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 front man 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 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. His EP (Help Me Help You) reached the iTunes top 20 and saw him performing with Carly Rae Jepsen & Lights before embarking on national tours with Marianas Trench & Walk off the Earth. After coming off the road and writing with collaborators Jon Levine (Hedley, Arkells, Serena Ryder, Drake) and Stephen Kozmeniuk (Dua Lipa, Madonna) 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 R&B pop artists like Michael Jackson. I take all these influences inside of me and write what I know, in the end what comes out is me.” Kieran's single "Rain On Me" (Jan 2024) will show his fans what he has been driving to all along.