An amazing icon in music, Marcella Detroit – known professionally as Marcy Levy – is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who has no shortage of achievements over her long, glittering career. She co-wrote the 1977 hit “Lay Down Sally” with legendary rock and blues guitarist Eric Clapton. She’s perhaps best known for forming then pop-rock duo Shakespears Sister in 1988 alongside ex-member of Bananarama Siobhan Fahey. The two went on to create two hit albums, Sacred Heart in 1989 and Hormonally Yours in 1992 which both made it to the top 10 of the UK Albums Chart. Their most successful song, “Stay” – which Detroit sang the lead vocals on – spent eight consecutive weeks at number one on the UK Singles Chart in 1992.
After Shakespears Sister disbanded in 1993, Detroit continued to explore her sound and musical gifts, releasing the UK top 20 single “I Believe” in 1994. What followed was a successful solo career, releasing “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing” in the process, which was a duet with Elton John. She continued to record and create new singles, until forming her own blues band Marcy Levy Band in 2002. She viewed this as an opportunity to get back to her roots and figure out what first inspired her when she was starting out. The Marcy Levy Band released their debut EP Button Fly Blues which was well-regarded by critics despite a limited release. While recording with the group she also started songwriting for up-and-coming artists such as Charlotte Church and Alex Parks.
More recently, Detroit enjoyed an appearance on the British ITV celebrity reality TV show Popstar to Operastar in 2010, finishing as a joint semi-finalist. Since 2019, Detroit has reunited with Fahey as Shakespears Sisters and launched a tour around the UK in late 2019 titled Shakespears Sister Ride Again. They also released a mini-album called Ride Again which charted in the UK. Detroit is the kind of person who was born to do music, and her long, varied yet highly successful career serves as clear testament to that fact.
