Mark Clennon

Mark Clennon (born August 13, 1990) is a Jamaican Canadian singer, musician, and actor.

Clennon was born in Kingston, Jamaica, where he began taking piano lessons and writing songs in his youth. At the age of 15, he was relocated to Florida with his family, before moving to Toronto to pursue his music career when he turned 21.

Music

Clennon began to release music on Soundcloud in the early 2010s, but upon signing a record deal with Montreal-based record label Moonshine, he deleted all of his music off the internet to "start from scratch". In an interview with The Gleaner, Clennon said that he began to take his music career seriously in 2013.

Clennon's first EP, When the Smoke Clears, which consists of four songs, was released on August 19, 2016.

His first official single was "Blood", which attracted acclaim from international music blogs. A music video was released on January 18, 2017. His second single, "Don't Die", was released later that year and was called "powerful" by Complex writer Katie Kelly, and a "sombre pop masterpiece" by Entertainment Weekly's Joey Nolfi. Another single, "Find You", was released with an accompanying music video on February 27, 2017, through Paper.

Around this time, Clennon left Moonshine and signed with another Canadian record label, Bonsound. He subsequently released his second EP, Passion, produced by Grammy Award-winning duo Rainer + Grimm, in 2019.

His third EP, Foreign, was released in 2021 and featured the singles "Part of Your World", "Not Perfect", and "Don't Start a Fire".

In 2022, during Pride Month, Clennon released a single titled "Kingston" with an accompanying music video that featured a romantic storyline between Clennon and male model Jean-Julien Hazoumi. The music video, filmed in Kingston, became the first music video shot in Jamaica to feature an on-screen romance between two men.

Film

Outside of music, Clennon played Benjamin in Canadian director M. H. Murray's 2020 short film Ghost, which screened at the 30th Inside Out Film and Video Festival, the 5th Paris Independent Film Festival, the 34th Connecticut LGBTQ Film Festival, and the 47th Seattle International Film Festival. Clennon's song "Not Perfect" is featured in the film.

Clennon subsequently reprised the role of Benjamin in Murray's 2023 feature film I Don't Know Who You Are, which premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. Clennon was named as one of the festival's "Rising Stars" for 2023. Clennon's performance in the film received acclaim from critics. The Daily Beast dubbed his work as one of the best performances of that year's TIFF.

Clennon's music has been described as both pop and R&B, with dancehall and soul influences.

Clennon is out as gay.