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Mark Clarke | |
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 Clarke with JCM in Bluesgarage Isernhagen Germany, April 2019 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 25 July 1950 Liverpool, Merseyside, England |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments |
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| Years active | 1966–present |
| Member of | Colosseum [1] |
| Formerly of | |
Mark Clarke (born 25 July 1950 in Liverpool, England) is an English musician, bass player and singer, best known for his work with Colosseum and Mountain, as well as brief stints with Uriah Heep and Rainbow.
After seeing the Beatles and many other bands in Liverpool as a young boy at the age of 12, he decided to be a bass player. In 1966, Clarke played with the Kegmen, in 1968 with the Locomotive and late 1968 with St. James Infirmary. Liverpool Echo called him in an article "the Joe Cocker of Liverpool".
After a year of local gigs he moved to London, where he was introduced to Clem Clempson, who played at that time in Colosseum. After some time Clarke was asked by Jon Hiseman to join Colosseum in the summer 1970 and he played in the band until the split late 1971, and again 21 years from the reunion in 1994 till the farewell in 2015. [6] After Colosseum split he was briefly around the turn of the years 1971/1972 a member of Uriah Heep, [2] performing (and co-writing) on one studio track, "The Wizard", on the 1972 album Demons and Wizards . In the beginning of 1973 he became a member of Jon Hiseman's Tempest [3] and played bass on the two Tempest studio albums with Allan Holdsworth, Ollie Halsall and Paul Williams, and a live album issued later. He also played bass on Ken Hensley's solo albums.
In 1975 he formed Natural Gas with Joey Molland, Jerry Shirley and Peter Wood. He also played shortly with Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, [5] but did not appear on any recordings with them. In 1980 he started working with Billy Squier and recorded Don't Say No , The Stroke , In the Dark and many other albums with him. In 1986 he toured with the Monkees, and worked for many years with Davy Jones. Clarke has also worked twice in 1984–1985 and 1995–1996 with Mountain, [4] Ian Hunter and Torque, recording albums with all of them.
With Colosseum he played again from the reunion in 1994 to the farewell concert at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in London on 28 February 2015.
In 2010 Clarke released his first solo album Moving to the Moon, which was co-produced by Ray DeTone, who also played all guitars on the record.
In 2017 Clarke became a member of a new trio band called JCM, with fellow former members of Colosseum Jon Hiseman and Clem Clempson. The band recorded an album "Heroes" late in 2017 and it was released in April 2018. JCM begun touring Europe on 7 April 2018 but the tour ended after the show on the 22 April in Bonn due Jon Hiseman's illness. Hiseman died in June 2018 which initially appeared to be the end of JCM, however in early 2019 it was announced that band would continue with Ralph Salmins taking over drums. Tours of Europe and the UK took place throughout 2019.
Clarke continues to be a member of Colosseum after their reunion in 2019, [7] as well as contributing to their 2022 album Restoration. [1]
Colosseum
Uriah Heep
Tempest
Natural Gas
Ken Hensley
Richard T. Bear
Billy Squier
Ian Hunter
Michael Bolton
The Monkees
Mountain
Torque
Solo albums
JCM
Uriah Heep are an English rock band formed in London in 1969. Their current lineup consists of guitarist Mick Box, keyboardist Phil Lanzon, lead vocalist Bernie Shaw, drummer Russell Gilbrook, and bassist Dave Rimmer. They have experienced numerous lineup changes throughout their 55-year career, leaving Box as the only remaining original member. Former members of the band are vocalists David Byron, John Lawton, John Sloman, and Peter Goalby; bassists Paul Newton, Mark Clarke, Gary Thain, John Wetton, Trevor Bolder, and Bob Daisley; drummers Alex Napier, Nigel Olsson, Keith Baker, Iain Clark, Lee Kerslake, and Chris Slade; and keyboardists Ken Hensley, Gregg Dechert, and John Sinclair.
Kenneth William David Hensley was an English musician, singer, songwriter and producer, best known for his work with Uriah Heep during the 1970s.
David Garrick, better known by his stage name David Byron, was a British singer, who was best known in the early 1970s as the original lead vocalist of the rock band Uriah Heep. Byron possessed a powerful operatic voice and a flamboyant stage presence.
Colosseum are an English jazz rock band, mixing blues, rock and jazz-based improvisation. Colin Larkin wrote that "the commercial acceptance of jazz rock in the UK" was mainly due to the band. Between 1975 and 1978 a separate band Colosseum II existed playing progressive rock.
Demons and Wizards is the fourth studio album by English rock band Uriah Heep, released in May 1972 by Bronze Records in the UK and Mercury Records in the US.
Philip John Albert "Jon" Hiseman was an English drummer, recording engineer, record producer, and music publisher. He played with the Graham Bond Organisation, with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers and later formed what has been described as the "seminal" jazz rock/progressive rock band, Colosseum. He later formed Colosseum II in 1975.
Colosseum II was a British progressive jazz-rock band formed in 1975 by former Colosseum drummer and bandleader Jon Hiseman, which featured guitarist Gary Moore.
Daughter of Time is the fourth album by English jazz rock band Colosseum, released in 1970. The album remained for five weeks in the UK Albums Chart peaking number 23. Recorded in the midst of an upheaval in the band's lineup, only one of its eight tracks, "Three Score and Ten, Amen", features all six of the official band members.
Colosseum Live is a live album by Colosseum, released in 1971. It was one of the band's most commercially successful albums, remaining in the UK Albums Chart for six weeks and peaking at number 17. The album peaked at number 48 in Australia in 1972.
LiveS The Reunion Concerts 1994 is a live album by English progressive jazz-rock band Colosseum. It includes two tracks from their reunion concert at the Zelt-Musik-Festival in Freiburg, Germany and six tracks from the second reunion concert at the E-Werk in Cologne, Germany.
Bread & Circuses is a 1997 album by Colosseum.
Tomorrow's Blues is an album by the band Colosseum that was released in 2003.
The Grass Is Greener is an album by Colosseum, released in January 1970.
Tempest was a British rock band active from 1972 to 1974. Its core members were Jon Hiseman on drums and Mark Clarke on bass. They released two studio albums before breaking up.
"The Wizard" is a song by British rock band Uriah Heep, from their 1972 album Demons and Wizards. It was the first single to be lifted from the album. It was composed by Mark Clarke and Ken Hensley. It is a gentle, semi-acoustic ballad whose lyrics deal with a wanderer meeting "the Wizard of a thousand kings". This song is the first Uriah Heep single which had a music video.
David "Clem" Clempson is an English rock guitarist who has played as a member in a number of bands including Colosseum and Humble Pie.
May Blitz was a Canadian-British hard rock power trio that was active in the early 1970s.
Bakerloo was an English heavy blues-rock trio, established by Staffordshire guitarist David "Clem" Clempson, Terry Poole and others in the late 1960s, at the high point of the influence of The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Cream. Although the group was prominent only for around a year (1968–9) and released only one album, it played an important part in the history of the genre, especially in view of its members' subsequent involvement with Colosseum, Humble Pie, May Blitz, Graham Bond, Vinegar Joe, Judas Priest and Uriah Heep.
The Best of Uriah Heep is the title of the most successful compilation album by the British rock band Uriah Heep. It was released by Bronze Records and Mercury Records in three distinct editions with roughly the same songs, but different cover art and track listing. The first edition was released in 1974 in Canada, the second in 1975 in Europe and the third the following year in the US. Some European editions had the song "Lady in Black" substituted by "Suicidal Man". The compilation reached gold status in Germany.
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