Every recording artist probably wishes they could have a smash hit album like Alanis Morissette’s alt-rock blockbuster, Jagged Little Pill. The word “classic” could readily be applied to it. You might even say it’s a cultural milestone.
Fans just can’t get their fill of timeless tunes like “You Oughta Know” and “Ironic.” Pretty impressive, considering that Morissette was only 21 years old at the time of Jagged’s release. Even at that young age, she was clearly a virtuoso who set the recording world on its ear.
Given her creative stature, it’s no shock that she is married to a fellow musician. On her website, Morissette adoringly wrote of him, “God bless this man. a true partner. the love of my life. so grateful.”
If you want to know who Alanis Morissette’s husband Mario “Souleye” Treadway is and what their life together is like, we’ve got the insider details.
Souleye Is A Hip Hop Artist And Rapper
Treadway fell in love with rap as a young teen after he heard a mix tape showcasing Grand Master Flash and Kool Herc.
He connected with the Transcendental Alliance in 2001, a cluster of rhymers from his home territory of New England. They had a free-spirited lifestyle, getting creative in places like coffeehouses as well as performing and traveling together.
From that modest beginning, he went on to release 10 albums, most recently Hunting Teardrops (2021).
He Gave Up A Basketball Scholarship To Pursue His Art Full-Time
Born in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, Treadway attended Western New England College on a basketball scholarship in 1999 but left after a year to focus on his real love, which was music. “I wasn’t learning what I wanted, and I really just wanted to grasp my passions,” he explained to the Broward Palm Beach New Times.
Tragedy Has Inspired Souleye’s Music
Two tragedies laid the early foundation for Treadway’s music. The first was the death of a childhood friend from cancer. Treadway went to see him shortly before he died.
Treadway told Broward Palm Beach, “I got there, like, two days before he passed and his parents told me that he waited to see me. I got to make him laugh. I rapped to him—freestyled. Played a bunch of beats…”
From that sad event sprung Treadway’s Flexible Morality album, which he penned in just five days during a retreat in rustic Vermont. Grieving for his late friend, he sought solitude. He said that he “just wrote, burned incense, danced around, and drank water” during that restorative period.
Then came another devastating loss for Treadway. His mentally-ill older brother took his own life in April 2004. It brought about a haunting epiphany for Treadway, one that touched his emotions and reinforced his commitment to music.
He was going through the things in his brother’s New Hampshire apartment. “My brother gave me a sticker a long time ago that says ‘Music Matters,’” Treadway recalled.
“I put it on my favorite rhyme notebook. The place where he hung himself had the same sticker on the ceiling.”
Those words became Treadway’s artistic philosophy. They seemed like a precious gift that his brother left behind for him. Treadway thereafter dedicated himself to making music that resonates deeply with listeners.
Souleye And Morissette Met At A Meditation Gathering In 2009
Morissette met Treadway, who is six years her junior, met at a meditation retreat in 2009. Meditation is still an essential part of the couple’s lives.
In fact, Morissette has called meditation “the silence that sustains [her] and refuels [her] enough to keep giving.” She is a highly spiritual person, according to what she shared with Women’s Health in 2015.
There is a meditation and yoga room in their home, and a space for her essential oils because she finds aromatherapy healing and rejuvenating.
The meditation room helps to keep Morissette centered. “It’s kind of where I go to tune in to emotions, get divine messages through prayer. I do my gratitude lists in there,” she told People. “I carve out different goals, I journal, I read, I listen to meditation—I do all my practices in there.”
As for Treadway’s place in her life, Morissette beams non-stop when she talks about him. She positively glows. Morissette confided to Oprah Winfrey on SuperSoul Sunday that he seemed different to her than the other people she dated in the past because he had what she called an intriguing “ceilinglessness” to him.
“I would date people,” Morissette said, “and there would be something about me that would hit a brick wall with whomever I was sitting across from. With Souleye when I first met him, I could see that there was this limitlessness to where we could go.”
Flirting Is The Secret To Keeping Their Relationship Strong
Couples use various strategies to maintain their emotional connection over time, whether it’s having romantic date nights, taking occasional getaways minus the kids, or making time for just having fun together.
For Morissette and Treadway, the key is flirting, even after many years of wedded bliss plus three kids.
“Flirting is nice … dates, gifts and compliments,” Morissette told People. “Anytime he says anything about me emotionally, like ‘Wow, you’re really nurturing’ or ‘really patient,’ that’s like full-blown sexy time for me.”
The pair tied the knot at home in Los Angeles on May 22, 2010. It was an intimate occasion that Morissette happily announced on Twitter, writing, “We’re very excited to embark on this journey with each other….”
Their family has grown since then with the addition of their youngsters: son Ever (born December 2010), daughter Onyx (born June 2016), and son Winter (born August 2019).
There’s one other ingredient that keeps the Treadways’ union strong. They are always there for each other. “We’re helping each other out” is the way Morissette phrased it. They allow each other to “heal and grow.”
They recognize and appreciate each other’s strengths and permit each other to be who they truly are. It’s a formula for long-lasting marital success, especially in Morissette and Treadway’s household.
Souleye And Morissette Love To Work Together
Yet another reason for their marriage’s stability is the way they relate to each other as artists. For example, Treadway opened his wife’s Guardian Angel tour.
They each understand the writing, recording, and promoting process that is integral to a performer’s life. The fact that they can share that with each other deepens their bond. They also collaborate on writing songs such as “Snow Angel” (2017).
Alanis Morissette and Mario “Souleye” Treadway seem to have achieved a genuine blending of their hearts, minds, and souls on every level that counts. They’re doing great after years together and show no outward signs of discontent. Quite the contrary—they are the picture of joyful togetherness.