I was born in Dallas, Texas, on the 22nd of December 1972.
I have a brother John, and sister Cheryl, with me being the youngest.
I learned to play the keyboard at the age of eight. My parents divorced about this time. Mom would later marry Dale Castles. This added another brother, Bryan ‘bc’ and 2 more sisters, Kimberly and Christina. My step-father’s career took our family all over Texas, and we had to learn to make friends and leave friends fast, however I never abandoned music.
I attended schools in many cities in Texas. I was advised music should be just a hobby, but I started writing anyways. I drew my musical influences from bands like Genesis, Howard Jones, and Information Society.
In the mid nineties I played Friday nights at church in front of a small crowd, on a synthesizer. This was quite contrary to the usual couple of guys strumming guitars or singing to backup tapes.
In 1997 I made my living working for Honda, in Dallas.
Whilst there, I would stay up late at night writing and recording. I used to play live for a hand full of people over the Internet. It was about this same time period when I met Marty Sims, the bass player for a Dallas based cover rock band, 'Group Therapy'. I thought it would be good experience and we ended up playing together. One night we were performing and after a break I went into a solo without the band accompanying me. I had the audience’s attention. I remember that everyone was suddenly up and dancing, but the band got really irritated at me doing this. Feeling tension and having little freedom to be expressive, I decided to leave the band and work towards playing on my own.
I have invested the last few years into writing and recording. In October 2006 I finished 'Big Deal', a collection of electronic songs. My first solo gig was on May 27th 2007 at the Curtain Club in Dallas along with 7 other bands. Jerrymarkhammusic.com came online on the same weekend.
Late 2008 I completed the soundtrack for author Adie Bishop's book called 'Rock A Bye'. Be sure to check it out here.
The first months of 2009 have been very hectic. A new album is being recorded and live dates are being planned. Keep an eye out for newsletters and blogs throughout the year for more details.
http://www.jerrymarkhammusic.com
Band Members
Jerry Markham
Influences
Howard Jones, Information Society, Genesis
Website
