Mark Williams

Mark Williams was born, in 1954, in the Northland region — which is above Auckland — in New Zealand. When he was sixteen he started a band, The Face, with classmates. The Face finished third in the final of the ‘National Battle Of The Bands’ in Auckland, in 1970.

Mark was convinced to become a solo performer, in 1973, and was offered a position as a regular guest on a new television show, ‘Free Ride’.

Towards the end of 1974 Mark was signed to record on the EMI label and, in 1975, released a song, that had been written by Harry Vanda and George Young ( see the post, ‘The Easybeats’), “Yesterday Was Just The Beginning Of My Life”. The single rose to sit at No.1 on the national charts in New Zealand.

http://youtu.be/C_gsh9hfbe0

Regardless, the next couple of years were somewhat of a struggle as Mark sought to replicate this success. It took until 1977 and an excellent revival of the classic track by Buddy Holly, “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore”, for him to achieve this.

Later that year, Mark relocated across the Tasman to Australia. There he was paid well for singing on many commercials, made for radio and television, while also obtaining work as a session vocalist to established artists.

In 1980 Mark released his first Australian album, ‘Life After Dark’. He formed the group, Boy Rocking, which was based in Sydney and, in 1988, toured with Ian Moss’s band on the highly successful ‘Matchbox’ tour. Mark, in duet with Karen Boddington, recorded the theme song to the extant Australian soap, ‘Home And Away’.

Mark began working on new material in collaboration with Vanda and Young and from his new album, ‘Mark Williams ZNZ’, came the single “Show No Mercy”, in 1990.

Mark Williams continued to find work throughout the years and, in spite of still being based in Sydney, in 2005, was invited by Todd Hunter of the New Zealand rock band, Dragon, to join the re-formed group. Mark accepted the offer.

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