Rose Mercury, born Corinna Fugate, (1981-) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She has released five independent albums.
Fugate is the daughter of trumpeter Michael Fugate, who died in a car accident when she was twelve.[1] At fifteen, Fugate enrolled in a California high school, but left after only six months.
Relocating to Kansas, Fugate's interests spread to early music (Baroque and Renaissance) as well as rock and metal. According to The Olathe News, she has been approached by record labels, but declined, wanting to keep artistic control."[2] She independently released a folk album, Chasing The Ghost in 2002, which gained her notice in the local Kansas City music scene and papers.
Chasing the Ghost confronts a number of issues that Fugate was dealing with in her own life, most notably recovering from drug addiction and alcohol dependency.[3]
The Pitch wrote, "Corinna has paid her dues in life and very well may be the jewel in Kansas City's crown. She is not someone who was inspired to become a singer and a writer the first time she saw a Jewel video. Fugate deals with pain in this album, giving it weight."
At age 19, Fugate began performing publicly. She started to gain a following of her own, and began immersing herself in writing. In 2002, Fugate performed at The Bitter End in New York, and the concert series "Live In Central Park". Danny Alexander from The Kansas City Star attended a concert and wrote "Like Tori Amos, Corinna fights her demons through song."[1]
In 2006 Corinna Fugate released her album Undertow to some notice for an indie release. The album's most noticeable single, Cold, focuses on the act of cutting, and Fugate released a video for the song[4], and a video blog entry discussing her recovery and how to seek help.[5]
Fugate returned to recording in September, 2006. She began the full-time recording of Snow White, which was released in 2007. Several of the songs on the album, including the title track, are dedicated to a close friend of hers , who committed suicide in September 2004.
In April 2008, Corinna Fugate disappeared and deleted her Myspace page and her Youtube page. Fugate took the time to rest and spent the summer in England composing on songs for her new album, and soaking up rich English history, with a deep interest in Queen Anne Boleyn . When Fugate returned to the United States, she posted a video blog about her time away from the internet and music industry, and shared her experiences over the summer which was spent at Hever Castle , the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, whom Fugate stated she had felt a deep connection with. Fugate posted a video at on January 2009 stating she was back, and alive and well and ready to resume work on her new album. [6]
In 2009 Corinna Fugate legally changed her name to Rose Mercury explaining why in a video blog she released on YouTube in January 2009.[7] Mercury stated that she had experienced a rebirth over the summer, and changing her name to Rose Mercury was a part of her rebirth as a spirit and as an artist. Mercury also stated in her video blog that she felt warmth in her veins for the first time,warmth like mercury, and no longer felt "cold inside"; a reference to the first single she released from her independent album, Undertow, entitled Cold.
In January 2009 Rose Mercury also relaunched her MySpace music page, and released a new music video on January 21, 2009 for her haunting, and stirring new single which features heavy guitar merging with harpsichord, Heart Like A Grave, in the video Mercury appeared nude in a bathtub filled with apples garnishing much attention and notice from the online community. The Music video was well received and won Mercury a great deal of admiration from the Youtube community. Mercury is currently at work at her new album, Petals.
