☆ FULL NAME: Marley June Rose
☆ GENDER: Ciswoman
☆ PRONOUNS: She/Her
☆ AGE: 34 (April 13th, 1990)
☆ TYPE: Full sibling; twin
☆ HOMETOWN: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
☆ JOB: Songwriting Professor at PSU; Indie Music Artist
☆ SCHOOL: PSU Alumni
☆ SEXUALITY: Demipansexual
☆ FACECLAIM: Melissa Benoist
Marley Rose felt like life was never the same after her dad walked out the door when she was ten years old. It taught her that most things in life were temporary. She took the loss hard, though she never considered herself a daddy’s girl. In fact, she felt much closer to her mother. Perhaps it was that: she saw the way his absence broke her mother’s heart. Marley didn’t understand much about the heartbreak that her mom was experiencing, but still, she wanted to do something to make her mom feel better. She would hide away in her room, grabbing a journal and a pen and would start writing. Whenever she had been sad, she liked to listen to music. Perhaps if she wrote her mom a song, she would start to feel better too. She would go to her mom, presenting the lyrics – she would have her mom hold the paper while Marley stood there, singing her heart out. At the time, the lyrics weren’t great, but Millie Rose appreciated them like it was the best song she’d ever heard. “You’re going to win a Grammy one day for these songs, Marley,” Millie would tell her, with so much conviction in her voice. Marley believed her.
It was easy, the way Marley fell in love with music. She heard it everywhere that she was. In the way her steps sounded against the tile of her kitchen, the wood of their porch. The way it sounded when her mom was in the kitchen, or preparing for an interview. The hustle and bustle of the school hallways - she heard music in all of it. It didn’t take long for Marley to beg Millie to put her in any type of lessons that she could: voice lessons, guitar lessons and piano lessons. Soon enough, Marley’s schedule had become completely taken over by anything and everything music. To Marley, it felt like she was put on the earth to make any type of music at all. She felt more like herself when she was singing, writing songs or playing an instrument. As much as she wanted to share this with the world, she couldn’t seem to get people to pay attention at first. It seemed as if she faded into the background and most people didn’t notice her until they were bumping her shoulder. They’d say sorry, of course, but they wouldn’t even look at her. She was lonely at times, but at least she had her music.
Marley knew that she was lucky. Her mother had money, which meant she was able to try as many things as she possibly wanted to. She had every opportunity given to her, and she took it every chance she got. While the spotlight scared her (mostly because she was used to people ignoring her), there were times where her mother would ask her to perform for her friends (which was a lot of people), and she did. Marley was never sure if they were clapping because they loved Millie, or because they truly thought Marley had a gift. In high school, she was able to join their Glee Club – these people were interested in her songs, her opinions and even more so, they agreed that Marley had a gift. She finally felt like she fit in somewhere. These people understood her: music really was everything.
After high school, Marley traveled to Los Angeles. She knew that if she wanted to make a career with her music, that Los Angeles was the best place to be. There was also Pacific State University, a place for people just like her. Kids and family of those who were famous, just trying to make her own way. She figured it was the best place for her to be. Once again, she embraced the Glee Club there, and had the best time in college. Around this time, she finally started sending EP’s to different record companies, doing shows anywhere that would let her play. She started to have a small following, and decided to release her music independently. There weren’t a lot of fans, of course, but enough to keep her going. Every show she did, there was a familiar face in the crowd. Every once in a while, there was a person who would talk to Marley about how much her music meant to them. And that’s what she was doing it for: to connect to people.
tba (family background under co.)
