Jump to content

Mark Knopfler

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 147.197.215.16 (talk) at 19:36, 19 March 2006 (→Dire Straits). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Mark Knopfler with Dire Straits performing live

Mark Freuder Knopfler, OBE (born August 12, 1949, Glasgow, Scotland) is a British guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is best-known as the lead guitarist and vocalist for the band Dire Straits, but has also made albums as a solo performer and played in other bands (such as the Notting Hillbillies). He has also performed on work by other artists, such as Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and Chet Atkins, and produced albums for artists such as Tina Turner, Randy Newman, and (again) Bob Dylan. In addition, he has scored the music to several films, including Local Hero, The Princess Bride, Cal, Last Exit to Brooklyn and Wag the Dog.

Personal life

Early days

Mark Knopfler is the son of a Jewish architect whose communist sympathies forced him to flee the fascist regime in his native Hungary. When Mark was about nine years old, the family moved to Newcastle upon Tyne in the North-East of England. There, he attended Gosforth Grammar School. He was inspired by his uncle Kingsley's harmonica and boogie-woogie piano playing. Later, in his teens, he wished to buy the expensive flamingo-pink Fender Strat, just like Hank Marvin's, but had to settle for a £50 twin pick-up Hofner Super Solid. Like many other schoolboys of the 1960s, he served an early apprenticeship by forming and joining anonymous schoolboy bands and listening to guitarists such as Scotty Moore, Jimi Hendrix, Django Reinhardt and James Burton. At sixteen he made a local TV appearance as half of a harmony duo along with school-friend Sue Hercombe.

At school Mark had demonstrated a flair for English and in 1967 he went to study journalism for a year at Harlow Technical College. At the end of the course he secured a job in Leeds as a junior reporter on the Yorkshire Evening Post. After two years he decided to further his studies and commenced a degree in English at Leeds University. He also worked as a lecturer at Loughton College during this period. It was whilst Mark was living in Leeds that he met a local blues singer/guitarist by the name of Steve Phillips. Soon he made his first record in a London studio, an unreleased demo of an original song, "Summer's Coming My Way"

Dire Straits

Dire Straits recorded and released their first, self-titled album in 1978 to little fanfare but five months later a single release, "Sultans of Swing" became an unlikely chart hit and album sales took off. The second album, Communiqué, followed soon afterwards. The third album, Making Movies marked a move towards more complex arrangements and production which would continue throughout the band's career. The band's 1985 release Brothers in Arms became an international hit and spawned several singles including the number one hit "Money for Nothing", which was the first video ever to be played on MTV in Britain.

A long period of inactivity followed this success; during the next six years, the only releases were a hits-compilation and a live recording. The band's final original studio album, On Every Street was released in 1991 to mixed reviews and moderate success. After the tour of the album Dire Straits disbanded quietly in 1995 and Knopfler commenced a solo career.

After Dire Straits

Music

He is noted for being left-handed, but playing right-handed, and for fingerpicking instead of strumming or using a plectrum; fingerpicking is usually associated with the acoustic guitar, but Knopfler usually (though not always) plays an electric guitar, particularly the Fender Stratocaster (but sometimes using a Gibson Les Paul). Although at present he has a signature guitar from Fender, he is also known for his signature Pensa-Suhr MK series (now known as Pensa).

Knopfler and his associated bands have sold over 100 million albums, and performed live to audiences totalling many millions. He has twin sons (Benji and Joseph, born 1987), and two daughters Isabella (1998) and Katya (2003). Mark holds a degree in English from Leeds University and has been awarded an honorary music degree from Newcastle University. Knopfler has recently completed work on an album of duets with country music singer Emmylou Harris, entitled All the Roadrunning, which will be released on April 24 2006.

Albums

Trivia

  • In the latest promo for his new album Shangri-La on his official website he said that his current line-up of Glenn Worf (bass), Guy Fletcher (keyboards), Chad Cromwell (drums), Richard Bennett (guitar) and Matt Rollings (piano) play Dire Straits songs better than Dire Straits did.
  • Formed during the Golden Heart sessions, the main line-up of his solo band, also known as "The 96'ers", has lasted much longer than any Dire Straits line-up.
  • British humorist Douglas Adams about Knopfler: "Mark Knopfler has an extraordinary ability to make a Schecter Custom Stratocaster hoot and sing like angels on a Saturday night, exhausted from being good all week and needing a stiff beer." (see: So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, published London, 1984)
  • The dinosaur species Masiakasaurus knopfleri was named after Knopfler. The paleontologists listened to Dire Straits recordings while discovering the species. [1]

See also

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mark_Knopfler&oldid=44541274"