and landed her first job in advertising, devoting her life to the Ford Motor Company. With such a demanding career, she had little time for her true passion, music, but in her free time she managed to develop a huge appreciation for Detroit’s revered underground electronic music scene, and started writing vocal tracks over instrumental house songs. She became friends with the legendary Detroit techno pioneer, Derrick May, who convinced her to start her own label to release her music, which she did in 2007. Marissa’s mom, Barbara named it Juicy Lucy Records.
During this time, she ended up signing one of her most popular songs, a collaboration with Demarkus Lewis called “Get Yourself Together,” to Italian label, Soulstar, that went to number 17 in the DJ Mag charts. Marissa later released the successful track “Energy Flows” on Juicy Lucy, a collaboration with Ethan White & JKriv of Tortured Soul.
Due to the struggling economy in Michigan Marissa moved to San Francisco for better job opportunities, and ended up working in the booming technology industry. Living in a city that totally fosters creativity, San Francisco inspired Marissa through showing her that artists can survive doing what they love. In 2009, she quit her job in marketing to work on her album.
Marissa now produces and arranges her own songs, and feels she has started to come alive musically. Ninety percent of Joy Road is her own compositions, with the songs ranging from Downtempo to Electro Pop, to Ragtime to House, and beyond.
Still a bit of a marketer Marissa notes “I don’t want to pigeonhole myself by only writing one style of music, then you only appeal to one type of audience…why not expand your demographic and appeal to the masses!” Adding “Especially since I have so many different musical influences, having a variety of styles makes total sense.”
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For more information please see www.juicylucyrecords.com and www.nextaid.org. To receive a review copy of the CD or a promo download please contact Susan von Seggern at susan@susanvonseggern.com or 213-840-0077.
The album is available for purchase online on Traxsource at http://www.traxsource.com/index.php?act=search&ss=Marissa+Guzman&sc=artists and on Itunes at http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/time–to–go/id433510845.