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Mark King (musician)
Encyclopedia
Mark King is an English
musician
. He is most famous for being the lead singer and bassist
of the band
, Level 42
. In the early 1980s King popularized the 1970s-era slap and pop style for playing the bass guitar
by incorporating it into pop music
.
, an island off the south coast of England
. His father, Raymond King, was a dairyman, and the family lived in a tithed dairy house. King recalled in a 2006 newspaper interview, "it was post-war, with one brass tap, an outside toilet and a zinc bath in front of the fire." He later lived on the Camp Hill and Albany prison estates on the outskirts of Newport
. He attended Kitbridge Middle School where he met his childhood sweetheart Tracey Wilson, later writing a song about her. He then went to Cowes High School.
Originally, King pursued a career as a drummer
. He even played drums for the band Re-Flex
in their early years, before starting his career as a bass player. His father bought him his first kit
for £10, while he received encouragement to pursue a career in music
from his music teacher at middle school.
King was asked to leave Cowes High School at the age of 17, when he turned up at school wearing denim jeans
. King recalls in a magazine interview "It didn't go down very well, and I was told my schooling had run its course." King then left home and stayed at a friend's house for two weeks, sleeping on the floor, before getting a job on a production line. After quitting this job, King became a milkman
, but he was still determined to "prove he was not a failure". So, at the age of 19, King moved to London, along with his milk van, in hope of finding a career in music.
at the age of nineteen, subsequently forming Level 42 in 1979 with Mike Lindup
and fellow Islanders, brothers Phil
and Rowland Charles Gould
. Although a drummer, King had two reasons for gravitating towards bass guitar. Firstly he felt Phil was a good drummer and, significantly, already had a kit when the band started; King didn't have one. Secondly Macari's music shop, where King was working, didn't sell drums, so there was less opportunity to get some practice. Nevertheless King's natural rhythmic intuition probably contributed to his distinctive bass playing style, along with the popularity of jazz funk in Britain at the time.
At one of their first gigs, at the La Babalu club in Ryde
, Level 42 were spotted by Andy Sojka, the head of small independent record label
Elite and signed. The next year they were signed to Polydor and King spent the next nine years recording
and touring with the band. The first Top 40 single
, "Love Games
", was released in 1981, heralding the band's first appearance on Top of the Pops
. The big breakthrough came with the release of "The Sun Goes Down (Living It Up)
" in 1983.
While in Level 42, King found his bass-playing services in some demand. He was invited by Nik Kershaw
to play on his second album The Riddle
(1984) and by Midge Ure
to play on his albums The Gift
(1985) and Answers to Nothing
(1988).
Level 42 supported The Police in 1981, followed by tours with Steve Winwood
in 1986 and Madonna
in 1987. In 1986, King and Lindup performed alongside Eric Clapton
, Phil Collins
, Mark Knopfler
and Elton John
at a Prince's Trust charity concert.
They released the album Retroglide
in 2006 and a European tour followed.
Level 42 (line up: M.King, M.Lindup, G.Husband, N.King, S.Freaman) toured in autumn of 2008.
In 1999, he issued a collection of unused songs in the form of the album 'Trash'; the name hinted at the rough, unpolished nature of the recordings (which were rejected by Virgin Records in favour of the tracks which would ultimately appear on the 'One Man' album).
'Trash' was a historic release as it was issued without a record company and initially offered to hardcore fans via a low-key guestbook entry, made by King, on www.level42.com. Using an Apple Mac, CD burner and inkjet printer, King manufactured the CD himself and posted it directly to fans, charging £17 plus postage. He hand signed and numbered early copies. Clearly not anticipating the popularity of the album, the initial CDs were numbered as part of a series of 100. Word soon spread of the CD and King eventually shifted in excess of 1,000 copies.
In the years following Trash, King repeated the successful 'home-made' formula releasing a string of live recordings including 'Live At The Jazz Cafe', 'Live On The Isle of Wight' and 'Live At Reading Concert Hall' (which despite being performed as a Mark King solo show, was released under the name of Level 42 as King retained the rights to the name shortly before releasing the CD). Despite being contracted to Universal Music imprint W14, King continues to release live shows on his own Summerhouse Record label, of which 2007's 'Retroglide Live' DVD was the first.
Since coming back into the limelight in 1998 with 'One Man' and the supporting UK tour, King has toured consistently around Europe and as far east as Indonesia. With the exception of 'Trash' he has only issued one new professionally-released studio album in the 8 year period, September 2006's 'Retroglide' under the Level 42 banner.
As of 2008, King is still the Level 42 front man and plays a number of festival dates with co-founder, former band member, and keyboard player, Mike Lindup
.
style of playing the bass guitar
in the 1980s. The slapping and popping style was developed in the 1970s by funk
bassists such as Larry Graham
and further developed by jazz fusion
bassists such as Stanley Clarke
and Marcus Miller
. King developed a rapid playing speed using this technique, and introduced technical elements that enabled him to produce a mix of percussive effects while still playing a bass line.
One of King's greatest influences was the musician Tom Taylor, who gave King guitar lessons at the age of 12.
King's bass playing style is largely based on continuous 16th notes (aka semiquavers), sometimes described as "machine-gun" style. This "machine-gun" style consists of playing rapidly using a combination of thumb slaps, pops, hammer-ons, and fretting hand slaps.
King and Level 42 are considered highly influential artists of the Brit funk
movement of the 1970s and 1980s.
King also took part in a comedy skit titled "The Easy Guitar Book Sketch" with comedian Rowland Rivron
and fellow British musicians Mark Knopfler
, Lemmy from Motorhead, David Gilmour
, and Gary Moore
.
. JayDee is phonetic for his initials, J.D.
Mark King has used Status Graphite basses since the 1980s including the Series-2000 and Empathy models. In November 2000, Rob Green and Mark King developed the Status KingBass, a headless, double cut-away bass with a woven graphite through-neck, Status Hyperactive pickups and active electronics. Status LEDs are a custom option on all Status models.
Status Graphite basses are handmade in England by Rob Green.
Other known basses he has used are Alembics (specifically custom Series II models), of which there is a Signature Mark King model, Pangborn basses, a Zon bass (on the album "World Machine" for the song "Lying Still"). King's first fretless bass was a Japanese-made "Moon" Jazz-style bass. King also owned two Music Man Stingray basses, a Wal
bass, which was fitted with an MB4 MIDI interface (used on the album "Guaranteed", on the track "Lasso The Moon").
In 1996, King briefly used Fender basses. A limited run of 42 "Mark King" Jazz basses were made, based on the American Deluxe
series, built and set up to King's specifications. They all came fitted with SIM's LED lights, flat-radiused fingerboards and a custom neck plate engraved with his signature. Also in 1999, King used two GB Spitfire basses, handmade in England by Bernie Goodfellow.
in Ryde
, Isle of Wight. The pub was called Joe Daflo's, a contraction of the names of his (then) three children, Jolie King (born 1988), D'arcy King (born 1985) and Florrie King (born 1982). King sold the pub in 2000 and it has since become a pub franchise operating in the coastal towns of southern England
. King now lives with his wife, Ria King, and his youngest daughter, Marlee King, born in 1996.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
. He is most famous for being the lead singer and bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
of the band
Band (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...
, Level 42
Level 42
Level 42 are an English pop rock and jazz-funk band who had a number of worldwide and UK hits during the 1980s and 1990s.The band gained fame for their high-calibre musicianship—in particular that of Mark King, whose percussive slap-bass guitar technique provided the driving groove of many of the...
. In the early 1980s King popularized the 1970s-era slap and pop style for playing the bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
by incorporating it into pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
.
Early life
King was brought up on the Isle of WightIsle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
, an island off the south coast of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. His father, Raymond King, was a dairyman, and the family lived in a tithed dairy house. King recalled in a 2006 newspaper interview, "it was post-war, with one brass tap, an outside toilet and a zinc bath in front of the fire." He later lived on the Camp Hill and Albany prison estates on the outskirts of Newport
Newport, Isle of Wight
Newport is a civil parish and a county town of the Isle of Wight, an island off the south coast of England. Newport has a population of 23,957 according to the 2001 census...
. He attended Kitbridge Middle School where he met his childhood sweetheart Tracey Wilson, later writing a song about her. He then went to Cowes High School.
Originally, King pursued a career as a drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
. He even played drums for the band Re-Flex
Re-Flex
Re-Flex were a British New Wave/synthpop band active from 1981 to 1985. They are most often recognized for their hit, "The Politics of Dancing", the title track from their debut LP, as well as the singles "Hurt", "Hitline", "Couldn't Stand A Day", "Praying to the Beat", and...
in their early years, before starting his career as a bass player. His father bought him his first kit
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
for £10, while he received encouragement to pursue a career in music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
from his music teacher at middle school.
King was asked to leave Cowes High School at the age of 17, when he turned up at school wearing denim jeans
Jeans
Jeans are trousers made from denim. Some of the earliest American blue jeans were made by Jacob Davis, Calvin Rogers, and Levi Strauss in 1873. Starting in the 1950s, jeans, originally designed for cowboys, became popular among teenagers. Historic brands include Levi's, Lee, and Wrangler...
. King recalls in a magazine interview "It didn't go down very well, and I was told my schooling had run its course." King then left home and stayed at a friend's house for two weeks, sleeping on the floor, before getting a job on a production line. After quitting this job, King became a milkman
Milkman
A milkman is a person, traditionally male, who delivers milk in milk bottles or cartons. Milk deliveries frequently occur in the morning and it is not uncommon for milkmen to deliver products other than milk such as eggs, cream, cheese, butter, yogurt or soft drinks...
, but he was still determined to "prove he was not a failure". So, at the age of 19, King moved to London, along with his milk van, in hope of finding a career in music.
Level 42
King moved to LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
at the age of nineteen, subsequently forming Level 42 in 1979 with Mike Lindup
Mike Lindup
Mike Lindup is best known as the keyboard player and falsetto voiced singer, who joined with Mark King and brothers Phil and Boon Gould to form the 1980s - 1990s British funk/rock/pop band, Level 42....
and fellow Islanders, brothers Phil
Phil Gould (musician)
Philip Gabriel Gould, also known as Phil Gould is a British professional drummer, song writer, and singer from the Isle of Wight in southern England...
and Rowland Charles Gould
Rowland Charles Gould
Rowland Charles Gould known as Boon Gould, is an English musician and one of the four founding members of Level 42. He is known for his high-calibre musicianship and "throw away" guitar playing technique. Boon is often cited as one of the most underrated guitarists of all time...
. Although a drummer, King had two reasons for gravitating towards bass guitar. Firstly he felt Phil was a good drummer and, significantly, already had a kit when the band started; King didn't have one. Secondly Macari's music shop, where King was working, didn't sell drums, so there was less opportunity to get some practice. Nevertheless King's natural rhythmic intuition probably contributed to his distinctive bass playing style, along with the popularity of jazz funk in Britain at the time.
At one of their first gigs, at the La Babalu club in Ryde
Ryde
Ryde is a British seaside town, civil parish and the most populous town and urban area on the Isle of Wight, with a population of approximately 30,000. It is situated on the north-east coast. The town grew in size as a seaside resort following the joining of the villages of Upper Ryde and Lower...
, Level 42 were spotted by Andy Sojka, the head of small independent record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
Elite and signed. The next year they were signed to Polydor and King spent the next nine years recording
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
and touring with the band. The first Top 40 single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, "Love Games
Love Games
Love Games is the first single from the first album of the English musical group Level 42. It was also their first single to enter the UK charts and marked their first appearance on Top of the Pops.-Tracks:*Original Release:...
", was released in 1981, heralding the band's first appearance on Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
. The big breakthrough came with the release of "The Sun Goes Down (Living It Up)
The Sun Goes Down (Living It Up)
"The Sun Goes Down " is a single released in 1983 by the musical group Level 42. It is one of the few songs by the group which featured Mike Lindup on lead vocals...
" in 1983.
While in Level 42, King found his bass-playing services in some demand. He was invited by Nik Kershaw
Nik Kershaw
Nik Kershaw is an English singer-songwriter. The one time jazz-funk guitarist was a mid-1980s teen idol. His 50 weeks on the UK Singles Chart in 1984 beat all other soloists...
to play on his second album The Riddle
The Riddle (album)
The Riddle is Nik Kershaw's second album. It was released in 1984 by MCA Records.-LP, Cassette, CD:#"Don Quixote" – 4:55#"Know How" – 4:52#"You Might" – 3:17#"Wild Horses" – 3:59#"Easy" – 4:13#"The Riddle" – 3:52#"City of Angels" – 3:56...
(1984) and by Midge Ure
Midge Ure
James "Midge" Ure, OBE is a Scottish guitarist, singer, keyboard player, and songwriter...
to play on his albums The Gift
The Gift (Midge Ure album)
The Gift, released in 1985, is the first solo album by former Ultravox frontman Midge Ure. The album was released while Ultravox was taking a break; the band would go on to release U-Vox before splitting...
(1985) and Answers to Nothing
Answers to Nothing
-Personnel:*Midge Ure - guitars, keyboards, vocals*Mark King, Steve Brzezicki - bass*Mark Brzezicki - drums*Robbie Kilgore - additional keyboards*Kate Bush - vocals on "Sister and Brother"*Craig Armstrong - piano on "Sister and Brother"...
(1988).
Level 42 supported The Police in 1981, followed by tours with Steve Winwood
Steve Winwood
Stephen Lawrence "Steve" Winwood is an English international recording artist whose career spans nearly 50 years. He is a songwriter and a musician whose genres include soul music , R&B, rock, blues-rock, pop-rock, and jazz...
in 1986 and Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
in 1987. In 1986, King and Lindup performed alongside Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
, Phil Collins
Phil Collins
Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist....
, Mark Knopfler
Mark Knopfler
Mark Freuder Knopfler, OBE is a Scottish-born British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the British rock band Dire Straits, which he co-founded in 1977...
and Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
at a Prince's Trust charity concert.
They released the album Retroglide
Retroglide (album)
Retroglide is a studio album by the British rock/pop/fusion group Level 42. It was released 12 years after their previous album and reached the UK Top 80. It is a mix of electronica with Level 42's traditional blend of funk and pop...
in 2006 and a European tour followed.
Solo work
In 1984, he released his first solo album, Influences (at the time he needed a deposit to put down on a house - this album gave him that opportunity), followed by One Man in 1998.In 1999, he issued a collection of unused songs in the form of the album 'Trash'; the name hinted at the rough, unpolished nature of the recordings (which were rejected by Virgin Records in favour of the tracks which would ultimately appear on the 'One Man' album).
'Trash' was a historic release as it was issued without a record company and initially offered to hardcore fans via a low-key guestbook entry, made by King, on www.level42.com. Using an Apple Mac, CD burner and inkjet printer, King manufactured the CD himself and posted it directly to fans, charging £17 plus postage. He hand signed and numbered early copies. Clearly not anticipating the popularity of the album, the initial CDs were numbered as part of a series of 100. Word soon spread of the CD and King eventually shifted in excess of 1,000 copies.
In the years following Trash, King repeated the successful 'home-made' formula releasing a string of live recordings including 'Live At The Jazz Cafe', 'Live On The Isle of Wight' and 'Live At Reading Concert Hall' (which despite being performed as a Mark King solo show, was released under the name of Level 42 as King retained the rights to the name shortly before releasing the CD). Despite being contracted to Universal Music imprint W14, King continues to release live shows on his own Summerhouse Record label, of which 2007's 'Retroglide Live' DVD was the first.
Since coming back into the limelight in 1998 with 'One Man' and the supporting UK tour, King has toured consistently around Europe and as far east as Indonesia. With the exception of 'Trash' he has only issued one new professionally-released studio album in the 8 year period, September 2006's 'Retroglide' under the Level 42 banner.
As of 2008, King is still the Level 42 front man and plays a number of festival dates with co-founder, former band member, and keyboard player, Mike Lindup
Mike Lindup
Mike Lindup is best known as the keyboard player and falsetto voiced singer, who joined with Mark King and brothers Phil and Boon Gould to form the 1980s - 1990s British funk/rock/pop band, Level 42....
.
Playing style
Mark King helped to develop and popularize the slap and popSlapping
In music, the term slapping is often used to refer to two different playing techniques used on the double bass and on the bass guitar.-Double bass:...
style of playing the bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
in the 1980s. The slapping and popping style was developed in the 1970s by funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
bassists such as Larry Graham
Larry Graham
Larry Graham, Jr. is an African American bass guitar player, both with the popular and influential psychedelic soul/funk band Sly & the Family Stone, and as the founder and frontman of Graham Central Station...
and further developed by jazz fusion
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...
bassists such as Stanley Clarke
Stanley Clarke
Stanley Clarke is an American jazz musician and composer known for his innovative and influential work on double bass and electric bass guitar as well as for his numerous film and television scores...
and Marcus Miller
Marcus Miller
Marcus Miller is an American jazz composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. Miller is best known as a bassist, working with trumpeter Miles Davis, singer Luther Vandross, and saxophonist David Sanborn, as well as maintaining a prolific solo career...
. King developed a rapid playing speed using this technique, and introduced technical elements that enabled him to produce a mix of percussive effects while still playing a bass line.
One of King's greatest influences was the musician Tom Taylor, who gave King guitar lessons at the age of 12.
King's bass playing style is largely based on continuous 16th notes (aka semiquavers), sometimes described as "machine-gun" style. This "machine-gun" style consists of playing rapidly using a combination of thumb slaps, pops, hammer-ons, and fretting hand slaps.
King and Level 42 are considered highly influential artists of the Brit funk
Brit funk
Brit funk is a musical style that has its origins in the British music scene of the late 1970s-80s. It mixes elements from funk and soul music with original jazz-funk and Caribbean overtones....
movement of the 1970s and 1980s.
King also took part in a comedy skit titled "The Easy Guitar Book Sketch" with comedian Rowland Rivron
Rowland Rivron
Rowland J. Rivron is a British comedian, musician, writer and television presenter.-Early life: Rivron was brought up in Hillingdon, West London and attended Abbotsfield Secondary School...
and fellow British musicians Mark Knopfler
Mark Knopfler
Mark Freuder Knopfler, OBE is a Scottish-born British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the British rock band Dire Straits, which he co-founded in 1977...
, Lemmy from Motorhead, David Gilmour
David Gilmour
David Jon Gilmour, CBE, D.M. is an English rock musician and multi-instrumentalist who is best known as the guitarist, one of the lead singers and main songwriters in the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. In addition to his work with Pink Floyd, Gilmour has worked as a producer for a variety of...
, and Gary Moore
Gary Moore
Robert William Gary Moore , better known simply as Gary Moore, was a Northern Irish musician from Belfast, best recognised as a blues rock guitarist and singer....
.
Instruments
King has used various models of bass guitar through the years, the two most commonly used brands have been JayDees (as exemplified by "Love Games") and the Status Graphite (evident on his solo works). The JayDees were built by John Diggins, a former employee of John BirchJohn Birch (luthier)
John Birch was an English luthier mainly known for his electric guitars. His customers included Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath, Brian May of Queen, Dave Hill and Jim Lea of Slade, Gerry Shephard of The Glitter Band, and Roy Orbison.-Early life and career:John Birch was born in West...
. JayDee is phonetic for his initials, J.D.
Mark King has used Status Graphite basses since the 1980s including the Series-2000 and Empathy models. In November 2000, Rob Green and Mark King developed the Status KingBass, a headless, double cut-away bass with a woven graphite through-neck, Status Hyperactive pickups and active electronics. Status LEDs are a custom option on all Status models.
Status Graphite basses are handmade in England by Rob Green.
Other known basses he has used are Alembics (specifically custom Series II models), of which there is a Signature Mark King model, Pangborn basses, a Zon bass (on the album "World Machine" for the song "Lying Still"). King's first fretless bass was a Japanese-made "Moon" Jazz-style bass. King also owned two Music Man Stingray basses, a Wal
Wal (bass)
Wal is a brand of electric bass manufactured by Electric Wood Ltd. in High Wycombe, England. It was started in 1974 by electronics expert Ian Waller and luthier Pete Stevens...
bass, which was fitted with an MB4 MIDI interface (used on the album "Guaranteed", on the track "Lasso The Moon").
In 1996, King briefly used Fender basses. A limited run of 42 "Mark King" Jazz basses were made, based on the American Deluxe
Fender American Deluxe Series
The Fender American Deluxe Series is a line of middle-range electric guitars and basses introduced by Fender in 1998 and upgraded in 2004 and again in 2010.The American Deluxe line replaced the Plus Series models of 1987....
series, built and set up to King's specifications. They all came fitted with SIM's LED lights, flat-radiused fingerboards and a custom neck plate engraved with his signature. Also in 1999, King used two GB Spitfire basses, handmade in England by Bernie Goodfellow.
Home life
Just prior to his divorce from his Dutch wife, Pia, King moved back to his native Isle of Wight in 1988. During the 1990s, he bought a pubPublic house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
in Ryde
Ryde
Ryde is a British seaside town, civil parish and the most populous town and urban area on the Isle of Wight, with a population of approximately 30,000. It is situated on the north-east coast. The town grew in size as a seaside resort following the joining of the villages of Upper Ryde and Lower...
, Isle of Wight. The pub was called Joe Daflo's, a contraction of the names of his (then) three children, Jolie King (born 1988), D'arcy King (born 1985) and Florrie King (born 1982). King sold the pub in 2000 and it has since become a pub franchise operating in the coastal towns of southern England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. King now lives with his wife, Ria King, and his youngest daughter, Marlee King, born in 1996.
Albums
- Influences (1984)
- One ManOne Man (album)One Man is a studio album released in 1996 by the singer and song-writer Mark King, bassist and vocalist of the British musical group Level 42...
(1998) - Trash (1999)
- Live at the Jazz Cafe (1999) (live)
- Live on the Isle of Wight (2000) (live)
DVDs
- Mark King - Ohne filter (1996) (live)
- Mark King Group - Live at the Jazz Cafe (1999) (live)
- Grupo Mark King - Live at the Isle of Wight (2000) (live)
External links
- Official Level 42 website
- Level 42 fans forum
- An exhaustive, illustrated Mark King discography
- Forevernow.com - Most complete and regularly updated Level 42 site
- level42info.com: Information and rumours website (English)
- Level 42 DK - Large collection of Level 42 scans
- Details of Mark Kings Jaydee Basses
- Status-Graphite Basses
- Status Bass user forum