Kieran Mercer

No man is an island, but some men are private. Some men need nothing more than their time and their imagination. Kieran Mercer is one of these men, and even though the former Jackie Valentine frontman is now relying on nothing but himself, his music speaks to a large audience.

The result of his graduation into solo work is so immediately fetching that even those listeners who are uninitiated with Jackie Valentine could find themselves shocked. It’s evident right away that Kieran Mercer has hatched into a confident, songwriting mastermind, with what seems like a decade’s worth of hits inside him.

Artists blaze a path for those after them, and Mercer has kept the headlights on the entire time. With his newest effort, the Help Me Help You EP, a collection of songs that are equal parts disco and sweetie-pie tunes, his songwriting now pulls from sources that may seem obvious but also clever. “I grew up listening to an array of different records like country music great Hank Williams and British bands like the Kinks. In high school, I discovered more R&B pop acts like Justin Timberlake and Michael Jackson. I take all these influences inside of me and just write what I know, so in the end what comes out is me.”

Kieran’s debut solo release, the Help Me Help You EP, featuring his single “Bang Bang” was released in 2016.