Mark Knopfler
| Videos | |
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| Mark Knopfler Plays "Money For Nothing" |
Mark Knopfler "Sultans Of Swing" |
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| Mark Knopfler Plays "Telegraph Road" |
Mark Knopfler With Eric Clapton |
| Guitarist Quick-Facts |
| Name: Mark Knopfler |
| Born: August 12, 1949 |
| Origin: Glasgow, Scotland |
| Guitar Gear |
| Guitars: Fender, Gibson, Pensa, Schecter |
| Amplifiers: Marshall, Mesa Boogie, Reinhard, Tone King |
| Bands: Past & Present |
| Brewers Droop, Cafe Racers, Dire Straits, Solo Artist |
Mark Knopfler was born on August 12, 1949, in Glasgow, Scotland. His mother was English and his father was Hungarian. When the boy was around seven years old, his parents moved to Newcastle upon Tyne in England. Mark's first interest in music came when he heard his uncle play the harmonica and boogie-woogie piano. He got his first guitar early in his teenage years, a Hofner Super Solid that set him back 50 pounds.
Throughout high school he joined several garage bands and formed a few of his own. During these formative years in his playing, Mark was influenced by guitarists such as Chet Atkins, Scotty Moore, and B.B. King. Knopfler's greatest success during this time was performing on a television program at the age of 16 with a schoolmate as part of harmony duo.
Knopfler first decided on a career in journalism. He attended Harlow Technical College to study the subject, and landed a job as a junior reporter for the Yorkshire Evening Post shortly after finishing classes. While working for the Post, Mark finished earning his degree in English at the University of Leeds. It wasn't long after, however, that he left his job at the paper and began playing in pub bands to pursue a music career.
After playing with a few bands in Leeds, Knopfler moved to London and joined the band, Brewers Droop. He appeared on the band's album "The Booze Brothers". Eventually, Mark joined up with his brother David, and David's roommate at the time, John Illsley, to form a band known as the Cafe Racers. It was this band that would go on to form the basis for Knopfler's most successful band, Dire Straits.
Between 1977 and 1983, Dire Straits released four studio albums and had quite a bit of success on the international stage. At that time, Knopfler took on a few side projects. He scored the soundtracks for three Hollywood movies, "Local Heroes," "Cal," and "Comfort and Joy."
Initially, these side endeavors didn't take away from Knopfler's work with Dire Straits, however. In 1985, the band became the first ever to have it's video playing on MTV in Britain. The song was the now famous, "Money for Nothing." The album on which that song appeared, "Brothers in Arms" was their biggest success and also has the distinction of being the first compact disc to sell over a million copies.
After the release of that album, however, Mark began focusing more on scoring movie soundtracks and Dire Straits went on a lengthy hiatus. The break didn't end for Dire Straits when Mark moved away from film scores. Instead, the guitarist formed another band in 1988 called, The Notting Hillbillies. This band was more country oriented than Dire Straits had been and released one studio album in 1990, "Missing...Presumed Having a Good Time."
After a tour in support of his album with the Notting Hillbillies, Knopfler and DIre Straits reunited for their final studio album before officially disbanding. The album, called "On Every Street," failed to match the enormous success of its predecessor, and in 1995 after a few tours with Dire Straits, Mark left the band for good to pursue a solo career.
Although members of Dire Straits played together again in 2002 for a set of charity concerts, Mark has largely remained a solo musician since the bands breakup. As of 2010, he has released six studio albums, and contributed to the soundtracks of three films.
