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Adrian Marcel credits collaborators Raphael Saadiq and Jane Hancock for bringing him back to life as an artist

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Photo by Marcus Ingram/Getty Images for BETR&B singer Adrian Marcel‘s debut album GMFU is finally out and the rising star was just as anxious to release it as fans were waiting for it to drop.  

The singer, who’s the protégé of Grammy Award winning legend Raphael Saadiq, remembers his humble journey from the Bay Area to Atlanta at the start of his career when there was a period where he wanted to call it quits. 

He tells ABC Radio, “I moved out there [Atlanta] with my best friend who writes all my stuff with me. Her name is Jane Hancock. I honestly feel like if it wasn’t for her, I would have quit.”  

Adrian continues, “I moved out to Atlanta with two outfits, two pair of shoes, some couple jeans that fit. I was only gonna be there for a few weeks so we could record this music and then start pressing for a deal. But then it turned into about seven months and then it turned into four years.”  

Even when Adrian finally got the record deal he hoped for, he faced other battles with his former label. 

“We all have our own perception of how we think this business goes and the way it is, but when you actually get into it and you’re actually seeing it for yourself, it is very different. And it is sort of a shock,” he explains.

Fortunately for the artist, Raphael continued to mentor and guide him whenever he could, particular during a very rough period right after he parted ways with the label. 

Adrian says, “He was like, ‘Look, you need to come down to L.A. Let’s get you back focused, re-focused.’ We just kinda really hung out. He was really on his Mr. Miyagi.” 

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