Jay DeMarcus

A native of Columbus, OH, Rascal Flatts bassist and harmony vocalist Stanley Wayne DeMarcus, Jr. -- aka Jay DeMarcus -- was born on April 26, 1971, and loved music from an early age, which was at least partially due to having musician parents. He and his second cousin Gary LeVox would actively participate in their frequent family jam sessions, and over time DeMarcus learned how to play guitar, bass, keyboards, and mandolin, among other instruments. He packed up and moved from Ohio to Nashville in 1992 to have his hand at a music career, and soon scored his first record deal as part of the Christian group East to West. They released a self-titled album in 1993, but eventually that group fizzled, and DeMarcus moved on to play with country star Chely Wright's band. On the side, he was also gigging in a Nashville club with his singer cousin LeVox, whom he'd previously convinced to quit his job back home to move and pursue music. One night, that side band's guitarist didn't show, so DeMarcus asked Joe Don Rooney, one of his mates in Wright's group, to sit in. That performance was all it took to see the trio had something special together, and the multi-platinum selling country-pop group Rascal Flatts were born. The group's debut self-titled album appeared in 2000 via Lyric Street Records, a label owned by the Walt Disney Company. In 2004, DeMarcus married beauty queen Allison Alderson (a former Miss Tennessee titleholder). He also produced Chicago's 2006 album, Chicago XXX. ~ Corey Apar