As a teenager in the early Eighties, Merri Cyr left her small town of Adamsville, Rhode Island, for New York City as a finalist in a national modeling contest. After winning and being photographed by Richard Avedon, she modeled in New York and Paris. During that time she became more fascinated with what the photographers and assistants were doing behind the camera. Soon she started shooting documentary photos on the streets of New York, which led her to take up her studies in photography at Pratt Institute where she earned her BFA.

After graduating Pratt, Merri became focused on portraiture, especially the documenting of musicians and artists for magazines and record companies. Her clients include Apple, Columbia Records, Sony Classical, Warner Brothers, Maverick, Mercury, Elektra, Verve, Mercury Nashville, Deutsche Grammophone, “Rolling Stone”,“Entertainment Weekly”, “People”, “Paper”, “Q”, “Mojo”, “Vox”, “Uncut” and “Bang” magazine amongst many others. Merri has over 80 album packages to her name. Other works include the documenting of Lilith Fair for “Rolling Stone”, consigned video works for Sony and Maverick, and her book, A Wished-For Song: A Portrait of Jeff Buckley, which includes 360 photos and interviews conducted by her. Jeff Buckley. So Real is her second book on the legendary singer-songwriter, published by Wall Of Sound Gallery.

Merri also teaches at the International Center of Photography in NYC.