| Mark Lindsay | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 9 1942 Eugene, Oregon |
| Residence | Portland, Oregon |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | Paul Revere & the Raiders |
| Website | http://www.marklindsay.com/ |
Mark Lindsay is an American musician, best known as the singer for the group Paul Revere & the Raiders.
Contents |
Biography
Mark Lindsay was born on March 9, 1942, in Eugene, Oregon.[1] He was the second oldest of eight children. The family moved to Idaho when he was young.
Career
Mark began performing at the age of fifteen with local bands that played local venues. He was tapped to sing in a band called Freddy Chapman and the Idaho Playboys after he won a local talent contest. After Chapman left the area, Lindsay saw the other band members and a new member, Paul Revere, playing at a local I.O.O.F. Hall. He persuaded the current band to allow him to sing a few songs with them. The next day he was working at his regular job at a bakery when Paul Revere came in. Paul Revere owned his own hamburger restaurant and bought supplies from the bakery where Mark Lindsay worked. It was this chance meeting that began their professional relationship.
The Downbeats
Mark became lead singer, and saxophone player in a band with Revere and several others. He suggested they call themselves "The Downbeats" after a magazine with the same title. They made some demo tapes in 1960 in Boise, Idaho, and signed with a record company called Gardena Records. After changing personnel a couple more times, the band recorded the song "Louie, Louie" about the same time that a rival Northwestern band, The Kingsmen, recorded the song. The Kingsmen version was the one that charted nationally, but Mark and his fellow bandmates were gaining attention, also.
Paul Revere & the Raiders
Around the time "Louie, Louie" was recorded, they decided to use Paul Revere's name as a gimmick and bill themselves as Paul Revere & the Raiders. They began to dress in Revolutionary War-style outfits. Mark Lindsay carried the theme a bit further by growing his hair out and pulling it back into a ponytail, which has become his own signature look. Mark and the group caught the attention of Dick Clark, who was creating an afternoon show for the teen market. Clark hired the group to perform on the show, which was called Where the Action Is. As regulars on the show, the group soon became very successful. Mark Lindsay's lanky stature and good looks, as well as his excellent singing voice, quickly gained him immense popularity; he became one of the premier American teen idols of the 1960s. Mark soon started working not only as the singer of the group, but also as a composer and producer. The Raiders were the first rock group signed by Columbia Records and were produced by Terry Melcher, the son of actress and singer Doris Day. Lindsay and Melcher became friends. They shared a home for a while, which would later become infamous as site of the horrific murder of actress Sharon Tate committed by members of Charles Manson's "family."
Television
By 1968, Mark had totally taken over the writing and producing tasks for the group. Paul Revere & the Raiders had a revolving cast of band members, with only Revere and Mark Lindsay remaining in the group since its inception. Where the Action Is had passed into television history. Dick Clark had created another show, Happening 68, which was to be hosted by Paul Revere and Mark Lindsay and feature the group. The group itself was featured prominently in this show, whereas in Where the Action is, the entire group was part of an ensemble of other musical performers. Happening '68 premiered in January 1968. The show was so popular that they also hosted a daily version over the summer of 1968, called It's Happening. Happening '68 survived into 1969, at which point the name of the show became Happening. The show was canceled in October 1969. By this time, like many other groups, Mark Lindsay and his bandmates were trying to maintain their success, but were also moving in other directions. Mark began to record solo records and to produce records for his fellow bandmate, Freddy Weller, who would go on to have his own solo success in the country music genre. Mark Lindsay had some success with such songs as "Arizona" and "Silverbird" in the early seventies. Ironically, he recorded "Indian Reservation", a song written by John Loudermilk years earlier, to be a solo recording, but the decision was made to release the song under the name "The Raiders" and it went on to be the only number one song in the group's history. By the mid-seventies the group no longer sold records as they once had, and lost their Columbia contract. Mark Lindsay officially left the group in 1975 when he and Paul Revere apparently had different visions for the group and their own individual pursuits. He did make a few more appearances in 1976 for some bicentennial performances.
After the Raiders
Mark has stayed in the music and entertainment business in different ways, serving as head of A&R for United Artists Records. He contributed to such recordings as Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street," and several Kenny Rogers recordings, as well as other artists. He also added composing jingles for commercials and scores for motion pictures to his accomplishments, contributing both his voice and musical compositions to ads for companies such as Yamaha, which used the music from "Silverbird," as the background for one of their ads. He also composed music for the movies For Pete's Sake, and The Love Machine, sung by Barbra Streisand and Dionne Warwick, respectively, and for a 1982 documentary, The Killing of America, as well as a song for the movie Savage Streets. In 1980 he dubbed a voice and co-wrote the musical score (with W. Michael Lewis) for the American version of Japanese movie Shogun Assassin. Mark made some appearances in 1985 in conjunction with the centennial of the Statue of Liberty, and at that point he began to tour on his own again. In 1989 he quietly began recording at Kiva Studios (now House of Blues Studios of Memphis) in Memphis, Tennessee with friend Michael Bradley. Although the album Looking for Shelter was not picked up for national release, Mark did make the album available for fans through his website in 2003. In the early nineties he met the group, The Chesterfield Kings in Rochester, New York, on one of his tours. That meeting resulted later in a collaboration between him and the Chesterfield Kings, as Mark performed on their recording of "Where Do We Go From Here?" He also appeared in a cameo in their film, Where is the Chesterfield King? (2000). Mark's next official solo release was Video Dreams in 1996. This effort was warmly received and he began an even more aggressive touring schedule. He followed this release with a holiday record (Twas the Night Before Christmas (2000)) and Live at Rick's Cafe (1999) (not a live album, but a collection of pre-rock standards). In 2003 he had announced he would retire from touring, but he later reconsidered. A recording of his first "farewell" show was released in 2004 (The Last Midnight Ride). He currently does some touring, but as of January 7, 2006, he was heard on a webcast every Saturday night on the website of KISN radio from 7 p.m. to 12 a.m. PST, titled "Mark After Dark." On November 11, 2006 "Mark After Dark" switched to FM webcast "K-Hits 106-7" KLTH Saturday nights 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. PST. On March 10, 2007 the program "Mark After Dark" changed its name to "Mark Lindsay's Rock & Roll Cafe" to reflect Mark's new restaurant, which debuted to the general public in Portland, Oregon on August 27, 2007. In the restaurant there is a remote studio where Mark does his radio show in front of restaurant guests as well as being seen from the street and sidewalk. The studio is also being used at times by other K-Hits air personalities. On September 21, 2007 a federal lawsuit was filed against the new restaurant for the restaurant's allegedly unauthorized use of various trademarks owned by the Yaw family, who ran a series of restaurants in the Portland area for many years.[2][3]
Personal life
Mark married his wife Deborah (née Brandt) on July 29, 1989 in McCall, Idaho.
Album discography
- Arizona (Columbia) 1970
- Silverbird (Columbia) 1970
- You've Got A Friend (Columbia) 1971
- Shogun Assassin (soundtrack) (w/ Michael Lewis)(import) 1980
- The Best of Mark Lindsay (Columbia) 1984
- Looking for Shelter (marklindsaysounds.com) 1989; 2003
- Video Dreams (alala music) 1996
- Live at Rick's Cafe (alala music) 1999
- 'Twas the Night Before Christmas (alala music) 2000
- The Last Midnight Ride (marklindsaysounds.com) 2004
Production credits
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- "Tighter"/"Young Enough to Cry" single/The Unknowns (Marlin) 1967
- Something Happening/Paul Revere & the Raiders (Columbia) 1968
- Hard and Heavy (with Marshmallow)/Paul Revere & the Raiders (Columbia) 1969
- Alias Pink Puzz/Paul Revere & the Raiders (Columbia) 1969
- "Birds of a Feather"/"To Know Her is to Love Her" single/Keith Allison (Columbia) 1969
- "Everybody"/"Wednesday's Child" single/Keith Allison (Columbia) 1969
- Games People Play/Freddy Weller (Columbia) 1969
- Listen to the Young Folks/Freddy Weller (Columbia) 1970 3 tracks
- Collage/The Raiders (Columbia) 1970
- Indian Reservation/The Raiders (Columbia) 1971
- You've Got a Friend/Mark Lindsay (Columbia) 1971 all but two tracks
- Country Wine/The Raiders (Columbia) 1972
- "Song Seller"/A Simple Song" single/The Raiders (Columbia) 1972
- "Love Music"/"Goodbye No. 9" single/The Raiders (Columbia) 1973
- "(If I Had it to Do All Over Again, I'd Do It) All Over You"/"Seaboard Line Boogie"/The Raiders (1973)
- Sing Your Own Song" single/Mark Lindsay (Greedy) 1976 w/Perry Botkin, Jr.
- Oklahoma/Oklahoma (Capitol) 1977 w/Terry Melcher
- "Sing Me High (Sing Me Low)"/"Flips-Eyed" single/Mark Lindsay (Warner Bros.) 1977
- "Little Ladies of the Night"/"Flips-Eyed" single/Mark Lindsay (Warner Bros.) 1977
- "Tobacco Road" single/Ritchie Lecea (United Artists) 1977 exec. producer
- Boy from New York City/Michael Christian (United Artists) 1979 w/Perry Botkin, Jr.
- Lifeline/Paul Balfour (United Artists) 1979 w/Perry Botkin, Jr.
- "Theme from Mork and Mindy"/"Disco Kicks" single/Cake (Ariola) 1979 w/Perry Botkin, Jr.
- Shogun Assassin Soundtrack/Wonderland Philharmonic (Toshiba) 1980
- "Disco Kicks" 12 inch single/The Original Mass (J & D) 1981 w/Perry Botkin, Jr.
- unreleased Paul Revere & the Raiders album w/vocalist Michael Bradley 1982
- Looking for Shelter/Mark Lindsay (marklindsaysounds.com) 1990 w/Michael Bradley
- Video Dreams/Mark Lindsay (alala) 1996
- Live at Rick's Cafe/Mark Lindsay (alala) 1999 w/W. Michael Lewis
- 'Twas the Night Before Christmas/Mark Lindsay (marklindsaysounds.com) 2000 w/W. Michael Lewis
- The Last Midnight Ride/Mark Lindsay (marklindsaysounds.com) 2004
References
- ^ Bartels, Eric (2007-03-20). A Raider rides again. Portland Tribune. Retrieved on 2007-10-11.
- ^ Green, Ashbel S. (September 24 2007). Legal spat over Portland's new Rock & Roll Cafe. The Oregonian. Retrieved on 2007-10-16.
- ^ Iboshi, Kyle (September 26 2007). Portland burger icon Yaw's has legal beef with new cafe. KGW. Retrieved on 2007-10-16.
