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Marillion is a British neo-progressive rock band from Aylesbury, England. Spearhead of the revival of progressive rock, it was formed in 1979 under the name of Silmarillion - name borrowed from a novel of J. R. Tolkien , author of The Lord of the Rings. The name is quickly shortened to Marillion, while the group is gradually moving away from any "folkloric" reference (to the Tolkienist imaginary, to the progressive rock symphonism of the 1970s) to develop a specific identity, characterized by music more rhythmic, the convoluted texts, the voice and the performance of the singer Fish, then his successor Steve Hogarth and creates the style called "neo-progressive rock" with other British formations such as Pallas, Pendragon, IQ, Twelfth Night .
Easily qualified in his early days as "clone of Genesis", the melodic research that characterizes the band and the complexity of the pieces often exceeding 8 to 10 minutes, allied with the charisma of his singer Fish, are worth to him the graces of the public. The success of Marillion, initially primarily confined to the United Kingdom, extends to the whole of Europe conquered in 1985 by the album Misplaced Childhood, album-concept autobiographical character. This first period culminates in 1987 with the highly successful Clutching at Straws, which results in the departure of Fish for relational reasons. From 1989, a second period sees the implementation of a sound sometimes more pop-rock, sometimes darker (Brave, in 1994). The third period begins in 1997, as the band splits out of EMI to go into self-production and develop before everyone else an original crowdfunding model, fans now pre-financing albums and tours of the group. This is a half-hearted period from a commercial point of view, but very rich musically, despite an aspect sometimes unfinished and misunderstood (Radiat10n, marillion.com), exceeded by the last albums of the group and in particular the concept album Marbles released in 2004, Sounds that Can not Be Made in 2012 or FEAR in 2016. Marillion thus knows with his latest albums a return to favor with a wider audience, allowing him, after years of underground, to reconnect with success.
With sales estimated today at more than 15 million albums, Marillion is a totally independent group, which has managed, through the Internet, to overcome the support of the official media and record companies or distributors to compose and broadcast his music, in complete freedom of writing.
