Entsweb symbol

The entertainment & event management directory

Mark Curtis

50's and 60's Rock and Roll guitar solo.

About

Mark was born in America in the mid 60's and grew up surrounded by the sounds of the American folk artists of the day.  The likes of Johnny Cash, Joan Baez, Burl Ives and The Brothers Four. Mark's older brother was into the British beat music of the time, particularly The Beatles which was also a huge influence on him.
When the family eventually returned to the UK they settled in Portsmouth. Mark borrowed a record from one of his brothers friends, Elvis's 40 Greatest Hits and that was it.  He was hooked. He started collecting records by Carl Perkins, Cliff and The Shadows, Eddie Cochran and of course Buddy Holly.
At 13 he was in a band.

He has been playing in bands and solo now for years.... and years. He's performed everywhere, from the pubs and clubs of the south coast of the U.K. to the national holiday camps and BBC broadcasting. He's played the theatre circuit in various acts, and supported artists such as The Searchers, The Dreamers, Marty Wilde, The Comets, the list goes on.  He's been fortunate enough to work in Sweden, the U.S. and has spent and continues to spend a lot of time in Spain. 

He started out at a very young age as a drummer in the Rock 'n' Roll bands of Portsmouth, went onto guitar and then onto fronting his own bands. 

He has used his musical influences from the 50's mid west of America to shape his sound. The raw sound of Elvis, Carl Perkins, Eddie Cochran and Johnny Cash  is the sound he tries to create, basic, thumpy Rock 'n' Roll.  Then there is the more smooth sound from the British Rock 'n' Roll scene, the Billy Fury ballads, Cliff and The Shadows.  Also a big fan of the U.K's 60's Beat music he performs music by The Beatles, The Searchers and other bands of that era. 

As a solo performer Mark use's backing tracks. The difference between his show and most other soloists is that his tracks are made with 'live' instruments.  Mark will play and record the drum track in real time with real drums, then record the rhythm guitar, then the bass guitar and that's it.  The 'lead' guitar part is played on the night live with the vocals.  It's as close to a real band sound that you can get.  It's  quite a time consuming process, but he gets to make the tracks the way he wants, maybe adding a guitar solo in a song that hasn't got one on the original. It keeps things interesting.  He can also make tracks up from different eras, but keeps the Rock 'n' Roll vibe.

Make an enquiry