Mark Stewart (musician)

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Mark Stewart (born South Shields, Tyne & Wear) is a British musician and founding member of The Pop Group. He makes polemical noise-funk with a hip-hop reggae dub feel and has recorded for On-U Sound Records and Mute Records. Stewart started out in Bristol in 1978 in music with The Pop Group a band whose titles (such as "For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?"), political conviction, disrespect for copyright and willingness to collaborate laid the foundations for his later work.

The Pop Group split in 1981, with Stewart and two other members heading off to London to hook up with the emerging On-U Sound "conspiracy of outsiders" as part of the New Age Steppers. On-U became a focal point an absurdly diverse set of networks - punks, reggae players from both the UK and Jamaica and free-jazzers.

Stewart has since made several albums under his own name as well as collaborating with big names such as Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails fame. In 2005, he released a collection of his best work on Soul Jazz Records titled 'Kiss the Future'.

He is currently living in a small town on the coast of South Dorset with his mother and two cats. Despite this, he is constantly touring.

Mark is well known in several European countries and Japan. He is currently having a documentary filmed about him [August 2006] which will air in Germany including interviews with the likes of David Bowie.