FEATURE:
The Lockdown Playlist
Mark Morriss at Fifty
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I will keep this brief…
as I am keen to get to the playlist at the end. Today (18th October) it is the fiftieth birthday of Mark Morriss. The lead of the incredible band, The Bluetones, and a successful solo artist, I have assembled a collection of his best tracks. Before getting to that, here is some biography about the great man:
“Mark James Morriss (born 18 October 1971) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the frontman for The Bluetones. He is the older brother of bandmate and bass player/illustrator Scott Morriss, and is also pursuing a solo career.
His debut solo album, Memory Muscle, was released in May 2008. A folk-tinged record, it includes five re-recorded tracks which had previously been released under the name "Fi-Lo Beddow" as an EP in February 2006. The strings on the record were arranged by film composer David Arnold, who became a fan of Expecting to Fly whilst scoring Independence Day.
In 2014, Morriss released his second solo album, A Flash of Darkness, through Acid Jazz Records. This was followed by another Acid Jazz release in 2015, The Taste of Mark Morriss, an album of cover versions. Morriss has also recorded the theme music for all of the children's audiobooks written by David Walliams. Morriss is also currently a full member of Matt Berry's live band, The Maypoles, and regularly tours the UK with this outfit as a rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist.
In 2021, Morriss appeared as the vocalist for Billy Reeves' The Helicopter Of The Holy Ghost project, on the album Afters. Morriss joined former theaudience member Reeves on the album, which was co-produced by Richard Archer of Hard-Fi, with the album also featuring members of Cocteau Twins, Engineers and Gazpacho”.
A very happy fiftieth birthday to Mark Morriss. A phenomenal songwriter and the amazing lead of The Bluetones, it is worth celebrating his birthday. Here is a nod to an incredible musicians with a small assortment of some of…
HIS key tracks.