Mark Knopfler
Biography
Glasgow, United Kingdom (1977 – present)
Mark Freuder Knopfler, OBE (born August 12, 1949, Glasgow, Scotland) is a guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Although best-known as the lead guitarist and vocalist for the band Dire Straits (1977 - 1995), Mark has also made albums as a solo performer and played in other bands (such as the Notting Hillbillies). He has also performed on work by other artists, such as Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and Chet Atkins, and produced albums for artists such as Tina Turner, Randy Newman, and (again) Bob Dylan.
In addition, he has scored the music to several films, including Local Hero, The Princess Bride, Comfort and Joy, Cal, Last Exit to Brooklyn and Wag the Dog.
After Knopfler disbanded Dire Straits in 1995, he launched straight into a solo career with ‘Golden Heart’ (1996) - a mixture of his various music stylings that appeared throughout Dire Straits’ career.
‘Sailing to Philadelphia’ (2000) was the breakthrough album for his solo career. With stars such as James Taylor and Van Morrison, ‘Sailing to Philadelphia’ was one of his most successful albums to date.
His next album ‘The Ragpicker’s Dream’ (2002) saw Knopfler move to the ‘story telling theme’. The single ‘Why Aye Man’ was used as the theme tune for the third series of ‘Auf Wiedersehen, Pet’ in 2002.
His next album ‘Shangri-La’ was released in 2004 with a tour proceeding in 2005. ‘Shangri-La’ continued the idea of storytelling with each song having a different story (e.g. Boom, Like That is referring to the story of Ray Kroc and McDonalds). A motorcycle accident in 2005 meant the tour was postponed but was continued later that year.
After Knopfler disbanded Dire Straits in 1995, he launched straight into a solo career with ‘Golden Heart’ (1996) - a mixture of his various music stylings that appeared throughout Dire Straits’ career.
‘Sailing to Philadelphia’ (2000) was the breakthrough album for his solo career. With stars such as James Taylor and Van Morrison, ‘Sailing to Philadelphia’ was one of his most successful albums to date.
His next album ‘The Ragpicker’s Dream’ (2002) saw Knopfler move to the ‘story telling theme’. The single ‘Why Aye Man’ was used as the theme tune for the third series of ‘Auf Wiedersehen, Pet’ in 2002.
His next album ‘Shangri-La’ was released in 2004 with a tour proceeding in 2005. ‘Shangri-La’ continued the idea of storytelling with each song having a different story (e.g. Boom, Like That is referring to the story of Ray Kroc and McDonalds). A motorcycle accident in 2005 meant the tour was postponed but was continued later that year.
Top Tracks
Top Albums
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Sailing To Philadelphia
224,792 listeners13 tracks
Released:
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Get Lucky
67,380 listeners11 tracks
Released:
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Privateering
21,746 listeners25 tracks
Released:
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The Best of Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler - Private Investigations(Ltd Edition)
44,067 listeners22 tracks
Released:
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