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Mark Clarke
Mark Clarke
	Clarke with JCM in Bluesgarage Isernhagen Germany, April 2019
Background information
Born	25 July 1950 (age 74); Liverpool, Merseyside, England
Genres	Jazz rock; hard rock; blues rock; progressive rock;
Occupation	Musician
Instruments	Bass; vocals;
Years active	1966–present
Member of	Colosseum
Formerly of	Uriah Heep; Tempest; Mountain; Rainbow;

Mark Clarke (born 25 July 1950 in Liverpool, England) is an English musician, bass player and singer, best known for his work with Colosseum and Mountain, as well as brief stints with Uriah Heep and Rainbow.

Career

After seeing the Beatles and many other bands in Liverpool as a young boy at the age of 12, he decided to be a bass player. In 1966, Clarke played with the Kegmen, in 1968 with the Locomotive and late 1968 with St. James Infirmary. Liverpool Echo called him in an article "the Joe Cocker of Liverpool".

After a year of local gigs he moved to London, where he was introduced to Clem Clempson, who played at that time in Colosseum. After some time Clarke was asked by Jon Hiseman to join Colosseum in the summer 1970 and he played in the band until the split late 1971, and again 21 years from the reunion in 1994 till the farewell in 2015.^[6] After Colosseum split he was briefly around the turn of the years 1971/1972 a member of Uriah Heep,^[2] performing (and co-writing) on one studio track, "The Wizard", on the 1972 album Demons and Wizards. In the beginning of 1973 he became a member of Jon Hiseman's Tempest^[3] and played bass on the two Tempest studio albums with Allan Holdsworth, Ollie Halsall and Paul Williams, and a live album issued later. He also played bass on Ken Hensley's solo albums.

In 1975 he formed Natural Gas with Joey Molland, Jerry Shirley and Peter Wood. He also played shortly with Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow,^[5] but did not appear on any recordings with them. In 1980 he started working with Billy Squier and recorded Don't Say No, The Stroke, In the Dark and many other albums with him. In 1986 he toured with the Monkees, and worked for many years with Davy Jones. Clarke has also worked twice in 1984–1985 and 1995–1996 with Mountain,^[4] Ian Hunter and Torque, recording albums with all of them.

With Colosseum he played again from the reunion in 1994 to the farewell concert at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in London on 28 February 2015.

In 2010 Clarke released his first solo album Moving to the Moon, which was co-produced by Ray DeTone, who also played all guitars on the record.

In 2017 Clarke became a member of a new trio band called JCM, with fellow former members of Colosseum Jon Hiseman and Clem Clempson. The band recorded an album "Heroes" late in 2017 and it was released in April 2018. JCM begun touring Europe on 7 April 2018 but the tour ended after the show on the 22 April in Bonn due Jon Hiseman's illness. Hiseman died in June 2018 which initially appeared to be the end of JCM, however in early 2019 it was announced that band would continue with Ralph Salmins taking over drums. Tours of Europe and the UK took place throughout 2019.

Clarke continues to be a member of Colosseum after their reunion in 2019,^[7] as well as contributing to their 2022 album Restoration.^[1]

Discography

Colosseum

1970 – Daughter of Time
1971 – Colosseum Live
1994 – Colosseum LiveS – The Reunion Concerts
1997 – Bread and Circuses
2003 – Tomorrow's Blues
2007 – Live05
2014 – Time On Our Side
2022 – Restoration

Uriah Heep

1972 – Demons and Wizards

Tempest

1973 – Tempest
1974 – Live in London
1974 – Living in Fear

Natural Gas

1976 - Natural Gas

Ken Hensley

1973 - Proud Words on a Dusty Shelf
1975 – Eager to Please
1980 – Free Spirit

Richard T. Bear

1979 - Captured Alive

Billy Squier

1981 - Don't Say No
1991 - Creatures of Habit

Ian Hunter

1983 – All of the Good Ones Are Taken

Michael Bolton

1983 - Michael Bolton

The Monkees

1986 - Davy Jones / Micky Dolenz / Peter Tork: 20th Anniversary Tour

Mountain

1985 – Go for Your Life
1996 – Man's World

Torque

2003 - 103103

Solo albums

2010 – Moving to the Moon

JCM

2018 - Heroes

References

^ ^a ^b Media, A. G. (1 April 2022). "Hot New Album From Colosseum's New Line-up". Repertoire Records. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
^ ^a ^b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Biography: Uriah Heep". Allmusic. Retrieved 25 December 2010.
^ ^a ^b Monger, James Christopher. "Biography: Tempest". Allmusic. Retrieved 25 December 2010.
^ ^a ^b Eder, Bruce; Huey, Steve. "Biography: Mountain". Allmusic. Retrieved 25 December 2010.
^ ^a ^b "Interview with MARK CLARKE". DMME.net. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
^ Deming, Mark. "Biography: Colosseum". Allmusic. Retrieved 25 December 2010.
^ "Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 9 February 2023.