Marc C. Thevenin Jr. was born in Queens NY to a French speaking pastor of the same name in 1981. Marc was introduced to music at an early age. He took piano lessons for several years before attending Queens Music Conservatory for violin and theory. He discovered the drums at the age of 9, while waiting for his mother to pick him up at the conservatory. The drum instructor who served as one of the administrative assistants decided that he would teach him the fundamentals of drums for free in turn for assistance with office work, being that Marc did not enroll as a full-time student at the conservatory. The drum instructor taught him the bare minimum he needed to whet his palate. Every week as Marc waited for his mother, he would practice to Hip Hop music of the day from artists such as Mobb Deep, Mic Geronimo. The hip hop grooves set him up to start playing in church. At the time Marc began to watch musicians from church such as Donald Guillaume, the former drummers of famous rap group The Fugees. In 1995, Marc started playing for Hebron French SDA Youth Choir in Brooklyn NY. His fire to learn was fueled by Brooklyn drummers such as Vernon Scott and Dave Parilla (drummer for Sunshine Anderson, Nina Sky etc). As time went on, he developed his talent in gospel music and traditional Haitian music. In 1999, he went to college in Mass at Atlantic Union College where he became the drummer for the Black Christian Union Choir, Bethel Youth Ensemble (opened up for several gospel artists and performed for President Clinton for the Worcester Fire Ceremony). After college he moved to California and was a student at Loma Linda University where he played on the televised program Seven Signs on the Hope Network. Not long after his arrival in California did Marc play for gospel artist Duwan Starling. He became the choir director for the University gospel choir, Testimony. During his stay in California he began to study with drum teacher Dave Elitch, current drummer for Mars Volta. Though the lessons were cut short due to his acceptance to dental school in Nashville TN at Meharry Medical College, the influence that Dave Elitch had on his playing transformed his playing into a more free, musical style of drumming. Beyond musicianship and leadership, Marc continues to emphasize personality and character because it speaks volumes. Essentially this transcends into the music he plays. As a result he is currently the drummer for an up and coming group named Spirit of Praise out of Atlanta, a choir called Greater Purpose and he is the House drummer and MD for a gospel cafe called Room 3:16 in Nashville TN. He currently plays for two churches, Riverside Chapel SDA in Nashville TN and First Baptist Capitol Hill. He is working with a bass player named

Lesly Valbrun on his upcomming albums as well as producer/musician Ronald Toussaint on a gospel project he’s producing for a local Christian artist project (Kirosha Huggins). Marc is also the founding member of a drum group on facebook called Gospel Music Classroom, where individuals share their performances and instrument lessons. This talented musician has a lot to offer and is growing and developing every day, honing his skills and working with individuals who commonly share the same passion for music development. He is currently putting together a band comprised of his brother, Markneil Thevenin (former member of the Jettsonz, and former engineer and musician for Nina Sky), Lesly Valbrun, and Ronald Toussaint. Look out for some great music to come from these young Christian musicians. I just want to thank Iki Levy the opportunity to be part of the Soultone family alongside personal friends of his such as Brian Tolbert, Maison Guidry, Ricardo Ramirez and Antonio Bush, and NY drummer favorite Eddy Heyward, among the new friends he’s made in the soultone family.