Marshall was born in Phoenix, Arizona, but was raised in Riverside, California with his two older brothers and a younger sister. In the 1970's you may have found him on a baseball field, at the local beach, on a ski slope, or riding his dirt bike in the back hills of the city. You might have seen the pre-teen behind the parts counter at Skip Fordyce Motorcycle Center, his family owned business in Riverside.
It was the sounds of Glen Campbell and Chicago that first inspired Marshall to pick up a guitar and decide to take lessons. But it was the harder edge of Jimmy Page, Edward Van Halen and Randy Rhoads that would awaken his aspiration to play lead guitar and write his own music. The next natural step was to form a group that could breathe life into his ideas. From this need for expression, several different bands formed with various other players along the way. Most notably, was a band called Xanthys.
Xanthys would entertain at local parties and clubs during the early 1980's, and become fairly well known in the Inland Empire. They covered some of Marshall's favorite songs by other artists, such as Van Halen, The Who & Led Zeppelin. He also got a chance to try out some of his original material.
As the band's popularity grew, so grew the desire in Marshall to discover ways to expand and polish his natural talent. Though local followers were clearly dazzled by his playing, and while he enjoyed performing with the band, he knew there was more to his life that lay somewhere beyond that setting. With strong encouragement from his parents, he chose the path to higher education. At Fullerton College and the University of Southern California, he would earn associate and bachelors degrees in music before the end of the decade. This marked the beginning of a whole new world of possibilities for Marshall, but it also marked the end of his days with the band.
