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A long run on the hit television series Rock Star: INXS made 'Sweet' Suzie McNeil a name to watch for rock writers around the world, but it took a gig singing the theme song for the TV commercial to Marineland, the water park outside Niagara Falls, to really make her a celebrity at home.
Most television viewers in Ontario are familiar with the bouncy commercial with the soaring chorus "Everyone loves Marineland"
"I'm the Marineland girl!" McNeil squeals over the phone from Toronto. "I was so happy when they asked me to do it in 2005. I felt that I had finally arrived. I've done a lot of jingles, but that's the one that my family always mention they heard."
Around the same time she was singing the praises of dancing dolphins and killer whales, McNeil was also the last woman left in the running to become the new lead singer for INXS in the popular 2005 television series. And, as we all know, that honour fell to fellow Torontonian and former car-sitter J.D. Fortune.
Still, she didn't walk away empty-handed.
"The biggest thing it did was hook me up with the industry network and put me into a position where I can call anyone I want to. It opened the doors and gave me the chance to work with anyone I want to."
She now splits her time between Toronto and Los Angeles, and runs with the likes of Aerosmith's Steve Tyler, Pink and Jon Bon Jovi.
McNeil spent most of last summer touring with Pink.
"I do get overwhelmed sometimes when there is a lot of people vying for my attention. I see why really famous celebrities become closed-off from the world because there are just too many people pulling them in different directions. I don't have to worry about that. I can be anonymous, but it is a part of this business."
By the time she launches her Middle East tour in November she'll have cut a new album, for the moment titled Believe.
Tomorrow she'll be giving fans a good sample when she performs live at The Thirsty Toad.
Backed by four of Toronto's top session players, she'll be singing some of the songs she performed on Rock Star, a couple of cuts from her album, and I Want To Know What Love Is, which she sang on American Idol Clay Aiken's latest album.
McNeil's concert tomorrow marks the second time in a week celebrities from the popular reality TV series have performed at the pub in Ottawa South. Rock Star: Supernova's Dilana and Magni played a sell-out acoustic set last Saturday.
Club owner Jason Strachan has also booked Storm Large for next Saturday and Ryan Star on Nov. 4 as part of his "Party Like a Rock Star" month-long promotion.
Tickets for McNeil's show are $20 at The Thirsty Toad pub at 1344 Bank St. The show opens at 8 p.m. with The Undesireables.