Jay DeMarcus (born Stanley Wayne DeMarcus Jr.; on April 26, 1971) is an American bassist, vocalist, pianist, record producer and songwriter. From 1999 to 2021, he was a member of the

country pop Country pop (also known as pop country or urban cowboy) is a fusion genre of country music and pop music that was developed by members of the country genre out of a desire to reach a larger, mainstream audience. Country pop music blends genres ...

group

Rascal Flatts Rascal Flatts is an American country music band founded in 1999. The band members were Gary LeVox (lead vocals), Jay DeMarcus (bass guitar, background vocals), and Joe Don Rooney (lead guitar, background vocals). DeMarcus is LeVox's second cousi ...

Early life

DeMarcus was born in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

. He graduated from the Tree of Life Christian Schools and

Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center is a public magnet alternative school for students interested in an intensive academic and arts curriculum, located near Downtown Columbus, Ohio. This curriculum brings the study of arts and academics toget ...

in Columbus while living with his mother and sister. He also has a half-sister from his father's side of the family. DeMarcus attended

Lee College Lee College is a public community college in Baytown, Texas. Lee College's main campus occupies near downtown Baytown and extension campuses throughout its service area. The school has an enrollment of over 7,773 total students as of Fall 2018. ...

Cleveland, Tennessee Cleveland is the county seat of and largest city in Bradley County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 47,356 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Cleveland metropolitan area, Tennessee (consisting of Bradley and neigh ...

, from 1990 to 1992. At the time, he traveled and performed as a keyboard player in the Christian music group New Harvest, led by Danny Murray.

Career

DeMarcus co-founded the

contemporary Christian music Contemporary Christian music, also known as CCM, Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christian faith and s ...

group East to West and moved to

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

, in 1993. In 1997, after East to West disbanded, he called his second cousin,

Gary LeVox Gary LeVox (born Gary Wayne Vernon Jr., July 10, 1970) is an American singer and songwriter. He is known for being the lead vocalist of the contemporary country music band Rascal Flatts, and his stage name was taken from the studio-console label ...

, with whom he played when they were younger, and convinced him to come to Nashville and provide some harmonies on Michael English's album ''Gospel'', which he was producing. They engineered the album together, and became English's back-up band and road manager. The album was nominated for the

Dove Award A Dove Award is an accolade by the Gospel Music Association (GMA) of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the Christian music industry. The awards are presented annually. Formerly held in Nashville, Tennessee, the Dove Awards ...

for Inspirational Song of the Year. He soon became bandleader for

Chely Wright Chely Wright (born Richell Rene Wright; October 25, 1970) is an American activist, author and country music artist. She initially rose to fame as a commercial country recording artist with several charting singles, including the number one hit ...

. Eventually, he met Joe Don who is now the group's other member. DeMarcus called Joe Don to fill in for a guitarist who had left the band one night. In addition to producing for English, he has also produced albums for

James Otto James Allen Otto (born July 29, 1973) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Otto began his career on Mercury Nashville Records in 2002, charting three minor singles on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs charts and recording his deb ...

, Jo Dee Messina,

Austins Bridge Austins Bridge is an American Christian country band originally formed in Austin, Texas. The band consists of Justin Rivers and Jason Baird. Band history The band was formed around 2007 by Rivers and Baird, along with Mike Kofahl. After signing ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and others. On March 4, 2010, DeMarcus and his band mates were guest stars on ''

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', also referred to as ''CSI'' and ''CSI: Las Vegas'', is an American procedural forensics crime drama television series that ran on CBS from October 6, 2000, to September 27, 2015, spanning 15 seasons. This wa ...

'', appearing as themselves. In the episode titled "Unshockable" (10.14), he is electro-shocked by his bass guitar during a performance at a Vegas club, leaving him with total amnesia which he recovers from at the end of the episode. DeMarcus has continued to explore his acting career, appearing in the film ''A Country Christmas'', as well as episodes of ABC's ''

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

'' and Lifetime's ''

Drop Dead Diva ''Drop Dead Diva'' is an American legal comedy-drama/fantasy television series that aired on Lifetime from July 12, 2009, to June 22, 2014. The series was created by Josh Berman and produced by Sony Pictures Television. It stars Brooke Elliott ...

''. In October 2018, DeMarcus founded the label Red Street Records, an independent Christian music label.

Personal life

On May 15, 2004, DeMarcus married

Allison Alderson Allison Leigh Alderson DeMarcus (born January 18, 1977) is an American actress, TV host and beauty queen who has competed in the Miss Teen USA, Miss USA and Miss America pageants. Alderson is married to Jay DeMarcus, the bassist in the band Rascal ...

a former beauty queen who has held the titles

Miss Tennessee The Miss Tennessee competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Tennessee in the Miss America Scholarship Competition. Lauren Dickson of Parsons was crowned Miss Tennessee 2022 on June 25, 2022 at the Cannon Cente ...

1999 and

Miss Tennessee USA The Miss Tennessee USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Tennessee in the Miss USA pageant. The pageant is directed by Greenwood Productions under the ownership of Miss Tennessee USA 1989, Kimberly Pay ...

2002. DeMarcus met her on the set while filming the video for the Rascal Flatts song, "

These Days These Days may refer to: Music Albums * ''These Days'' (Bon Jovi album), and the title song (see below) ** These Days Tour, a 1995–1996 tour by Bon Jovi in support of the above album * ''These Days'' (Crystal Gayle album), 1980 * ''These ...

". Their first child, Madeline Leigh, was born in December 2010. In July 2012, he and Allison welcomed son Dylan Jay. He also has another daughter from a previous relationship, who he placed for adoption because he and his then-girlfriend were not ready to parent the baby.

Discography

*''

'' (2000) *'' Melt'' (2002) *''

Feels Like Today ''Feels Like Today'' is the third studio album by American country music group Rascal Flatts. It was released on September 28, 2004, via Lyric Street Records. The album has sold 5.274 million copies in the United States as of July 2014, and it ha ...

'' (2004) *''

Me and My Gang ''Me and My Gang'' is the fourth studio album by the American country music group Rascal Flatts, released on April 4, 2006 by Lyric Street Records. The album became the highest US debut of 2006, with 721,747 units and went double platinum in the ...

'' (2006) *'' Still Feels Good'' (2007) *''

Unstoppable Unstoppable may refer to: Film and television * Unstoppable (2004 film), ''Unstoppable'' (2004 film), an American film directed by David Carson * ''Unstoppable: Conversation with Melvin Van Peebles, Gordon Parks, and Ossie Davis'', a 2005 America ...

'' (2009) *'' Nothing Like This'' (2010) *'' Changed'' (2012) *'' Rewind'' (2014) *''

The Greatest Gift of All ''The Greatest Gift of All'' is the only Christmas album recorded by American country pop trio Rascal Flatts. It was released October 21, 2016, through Big Machine Records. The album was produced by group member Jay DeMarcus. Critical reception ...

'' (2016) *''

Back to Us ''Back to Us'' is the tenth and final studio album by American country music trio Rascal Flatts. It was released on May 19, 2017 through Big Machine Records. The group produced the album themselves, save one track on the deluxe edition, which wa ...

'' (2017)

Non-Rascal Flatts album credits

Filmography

Awards and nominations for producing

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Demarcus, Jay 1971 births American country bass guitarists American country record producers Living people Musicians from Columbus, Ohio Songwriters from Ohio Rascal Flatts members Guitarists from Ohio American male bass guitarists Country musicians from Ohio 21st-century American bass guitarists 21st-century American male musicians American male songwriters