Mark Knopfler

The son of an English mother and a Hungarian Jewish refugee father, Mark Knopfler spent his early years in Scotland before his family moved to Blyth in the north east of England. Inspired by Shadows' guitarist Hank Marvin, he took up guitar and joined various school bands before training as a journalist, a career he abandoned to commit to music, with the bands Café Racer and Brewers Droop, developing his trademark style on acoustic guitar. He formed Dire Straits in 1977 and, as lead singer, guitarist and main songwriter, was their driving force for two decades of extraordinary success, before splitting the band in 1995 to concentrate on his solo career. By then he'd already played with occasional country band the Notting Hillbillies and made his mark with film scores for movies including 'Local Hero' (1983), 'Cal' (1984) and 'Last Exit to Brooklyn' (1989), releasing his first solo album 'Golden Heart' in 1996. He wrote another successful movie score in 1998 for 'Wag the Dog' and his solo tours proved as hugely popular as Dire Straits, maintaining his reputation with albums 'The Ragpicker's Dream' (2002), 'Shangri-La' (2004), 'Kill to Get Crimson' (2007) and 'Get Lucky' (2009). In 2012 he released his seventh solo album 'Privateering', after which he embarked on a tour with Bob Dylan. His follow-up record 'Tracker' became his eighth solo album, reaching number one on the Billboard Folk Albums Chart. 'Down the Road Wherever', his ninth album, followed in 2018.

Please enable Javascript to view this page competely.