Killahbyte

OTTAWA — You oughta know Ottawa’s Alanis Morissette got married — and the nuptials were a closely-kept secret for 16 days.

Only those in Morissette’s inner circle knew the singer and actress got hitched until Monday, when a representative said Morissette married the relatively unknown rapper Mario Treadway, a.k.a. Souleye, in an intimate ceremony in her Los Angeles home on May 22.

“Hi guys. So happy to share with you that my man Souleye and I got married,” Morissette, 36, reported on her Facebook page. “We’re very excited to embark on this journey with each other.”

The pair have been dating since October. The socially conscious Morissette has chosen a mate who, like her, has a spiritual bent.

Treadway, 30, a former Whole Foods employee in Boca Raton, Florida, says his nom du rapper Souleye was given to him by “a spirit guide” he encountered while on “a vision quest” at the age of 21.

“He approached me while I was in a trance state,” Treadway told a newspaper in 2005.

“He covered my ears and said ‘Souleye.’ Then I woke up … I’m on a spiritual path with my music.”

On his website, Treadway says he was “born in Old Sturbridge Village, Massachusetts to a Native American father and an Italian mother.”

He grew up listening to hip hop and was influenced by rappers such as Talib Kweli and Tupac Shakur.

Souleye’s lyrics show his spiritual side:

“Hey yo, the Spirit guides me, gives me a burst of energy/

Patience is the key, relax and breathe, we've got a long way to walk to self-mastery.”

The website bio adds: “His innovative rhyme schemes incorporate heart-felt messages about higher consciousness, soul searching, positivity, self-acceptance, socio-political commentary, and transcendental meditation. To date, his biggest inspirations are God, birds, family and friends, and everyday life.”

Treadway also told the Florida newspaper that his life was touched by tragedy when an older brother committed suicide and a close friend died of cancer.

Morissette appeared May 19 at the premier of Prince of Persia, for which she wrote a song, I Remain. Her appearance on the red carpet in a high-waisted dress sparked rumours she was pregnant.

She also appeared — this time in boots, leggings and a loose-fitting shirt — on the May 26 episode of American Idol, performing a duet of her hitsIronic and You Oughta Know with runner-up Crystal Bowersox. Morissette is also scheduled to appear Thursday on the The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Morissette began her career in Ottawa, where she appeared in 18 episodes of You Can’t Do That on Television and productions of the Orpheus Musical Theatre Society. She recorded two albums — Alanisand Now is the Time — before moving to Los Angeles in 1993 after she graduated from Glebe Collegiate Institute.

The jaded outlook and explicit lyrics of Jagged Little Pill attracted major attention and critical acclaim in 1995. In the embittered You Oughta Know, she addresses an ex-lover she calls “Mr. Duplicity,” asking “Is she perverted like me?” and telling him: “It was a slap in the face how quickly I was replaced.”

Jagged Little Pill eventually sold 30 million copies internationally, making it the top-selling debut album for a female artist. Morissette has won 16 Juno Awards and seven Grammy Awards.

She has remarked on the difficulties of losing her privacy to fame, but has also discussed her sex life and struggles with eating disorders and depression.

In a candid 2004 interview with Britain’s The Mirror, she revealed that she had been sexually active from the age of 14, had affairs with older men, and tried lesbian relationships.

As a precocious teen, she said she felt more compatible with older men, she said.

“With older men, I could have conversations with them until five in the morning and be very stimulated intellectually and experientially.”

At the time of the interview, the singer was in a relationship with Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds, and she said she would like to have children, “although I’m not attached to having my own kid.”

“I think there’s so many babies on this planet that don’t have parents.”

The couple split up in 2007. Reynolds has since married actress Scarlett Johansson.

Morissette was linked to environmental lawyer Tom Ballanco between 2007 and 2009.