Jay DeMarcus (born Stanley Wayne DeMarcus Jr.; on April 26, 1971) is an American musician, vocalist, record producer and songwriter. He is a member of the

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

band

Rascal Flatts Rascal Flatts is an American Country music, country music band formed in 1999 in Nashville, Tennessee. The band consists of Gary LeVox (lead vocals), Jay DeMarcus (bass guitar, background vocals), and Joe Don Rooney (lead guitar, background voc ...

Early life

DeMarcus was born in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

. He graduated from the Tree of Life Christian Schools and Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center 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. The population was 47,356 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Cleveland metropolitan area, Tennessee (consisting of Bradle ...

, 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 (CCM), also known as 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 Christianity, Chri ...

group East to West and moved to

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, 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 best known for being the lead vocalist of the contemporary country music band Rascal Flatts, and his stage name was taken from the studio-console l ...

, 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 backup 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 ceremonies presented annually and have been held in Nashville, Tennessee exce ...

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 Activism, activist, author, and country music artist. She initially rose to fame as a commercial country recording artist with several charting singles, including the numb ...

. 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 de ...

Jo Dee Messina Jo Dee Marie Messina (born August 25, 1970) is an American country music artist. She has charted six number-one singles on the ''Billboard charts, Billboard'' country music charts. She has been honored by the Country Music Association and the ...

Austins Bridge Austins Bridge is an American Christian country music, 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 M ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and others. On March 4, 2010, DeMarcus and his band mates were guest stars on '' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', 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, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

'' 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 Elliot ...

''. 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, television host, and beauty pageant titleholder who has competed in the Miss Teen USA, Miss USA and Miss America pageants. Alderson is married to Jay DeMarcus, the ba ...

, 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. Carley Jaymes Vogel of Murfreesboro was crowned Miss Tennessee 2024 on June 22, 2024, at the M ...

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, a daughter, 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, whom 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, by Lyric Street Records. As of July 2014, the album has sold 5.274 million copies in the United States, and it h ...

'' (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 as their fourth album for Lyric Street Records. The album became the highest US debut of 2006, with 721,747 units and wen ...

'' (2006) *''

Still Feels Good ''Still Feels Good'' is the fifth studio album by American country music group Rascal Flatts. It was released September 25, 2007 as their fifth album for Lyric Street Records. The album sold 2,192,000 copies in the United States up to May 2009 an ...

'' (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 Change, Changed or Changing may refer to the below. Other forms are listed at Alteration * Impermanence, a difference in a state of affairs at different points in time * Menopause, also referred to as "the change", the permanent cessation of th ...

'' (2012) *''

Rewind Rewind may refer to: General uses * Rewind, the process of winding magnetic tape inside a cassette or a microfilm reel backwards to a previous point on the reel ** Rewind symbol, a media control symbol indicating tape rewind or analogous operatio ...

'' (2014) *''

The Greatest Gift of All ''The Greatest Gift of All'' is the first 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 recepti ...

'' (2016) *''

Back to Us ''Back to Us'' is the tenth 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 was produced ...

'' (2017) *'' Life Is a Highway: Refueled Duets'' (2025)

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