The Story of How it All Began and Where We've Been (as told by Donna Harris) 

It all began, more or less, in the Fall of 2003 when I was scheduled for featured music at the corps.  I wanted to do something different and hoped to pull in a few friends while doing it.  At the encouragement of my mother (thanks Mom!) I asked Erin and Celeste to join me in presenting a "new" song called Jesus is My Light.  The girls accepted the invitation and the rest is history!

Since then Jesus is My Light has essentially become the trio anthem.  Presented that first Sunday with my own taped piano accompaniment, we often choose the song for performances -- usually as the opener for the first set -- and it now benefits from the extra oomph found with the addition of bass and drums.

After our "debut" at the corps, we found ourselves asked to sing as a trio for Christmas Eve 2003 (and also in 2004) and Easter 2004.  The more we sang together, the more we enjoyed it and the more ideas I found racing through my head!

The first move that took us outside of the corps building was the Impact Brass tour to Newfoundland in May 2004 where we boldly asked if we could sing a few times.  Erin was on solo cornet, I was on soprano cornet and Celeste's husband was also in the band -- and she was definitely coming to Newfoundland!!!  So, all we needed was our big break on the Rock!  And the good news is that we got it (thanks Ken!) and ended up singing at least once at most of the programs the band did.  It was so exciting!  Another first that happened on the tour was our first live accompaniment thanks to the pianistic talents of Nicole Pollett, and later on in the week additional support from Nathan Downer (bass) and Matt Osmond (drums).  It was amazing playing with live backup and we were hooked by the experience instantly!

In April 2005 we were invited to participate in the North Toronto corps afternoon musicale.  Due to scheduling demands, only two from the trio were able to make the North Toronto event but it marked another milestone for the group just the same -- our first time working with Janine and Doug Elvin as our piano and bass team.  (It was also our first time working with Major Kenneth Smith, who filled in on drums at the last moment!)

October 2005 saw our first official Southern Ontario event as a trio, when we were invited as the featured musical guests at Mountain Citadel's "Trophies of Grace" concert.  This evening was the first time the bunch that now makes up the "regulars" actually performed together, including the Elvin's and Kevin Ketteringham on drums.

While going through a difficult time personally, I was blessed to find myself in the midst of an extremely productive musical period.  Suddenly I had tons of new music that just cried out to be used somewhere and I knew just who I'd like to see use it!  Plus with all the music, the idea to do a trio CD (that had been planted in my brain a while back by Mom -- thanks Mom!) came to the forefront and the CD project has been ongoing since that point.

With a CD in progress, it seemed like a good idea to finally seek out our name.  After much deliberation, thought, research, and prayer we decided on Marked by Love.  Perhaps the most thrilling thing that has come out of our name searching was the discovery that the words "marked by love" actually appear in the first verse words of our "anthem", Jesus is My Light.  An affirmation of this type can only come from God and from here on in, we are Marked by Love.