Jay & Mark O'Shea
Musician; Singer; Songwriter
With their seamless harmonies, eclectic country-soul sensibility, and clever Aussie charm carrying them into the top five of the hit CMT TV Series, Can You Duet, husband and wife duo O’Shea were welcomed wholeheartedly onto one of country music’s most prominent stages. “The show really opened a massive door for us, no bones about that,” says Jay O’Shea. Husband Mark agrees, “It was an incredible opportunity to meet America.” And while Can You Duet offered America its first introduction to O’Shea, the show in fact represents merely a single step in this talented duo’s nearly 20-year musical journey. Individually, Mark and Jay O’Shea have an impressive string of writing and artist credits that span the globe; while Mark has won multiple CMAA awards (the Australian equivalent of our CMA Awards), Jay has penned a #1 pop song in Europe and toured as a backing vocalist for rock legends, INXS. Between them, the couple has opened for Keith Urban, Trisha Yearwood, Switchfoot, Hall & Oates, and America. Together, Mark and Jay make a highly dynamic duo—and they’re just getting started. The youngest of nine musically gifted children, Mark was raised in the remote bush country of Queensland, where he was educated in a Catholic boarding school and trained on the piano from a young age. By 13, he had started a band with two older boys, who made their public debut at a local bar. “We learned 8 songs for that gig,” Mark recalls with a laugh, “and ended up playing the same set three times that night.” Still, they were a hit, and soon became a regular attraction. Eventually, Mark won a talent competition at one of Australia’s biggest country music festivals (The Gympie Music Muster), which opened the door to a solo record deal that he signed at age 17. His debut album earned Mark two Golden Guitar awards for Best New Talent and Best Video from the CMAA. Jay grew up in the working class suburbs of Adelaide and made her first television appearance at age 12 after calling up her local station and asking to sing an Olivia Newton John song on their variety show. Also a talented dancer, Jay toured the UK and Europe with the Australian Dance-Drill Team at age 15. By high school graduation, she was performing with local bands, and soon afterwards moved to Sydney to pursue her singing career. “One of the things I love about Australia is that there’s no such thing as just being a recording artist there—you really must do an apprenticeship, doing a million gigs in smoky bars and clubs. Performing live is so important to your growth and discovering who you are musically.” It was, in fact, in one such smoky bar where she first met Mark, who asked her to sing back-up for an upcoming TV appearance. They’ve been together ever since. Shortly after getting engaged, Jay and Mark’s careers took them to different parts of the world. Jay won the Australian Open Singing Championships, the $75,000 first prize allowing her to relocate to London, where she soon signed a publishing deal with Warner Chappell. Mark had taken time out from his solo career and formed a rock/pop band that signed with LA based label, Trauma, (No Doubt, Bush). They released a single in Australia that went top 20, although “If you’ve seen Spinal Tap, you know what happened to the band,” Mark jokes. Despite these ups and downs, Jay and Mark’s time apart only strengthened their relationship. “It was really hard being apart,” Jay explains, “but it was really good for us at the time because we were both so devoted to our music. We just had to give it everything we had.” But it wasn’t until marrying and moving to Nashville in 2007 that the couple ever considered making music together. “Five years ago, we never could never have become a duo, because musically we were so far apart,” Jay says. The pair’s weekly gig at Nashville’s Blue Bar, however, helped to bridge that gap. “We had forgotten how much fun making music could be,” Mark says, “until we started performing together. Becoming a duo suddenly felt really natural.” O’Shea’s spontaneous, fun-filled shows, eclectic style, and unpredictable set lists spanning Aretha Franklin, Sting, Dolly Parton and everything in between, have helped them cultivate a loyal fan following. Since appearing on Can You Duet, O’Shea has continued to pack out the venue, where they recorded their current EP Live At The Blue Bar Version 2.0, while also traveling the States to open for Phil Vassar, Jimmy Wayne, Sara Evans and the Oak Ridge Boys to name a few. Though Australia will always be home, O’Shea have planted roots in Music City, and good things are beginning to grow. Jay and Mark continue to write songs individually and as a duo, co-writing with hitmakers including Dave Berg, Tim Nichols, The Warren Brothers, and Shawn Colvin, and they have recently scored cuts by such up-and-coming artists as Emma Mae Jacobs and Dan Evans. “I love how creative this community is here, and I feel like I can’t really get that anywhere else in the world,” Jay says. “The road had been winding,” Mark adds, “but always leading to Nashville.”
