Mark Knopfler
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Mark Knopfler (born August 12, 1949 in Glasgow, Scotland) is a British guitarist, singer, and songwriter. 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 bands (such as the Notting Hillbillies). He has also performed on work by other artists, such as Bob Dylan, and produced albums for artists such as Tina Turner, Randy Newman, and (again) Dylan. In addition, he has scored the music to several films, including Local Hero, The Princess Bride and Last Exit to Brooklyn.
Mark's family moved from Glasgow to Newcastle upon Tyne in the mid-1950s. He learned to play the guitar as a teenager, but worked as a journalist for the Yorkshire Evening Post, and then as a lecturer at Loughton College, before he became a full-time musician in the late 1970s. He is noted for being left-handed, but playing right-handed, and for fingerpicking instead of strumming or using a plectrum; fingerpicking is usually associated with the acoustic guitar, but Knopfler usually (though not always) plays an electric guitar, particularly the Fender Stratocaster. Although at present he has a signature guitar from Fender, he is also known for his signature Pensa-Suhr MK series (now known as Pensa).
Knopfler and his associated bands have sold over 100 million albums, and performed live to audiences totalling many millions. He has twin sons (Benji and Joseph, born 1987), and two daughters Isabella (1998) and Katya (2003). Mark holds a degree in English from Leeds University and has been awarded an honorary music degree from Newcastle University.
Albums
- With Dire Straits
- see list at Dire Straits
- Solo
- Golden Heart (1996)
- Sailing to Philadelphia (2000)
- The Ragpicker's Dream (2002)
- Shangri-La (2004)
- One Take Radio Sessions (Knopfler album) (June 2005)
- Soundtrack
- Others
- Missing...Presumed Having a Good Time (Notting Hillbillies (The band is with his friends))
- Neck and Neck (with Chet Atkins)
- Slow train coming (with Bob Dylan)
- Infidels (with Bob Dylan)
- Release (with David Knopfler)
- Never Told A Soul (with John Illsley)
- Glass (with John Illsley)
- Sea Fever (with William Topley)June 2005
Trivia
- In keeping with British tradition, sips tea on stage during live performances (Bangalore, India, 7 March 2005 and Copenhagen, Denmark 16 May 2005)
- British humorist Douglas Adams about Knopfler: "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." (see: So_Long,_and_Thanks_for_All_the_Fish, published London, 1984)
External links
- http://www.mark-knopfler.com/
- http://www.mark-knopfler-news.co.uk/
- http://www.mark-knopfler.de/
- http://www.what-it-is.nl/
- http://www.spanishcity.net/
- http://www.mark-knopfler.info/
- http://www.markknopflerclan.tk/da:Mark Knopfler
de:Mark Knopfler es:Mark Knopfler fr:Mark Knopfler it:Mark Knopfler nl:Mark Knopfler ja:マーク・ノップラー no:Mark Knopfler pl:Mark Knopfler sv:Mark Knopfler uk:Марк Нопфлер