Mark Wright is a singer/songwriter from Brighton, England who has been performing in front of live audiences for over 15 years. His music has been described as a cross between Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Cat Stevens.
He has performed extensively throughout the UK, mainland Europe and the United States working with many promoters and building a genuinely international following for his music and also his spirited live performance.
Having both acted and sung on a stage from the age of 7 years old it was experiencing Bruce Springsteen in concert for the first time that inspired Mark to first pick a guitar and start writing songs.
In March 2003 Mark released his first self-funded album entitled 'Everything and a Day' which also featured a Springsteen cover. He toured and promoted the album extensively with the help of ‘Badlands’, the Bruce Springsteen fan club for the United Kingdom.
It was this connection to the Springsteen fan-base that culminated in the summer of 2003 with Mark being included on the album ‘Light of Day: A Tribute to Bruce Springsteen’ alongside such esteemed artists such as Elvis Costello, Billy Bragg, Joe Ely and Nils Lofgren. Mark’s atmospheric, acoustic version of the Springsteen song ‘Two Hearts’ was widely acclaimed and brought Mark’s music to a new worldwide audience.
The album sold tens of thousands of copies and raised over $100,000 for the Light of Day organisation set to raise funds for Parkinson’s and sarcoma research.
Gigs throughout Europe and the United States followed.
In April 2004 Mark recorded at the legendary Sun Studio, Memphis Tennessee with the current engineer of Sun Studio, James Lott and his band. The subsequent mini-album 'Sun Studio - April 21st 2004' was released by Mark as an independent release in the autumn of 2004.
Having spent his life listening to the songs of such great historic artists such as Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan and, of course, Bruce Springsteen, Mark was delighted when, over in the UK to receive a lifetime achievement award, folk-music legend Ramblin' Jack Elliott invited Mark to accompany him on his 2005 UK/Ireland tour playing to sold-out venues across the country.
It was at this time that Mark’s music first came to the attention of renowned independent label Revolver Records. Having been given the licence to distribute the ‘Light of Day’ album in the UK Revolver’s A&R man Peter Black was impressed with Mark’s version of ‘Two Hearts’. Further demos and songs were sent to the label and in early 2006 they offered Mark a deal that would see his music released worldwide.
With the deal now signed Mark set about to record what would become his first album release for Revolver Records. Entitled, ‘One Way Ticket’, the album contains a collection of acoustic based songs of depth and texture that keeps its focus on Mark’s abilities as a singer/songwriter.
Whilst recording this album Mark was once again invited by Ramblin' Jack Elliott to join him for his 2nd annual UK tour UK/Ireland tour. Having now become good friends, the tour would see Mark not only supporting Jack but also joining him onstage every night for several numbers harmonising on old Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie songs.
In 2008, after many requests from fans Mark recorded the album 'Real World - The Bruce Springsteen Project'. As the title suggests the album is a collection of some of Mark's favourite Springsteen compositions. Avoiding the more obvious hits Mark's take on Springsteen featured many rarer songs never recorded in the studio.
An instant hit with Springsteen fans throughout the world the album was prominently featured on Springsteen news page Backstreets.com.
Mark currently lives in Hastings and is working on new material for release later in 2009.