Mark Knopfler

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Mark Knopfler

Born August 12, 1949 (age 57)
in Glasgow, Scotland
Genre(s) Rock, Country, Blues
Affiliation(s) Dire Straits
The Notting Hillbillies
Label(s) Vertigo
Mercury
Notable guitars Fender Stratocaster
National Style 0 Resonator
Years active 1977 - present
Official site Official website
Audio sample Solo sample (help·info)

Mark Freuder Knopfler, OBE, D.Mus (born August 12, 1949, Glasgow, Scotland) is a guitarist, singer, and songwriter. His vocal style is best described by the German phrase Sprechgesang — not quite singing, not quite speaking. His use of guitar has been compared to adding another 'voice' to his songs.

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 groups (such as The Notting Hillbillies). Additionally, he has performed on the work of other artists, including Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Steely Dan and the late Chet Atkins (in Neck & Neck). He has produced albums for artists such as Tina Turner, Randy Newman, Bob Dylan and Emmylou Harris. 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.

He is widely regarded as one of the best fingerstyle guitarists of the modern era. Knopfler was ranked #27 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early days

Mark Knopfler's father was a Jewish architect whose communist sympathies forced him to flee the fascist regime in his native Hungary and his mother was English. When Knopfler was about nine years old, the family moved to Knopfler's mothers home town of Newcastle upon Tyne in the North-East of England. There, he and his younger brother David (also a musician) 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 Stratocaster just like Hank Marvin's, but had to settle for a £50 twin pickup Höfner Super Solid.[1] 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 Chet Atkins, 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.[1]

In 1967, having displayed a flair for English at school[1], Knopfler studied journalism for a year at Harlow Technical College.[2] At the end of the course he secured a job in Leeds as a junior reporter on the Yorkshire Evening Post.[3] After two years he decided to further his studies and commenced a degree in English at Leeds University.[4] He also worked as a lecturer at Loughton College during this period. It was whilst Knopfler was living in Leeds that he met a local blues singer/guitarist by the name of Steve Phillips.[1]

He then moved (alone) to London and joined a High Wycombe based band called Brewer's Droop. One night while spending some time with friends, the only guitar available was an old acoustic with a badly warped neck that had been strung with extra-light strings to make it playable. Even with that, he found it impossible to play unless he finger-picked it. He said in a later interview, "That was where I found my 'voice' on guitar." Soon after he made his first record in a London studio: an unreleased demo of an original song, "Summer's Coming My Way".[1]

[edit] Dire Straits

Main article: Dire Straits

Dire Straits' first sessions were done under the name of Knopfler's earlier band, the Café Racers, but after a short time, with Pick Withers as the replacement drummer and John Illsley as the new bass player,[1] they changed their name to Dire Straits, due to their poor financial situation at the time.[citation needed]

Dire Straits recorded and released their first album, the self-titled Dire Straits in 1978 to little fanfare, but five months later a single release, "Sultans of Swing" became a chart hit and album sales took off. The second album, Communiqué produced by Jerry Wexler and Barry Beckett, followed in 1979 and was considered to many to be a sophomore slump but eventually rose in stature. The band's third album, Making Movies, was released in 1980 and marked a move towards more complex arrangements and production which would continue for the remainder of the group's career.

In 1982 Dire Straits released their fourth album, Love Over Gold. Love over Gold showcased the epic soundscape "Telegraph Road", the humorous "Industrial Disease", and the #2 hit "Private Investigations", which became a popular live song. Around this time Mark Knopfler was also involved with other projects, including writing the music score for the film Local Hero, released in 1983. The soundtrack album Local Hero was a large success, and it was followed in 1984 by the score for the film Cal.

With the release of Love Over Gold there was a world tour called Alchemy: Dire Straits Live. A double-LP of the recordings of two live shows in Hammersmith Odeon in London sold over 500,000 albums. Dire Straits' biggest-selling album was their fifth, Brothers in Arms, which became an international hit on its release in 1985, and spawned several chart singles including the number one hit "Money for Nothing", which was the first video ever to be played on MTV in Britain. The band's 1985–86 world tour, of over 230[1] shows, was immensely successful.

After the Brothers in Arms tour Dire Straits went on a lengthy hiatus, with Knopfler concentrating on solo work, film soundtracks and work with The Notting Hillbillies. Dire Straits regrouped in 1988 for the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert at Wembley Stadium, in which they were the headline act and were accompanied by Eric Clapton. 1990 saw the recording of Dire Straits' final original studio album, On Every Street, which was released in 1991. The album met with a mixed critical reaction, regarded by some as an underwhelming follow up to Brothers in Arms. But the fans loved the album in spite of the critics, citing "Calling Elvis", "Fade to Black", "You and Your Friend" and "Planet of New Orleans" as prime evidence.

After On Every Street, two live albums were released, the first of which, On the Night (1993), documented Dire Straits' final tour. This was followed two years later by Live at the BBC.

Dire Straits' line-up changed over the band's career, but Knopfler was always the driving force behind the group. After expressing a desire to give up touring on a large scale, Mark Knopfler launched his solo career and quietly disbanded Dire Straits in 1995. However, the band's keyboardist Guy Fletcher has been associated with almost every piece of Knopfler's solo material following Dire Straits' dissolution. Danny Cummings, the percussionist, also makes frequent appearances, including one on Knopfler's latest solo album.[5]

However, in 2002 Mark Knopfler did four charity concerts with Dire Straits members John Illsley, Chris White, Danny Cummings and Guy Fletcher playing some old Dire Straits songs. The session also included The Notting Hillbillies.

[edit] After Dire Straits

In 1996, the year after Dire Straits officially disbanded, Knopfler released his first solo album, Golden Heart. 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. In August the same year, Brothers in Arms was certified nine times platinum.

In 1997 Rolling Stone magazine released a poll: "Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll", which included "Sultans of Swing", Dire Straits' first hit, which remained significant throughout their entire career as a band.

In 1997 Knopfler recorded the soundtrack for the movie Wag the Dog. In October a hits collection of Dire Straits was released: Sultans of Swing: The Very Best of Dire Straits. It would, however, be three years before he was to release his next album, Sailing to Philadelphia.

Knopfler released his third solo album, The Ragpicker's Dream, in 2002. However, as a keen motorcyclist, in March 2003 Knopfler was involved in a motorbike crash in Grosevnor Road, Belgravia. He suffered from a broken collarbone, broken shoulder blade and seven broken ribs.[6] The accident was caused by a South American woman who was in England illegally and was subsequently deported.[7] The planned Ragpicker's Dream tour was subsequently cancelled, but Knopfler recovered and was able to return to the stage in 2004 for his fourth album, Shangri-La.

Shangri-La was recorded at the Shangri-La Studio in Malibu, California in 2004, where The Band made recordings for The Last Waltz. In the promo for "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. The "Shangri-La" tour took Mark to countries like India and the UAE for the first time. In India, his concerts at Bombay and Bangalore were very well received, with over 20,000 fans gathering at each concert to listen to a legend who many thought would never visit their country.

In late 2005 a third compilation, The Best of Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler: Private Investigations was released, and consisted of material from most of Dire Straits' studio albums and Knopfler's solo and soundtrack material.

Mark Knopfler in 2005
Mark Knopfler in 2005

Knopfler recorded an album of duets with country music singer Emmylou Harris, entitled All the Roadrunning, which was released on April 24 2006. It reached #1 in Denmark and Switzerland, #2 in Norway and Sweden, #3 in Germany, Holland and Italy, #8 in Austria and UK, #9 in Spain, #17 in the United States (Billboard Top 200 Chart), #25 in Ireland and #41 in Australia.

Joined by Emmylou Harris, Knopfler supported All the Roadrunning with a successful world tour. Selections from the duo's June performance at the Gibson Ampitheatre were released as a CD/DVD package entitled Real Live Roadrunning on Nov. 14, 2006. In addition to several of the compositions that Harris and Knopfler recorded together in the studio, Real Live Roadrunning features solo hits from both members of the duo, as well as three tracks from Knopfler's days with Dire Straits.

All The Roadrunning was nominated for "Best Folk Rock/Americana Album" at the 49th Grammy Awards (Feb 11, 2007) but lost out to Bob Dylan's nomination for Modern Times.

Mark has already begun work on his next solo album in London. Guy Fletcher maintains a studio diary on his web site. The link to his diary is on the official Mark Knopfler news site.

[edit] Music

Mark Knopfler is noted for being left-handed, but playing right-handed, and for fingerpicking (using a personal variant of the "claw-hammer") style instead of using a plectrum (i.e., "pick"); fingerpicking is usually associated with the acoustic guitar, but Knopfler usually (though not always) plays an electric guitar.

Knopfler was a guitar hero of the 80's and played some of the decade's definitive riffs/solos. Mark's tone evolved from the simple and clean (or slightly overdriven) guitar sound of the Straits' first two albums to the "rocky" overdriven sounds on Brothers In Arms and on to the warm tube sounds on his solo albums.

He has around 70 guitars, including:

His Artist Series Stratocaster can be viewed on the Fender website.

[edit] Personal life

Knopfler used to live in the London district Notting Hill. During his time there, he formed a band named The Notting Hillbillies over a meal at a local wine bar.

Knopfler has been married three times. His second marriage to Lourdes Salamone from 1983-1993 gave him twin sons, Benji and Joseph (born 1987); and his third marriage to actress Kitty Aldridge has given him daughters Isabella (born 1998) and Katya Ruby Rose (born 2003). The family currently lives in Chelsea, a neighbourhood of London, England.

Knopfler's guitar classic "Going Home" from the soundtrack to Local Hero is used before kick-off at Newcastle United's home matches at St James' Park. Knopfler makes a few appearances at St James' to watch his favourite side, and did a charity gig at Shearer's Bar at St James' Park.

In 1993, Knopfler was made an honorary Doctor of Music at Newcastle University.[8]

[edit] Discography

[edit] With Dire Straits

Main article: Dire Straits

[edit] Solo albums

[edit] Soundtrack albums

[edit] Other albums

The Bradley Barn Sessions (with George Jones and Various Artists, October 1994)

[edit] Trivia

  • He has been known to sip tea on stage during live performances. His guitarist Richard Bennett has also joined in drinking tea with him on stage. photo
  • British author and humorist Douglas Adams said about Knopfler, in his book So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish: "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."[9]
  • The dinosaur species Masiakasaurus knopfleri was named after Knopfler. The paleontologists were listening to Dire Straits recordings when they discovered the species.[10]
  • In the Mighty Boosh episode "The Priest and the Beast", The Shaman Naboo pretends that a glass of Lucozade is actually 'Liquid Music' combined from the urine of Mark Knopfler and the tears of Mozart.
  • He also plays percussion (according to Local Hero album credits as see in inlays, he also play Linn Drums on this album).

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Kilburn, T. (2006) Mark Knopfler Authorized Biography Retrieved on April 2, 2007
  2. ^ The Journalism Centre Retrieved on April 2, 2007
  3. ^ Chaos on the Sheepscar Interchange Retrieved on April 2, 2007.
  4. ^ Who's been here Retrieved on April 2, 2007
  5. ^ 2007 Recording Diary - Week 1 - January 2007 Retrieved on April 2, 2007.
  6. ^ Davies, H. "Rock star hurt in motorcycle crash", The Telegraph, March 19, 2003
  7. ^ Woods, J. "She could have asked how I was", The Telegraph, August 18, 2004
  8. ^ Knopfler opens students' studios Retrieved on April 3, 2007.
  9. ^ Adams, D. (1984) So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, London. ISBN 0-330-28700-1
  10. ^ (2001) Palaeontologists in dire straits name dinosaur for the Sultan of Swing

[edit] External links

Dire Straits
Mark Knopfler

John Illsley | Alan Clark | Guy Fletcher | David Knopfler | Pick Withers | Hal Lindes | Terry Williams | Jack Sonni
Discography
Albums and extended plays: Dire Straits | Communiqué | Making Movies | Love over Gold | ExtendedancEPlay | Alchemy | Brothers in Arms | On Every Street | On the Night | Encores | Live at the BBC | Money for Nothing | Sultans of Swing: The Very Best of Dire Straits | The Best of Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler: Private Investigations
Hit Singles: Sultans of Swing | Lady Writer | Romeo and Juliet | Skateaway | Private Investigations | Twisting by the Pool | So Far Away | Money for Nothing | Brothers in Arms | Walk of Life | Your Latest Trick | Calling Elvis | Heavy Fuel |
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