MI SUCCESS STORY: MERCY COLLAZO

While music has always been one of her greatest passions, Mercy Collazo did not begin to seriously consider music until her grandfather gifted her a Spanish guitar when she was sixteen. She taught herself how to play and over the years, was influenced by the music of Portishead, Ella Fitzgerald, Madonna and more, personally mixing genres like soul, jazz, rock and trip-hop. In 2015, Mercy decided to take her talent seriously and enrolled in MI’s independent Artist Program to better learn the ins and outs of the music business and how to make it on your own.

It was at MI that Mercy began to figure out her artistic voice and vision, and focus on the talents that make her unique. She says,

“I didn’t even know what genre i wanted to get into exactly. MI asked me all these questions I had never asked myself then made me pinpoint the direction and go for the attack. Inspiration is everything for a musician…and I was deeply inspired by the teachers stories.”

The extensive work and growth that she went through during her time at MI ended up being the foundations for her upcoming double EP, Dimensions, and her first single, “Tell Me.” In late 2017, Mercy was signed with legendary rapper Too$hort on his new digital label, OG Records. Mercy counts the classes and her instructors in the IAP as helping her land her record deal, saying,

“If I hadn’t have done [IAP], I wouldn’t have been prepared to tell Too$hort what I wanted to do as an artist.”