Every month we highlight an artist or a group that we think are on the rise and one to watch.

We’ve profiled the likes of Dua Lipa, DVBBS, Neon Dreams and many more. This year, we put the spotlight on music duo Jeremy Lloyd and Samantha Gongol, a.k.a. Marian Hill!

Just how did they come up with the name ‘Marian Hill’?

Well, you have to go all the way back to when they first met at Haverford High School in Pennsylvania. The two starred in a production of The Music Man where Samantha played a character named ‘Marian’ and Jeremy played ‘Harold Hill’, nearly a decade later they formed the group ‘Marian Hill’.

The first song that they ever recorded together was a song called ‘Whiskey’ which would appear on their debut EP, Play which they released in 2013.

 

 

In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, Jeremy spoke about their early song-writing days,

“We started writing songs together when we were going to college, but it didn’t sound anything like Marian Hill. We’d write together when we were home over breaks and it all kind of stuck, but it was pretty on and off. It wasn’t a serious project, it was like, “We’re both friends, we both write, let’s see what we come up with together.” But then “Whisky” happened and that was way better than anything we’d ever written. I don’t even think we knew what degree it was better than everything we’ve ever written at the time, but we emailed it out to a bunch of blogs and it really caught on. And that was when we really started writing together seriously as Marian Hill in the way that we do now.”

Fast forward to today, and two EP’S later, the duo released their debut album, Act One in June and have already made appearances on major television shows such as The Late Late Show with James Corden and The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon.

They’ve also teamed up with Fifth Harmony member Lauren Jauregui on a funky record called ‘Back to Me’ and are poised for a major 2017!

 

 

Check out their current single, ‘Down’ and learn more about this month’s one to watch artist, Marian Hill!

Filed under: marian-hill, one-to-watch