Life on Mars

Linda Marso started her formal classical training young enough that she had to climb up the piano bench for her first classical performance because her feet could not reach the floor.

In addition to studying jazz piano, synthesizer programming and composition at Dick Groves in Los Angeles, piano and composition at The Juilliard School in New York and sound design at New England Conservatory in Boston, she was mentored by a series of some of world's best pianists including Edwin Swanston (Louis Armstrong, Harlem All Star Blues Band) and John "King" Cleary. Besides founding LIFE ON MARS' in 1989, she also played keyboards for guitarist Larry Mitchell, worked and performed with "Toys" in Germany and prior, a solo performance on RAI, Italian television. She wrote and produced "Landing Soon", the most recent Life On Mars release in addition to engineering many of the sessions at Life On Mars" studio, Mars Bars Records.

Tracey Blue, who replaced the original lead vocalist in 1991 started singing before she could talk and never stopped. The range of expression and passion generated by her vocal chords are a ten-course meal for your ears. It is almost unheard of for a vocalist with her power and range to attain her results without professional training, which makes her talent even more extraordinary. Blue co-wrote the lyrics of "Mirror Mirror" and "Why" included in the last release and are one of the arteries of LIFE ON MARS.

Tracey and Linda knew that filling Larry Mitchell's shoes when he relocated to New Mexico was a daunting search but fortunately, were joined by long-time friend, Ray DeTone. His melodic and emotional style and many of LIFE ON MARS' live performances highlight his phenomenal guitar talents. Ray has been featured in Guitar Magazine, has licensed his music in Japan and to MTV. He is sponsored by VHT Amps, DR Strings, MIT cables, D'Andrea picks and Bag End speakers.

If LIFE ON MARS has never been an average rock band, part of the reason is the addition of cellist, Dave Eggar. Eggar began his career as a Leonard Bernstein scholar at Harvard University making his professional debut performing at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Eggar was a founding member of Flux and has performed with The Who, Sinead O'Connor, Ornette Coleman and studied with Yo-Yo Ma.

JP Patterson, the backbone of the beats, is known best as the drummer of Dictators and Wild Kingdom and lives up to his nickname "Thunderbolt". He also has over 100 film and television credits.

Bassist Yanko Valdes was born in Mendoza, Argentina, raised in Santiago de Chile and began to play the guitar at the age of seven. He moved to Brooklyn at twelve and convinced his mother to buy him an electric bass. Yanko has performed and recorded with Chilean compser Hugo Moraga both in N.Y. and Chile as well as double bass with Kiyoto Fujiwara (MG4, Horace Silver, Thomas Chapin).

Life On Mars is currently recording their next CD titled “Phoenix” being helmed at console by Grammy award winning Neil Citron and is being produced by Linda Marso and Mark Wolfson to be released in 2007.