Meet Marlon Ellis

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Marlon Ellis a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Marlon, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?

I’ve gained my resilience through my life experiences. Growing up, I moved around a lot, so I had to learn to adapt to any and every situations quickly. For example I was born in Jamaica then I moved to Florida. Eventually I joined the U.S Marine Corps so you could imagine the things I had to go through.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

In my adolescent years growing up in Jamaica I was gifted with a drum set, I wasn’t too sure what I was doing with them so accidentally I broke them. I remember having a toy phone where I could press the numbers and it would play like notes on a keyboard, I would try to compose my own melodys and mimic different Melodys that I’ve heard from somewhere. A couple years later I migrated to America (Ft. Lauderdale, Florida) where I received my first actual keyboard it was a Casio keyboard that I named Ashley I loved it, I taught myself how to play classic music, chords and different major and minor scales. my favourite song to play was Moonlight Sonata by Ludwig Van Beethoven. Once I got to to middle school I started to play the piano for church eventually I would pick up the bass guitar and pick the drums back up. Once I got to high school that’s when I got introduced to making beats, from there it became an addiction. My addiction carried throughout the rest of my high-school years and my 8 years of military service. Today I’ve released over 150 songs with various artists and released over 35 instrumental albums of various genres. I’ve taken my talents a little further by becoming videographer, photographer, audio engineer, graphic designer and editor. I’ve also partnered with Bentley Records to produce and released amazing tracks. One of my beats has been featured on WNBA and NBA advertisements numerous times. I’ve also shot videos for Jackboy, Dj Lyve, Nas, Goodie Mob, Tory Lanez and more. Right now I continuously look for new up and coming artist with talents and build up there catalogs.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Educating myself on music business, networking with like minded individuals, and learning new skills are the most impactful skills I learned on my journey. Without that and some ambition I wouldn’t have gotten to the point where I am. To improve on these skills you must practice them by getting out of ur comfort zone and trying.

Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?

A few good books I have read that improved my development is Jump by Steve Harvey, the way of a superior man by David Deida, From A to Zay: the indie guide to music production by Xavier Dora aka Zaytoven. The first book taught me confidence to take risks no matter what the outcome would have been. The second book taught me how to follow my purpose no matter what the distraction was. Lastly, from A to Zay is the blue print that taught me how to win in the music industry as an independent music producer.

Contact Info:

• Other: This is my “link tree/taplink” it has everything needed on there.https://taplink.cc/ellisproduction?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAabRuh_7NTSv6pNbKJ6Kx4CBxnaCpXDe9nIdlKH6kgDPs6NVHZwH9xi0qk4_aem_g3qIGSRsD06n4KBkrXVLXg

Image Credits

Ellis Production