Marlee Scott, photo courtesy of Big Ride Entertainment

As a teenager back in Canada, Big Ride Entertainment artist Marlee Scott knew she was born to be a singer. The only problem, she would discover, was that young Marlee was expecting to fulfill that destiny before she was even old enough to drive!

"I remember always wanting to be a singer," says Marlee. "When I was fourteen years old, every night before I went to bed I would tell myself that I would be a recording artist by the time I turned fifteen! It didn’t happen quite that fast, though!" she laughs.

Born in Richmond Hill, Ontario, the Scott family moved to St. Albert, Alberta, when Marlee was only six years old. It quickly became evident which direction her musical career would take.

"Marlee's mom had called to schedule flute lessons for her," remembers one of Marlee’s childhood music teachers. "When it came time for her first lesson I asked her, 'So, you want to play the flute?' She smiled at me and pointed to a pink electric guitar that I had in the corner and said, 'No, I want to play that.'"

Marlee spent her childhood and early teenage years learning guitar and taking vocal lessons, but it turns out that it was a chance car ride with some of her friends that led her back to her affection for Country music.

"Country music has always been a part of me," Marlee says, "but around the time I was sixteen, I was listening to a lot of Pop music on the radio. I remember riding around in the car with my friends one day, and a song we didn't like came on the Pop station, so we switched it over to the Country station. Alabama’s 'Mountain Music' was playing. We liked the groove, so we left the radio tuned to Country. I guess we just never changed it back!"

Alabama may have brought the teenage singer back to her roots, but it was songs like Rascal Flatts’ "Prayin' for Daylight" and Emerson Drive’s "I Should Be Sleeping" that pushed Marlee to try her hand at writing Country material. So, while most of her friends were participating in school activities, Marlee devoted all of her free time to riding her horse, Sidra, and to writing and recording her music.

Marlee’s first album, Souvenir, was released in Canada in 2005. It introduced the young artist to the Country music masses in Canada, but more importantly, it generated enough buzz to showcase her talent at various festivals and fairs around the country, providing Marlee with valuable performance experience.