BLUE PLAQUE: Mark and John Illsley attended a short ceremony in Deptford on Thursday 3rd December to unveil a blue plaque on the site of the first Dire Straits performance.

 

 

 

 

 

The award, presented by the PRS for music, is part of a national campaign to highlight areas where significant musical events have taken place. The plaque was fixed to Farrer House in Church Street, Deptford.

watch on YouTube

(updated: 02/12/09)

MARK PRESENTS AWARD: Mark has presented British guitar legend Joe Brown with the MOJO Outstanding Contribution To Music award at the 2009 MOJO Honours List ceremony. To watch the presentation click here and keep watching for the bonus footage of Mark and Joe at the end. (17/06/09)

CHARLIE GILLETT: We are sure everyone will be saddened to hear of the death of Charlie Gillett. He made a great contribution to the music industry and will be much missed. (17/03/10)

JOHN ILLSLEY ON CHARLIE GILLETT: John talking about Charlie on the BBC's The World Today radio programme on the 20th March, 2010. Jump to 47.04. (23/03/10)

ECHO AWARD NOMINATION: Mark was among the nominees for the German Echo Award 2010 in the Best Rock & Pop Artist category. The eventual winner was Robbie Williams. (updated: 06/03/10)

BIA BRIT NOMINATION: Dire Straits' Brothers In Arms was one of ten albums nominated in the 'best album of the last 30 years' category for the 2010 Brit Awards. The award was won by Oasis. (updated: 16/02/10)

FALSE WEBSITE: There is a website in which the author has been posting blogs about his "herbal" drug use and making it seem as if Mark was writing the posts. Please be aware that this site is neither written by, affiliated with nor sanctioned by Mark Knopfler, PCM, MarkKnopfler.com or MKNews. (30/01/09)

DS LIVE IN GERMANY: Statements on various internet sales sites and elswhere claiming that an official double live Dire Straits CD and DVD called, Sultans of Swing Live in Germany, have been released are false. Any such releases are illegal factory pressed bootlegs and MKNews recommends fans boycott such material. (05/01/09)

RE-RELEASE OF ILLSLEY ALBUMS: In the 1980s John Illsley released two solo albums: Glass and Never Told A Soul. Consisting of all original Illsley compositions, the albums featured some eminent guest performers. Mark played guitar on much of both records, as did Jerry Donahue. Both Guy Fletcher and Alan Clark lent their hands to the keyboard parts and Chris White guested on sax.

The two CDs are being re-issued on with the original artwork on the Creek Records label on September 7th. Comprising 16 tracks between them, the full track listing for both CDs is as follows:

Glass: High Stakes, I Want To See The Moon, Papermen, All I Want Is You , The World Is Made Of Glass, Red Turns To Blue, Let’s Dance, She Wants Everything, Star For Now.

Never Told A Soul: Boy With Chinese Eyes, The Night Café, Never Told A Soul, Jimmy On The Central Line, Northern Land, Another Alibi, Let The River Flow.

Material for a new album is currently being worked on and gig dates are planned for the near future across Europe and the USA.

(01/09/09)

GUY 'S NEW EP: Guy Fletcher has a fabulous new eight-track EP available called Stone.

Order now directly from Guy's wesbite. (16/10/09)

SUNDAY FOR SAMMY: Mark was in Newcastle last weekend for a surprise appearance in the annual 'Sunday For Sammy' concerts at the City Hall. For a full report click here. (09/02/10)

HURLINGHAM GIG: Under the title An Evening With Mark Knopfler, the Prince's Trust has made the recent Hurlingham gig available on i.concerts. (09/02/10)

JON ALLEN COLLABORATION: Jon Allen's When The Morning Comes CD is out Monday 15th February with Mark featured on a track called Sarah. More info. (09/02/10)

WARNER BROS DS REISSUES: Warner Brothers is celebrating 30 years of Dire Straits in the US with a vinyl reissue campaign. Each DS album has been lovingly re-mastered from the original analog master tapes at Bernie Grundman Mastering, in Hollywood California and pressed on 180 gram European vinyl, at Furnace MFG, Pallas. More info. (30/01/10)

SECOND GET LUCKY SINGLE: The second single from Mark's Get Lucky album was Remembrance Day/Piper To The End.

 

 

 

 

 

The single was released on the 9th of November and proceeds go to the Royal British Legion's Poppy Appeal, a U.K. charity providing support to the serving and ex-service community and their dependents. Proceeds from the US release will go to a similar charity in the United States (details to be confirmed). Hostilities during the First World War ceased at the 11th hour of the 11th month of 1918 and this day is designated as Remembrance Day (aka. Armistice Day).

The second track of the new digital single has personal significance for Mark: “Piper To The End is for my Uncle Freddie, Lance Corporal Frederick John Laidler, a piper of the 1st Battalion, Tyneside Scottish, The Black Watch, RHR, who carried his pipes into action and was killed with them at Ficheux, near Arras on the 20th May, 1940, aged 20.”

For the past two years, the Royal British Legion has organised an event called Silence in the Square, which aims to achieve a re-instatement of the traditional two minute silence held at 11 am on the 11th of November in remembrance of the fallen in the two twentieth-century World Wars and other conflicts. Last year the event drew 10,000 participants for a very moving ceremony involving performances, readings and an invitation to the public to scatter poppies on the water of the fountains in central London’s Trafalgar Square.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mark, with members of ‘Only Men Aloud’ and the Trevor Roberts School choir, performing Remembrance Day in Trafalgar Square shortly before 11 am, Wednesday, 11th November, 2009. - pic by Mandy Anstey. Watch Mark performing in Trafalgar Square.

(updated: 11/11/09)

TIME IN THE SUN: This extra Get Lucky bonus track is now available on amazon.de. (19/10/09)

MK STRAT AUCTION: Recently auctioned on Ebay was a MK Fender Stratocaster which had been played by Mark at a private fund-raiser for the Pallant House Gallery in Chichester.

 

 

 

 

 

Mark is pictured above with the actual guitar which sold for an impressive £6300 which goes to the Pallant House Gallery Appeal Fund.

(updated: 20/09/09)

US SINGLE: The first US single from Mark's new album, Get Lucky, is Border Reiver with Cleaning My Gun as a bonus track. The digital single is available for download now from iTunes US.

 

 

 

 

 

(28/08/09)

PRINCES' TRUST GIG: Mark performed a charity show in London on behalf of the Princes' Trust at The Hurlingham Club on Wednesday September 9th 2009.

Band line up:

Mark Knopfler - Lead Vocals / Lead Guitar
Guy Fletcher - Keyboard / Backing Vocals
Danny Cummings - Drums / Percussion
Dudley Phillips - Bass
Luke Brighty - 2nd Guitar
John McCusker - Everything Else

Pre-show Acoustic set:

Behind with the Rent
Secondary Waltz
Marbletown

Main Show:

Sailing to Philadelphia
Sultans of Swing (excerpt)
True Love will Never Fade
Romeo & Juliet (excerpt)
Get Lucky
Why Worry (excerpt)
Money for Nothing (excerpt)
Monteleone
Song for Sonny Liston
If This Is Goodbye
Going Home

Brothers In Arms (encore)

The gig was shown on the Bio Channel on the 14th of October.

(Updated: 16/10/09)

AMAZON GIG: Mark performed at The Bush Hall in Shepherds Bush, London, on the 23rd of September. This was a private gig tickets only acquired in a prize draw among those who had pre-ordered Get Lucky from Amazon UK.

Band line up:

Mark Knopfler - Lead Vocals / Lead Guitar
Guy Fletcher - Keyboard / Backing Vocals
Danny Cummings - Drums / Percussion
Dudley Phillips - Bass
Luke Brighty - 2nd Guitar
John McCusker - violin, cittern, and everything else

Set list:

Why Aye Man
What It Is
Sailing To Philadelphia
True Love will Never Fade
Get Lucky
Why Worry
Monteleone
Song for Sonny Liston
If This Is Goodbye
Marbletown
Going Home

Brothers In Arms (encore)

(updated: 24/09/09)

MK ON BBC RADIO 4: Mark was featured in a new programme on BBC Radio 4, Joan Armatrading's Favourite Guitarists, on Monday 27th of July, 3.45 - 4.00 pm. (updated: 17/07/09)

 

 

 

 

STEVE PHILLIPS CD: As many of you know, Steve and his band, The Rough Diamonds, play regular Tuesday sessions at the Grosvenor Hotel in Robin Hood's Bay, N. Yorks.

Over 2007 many of these sessions were recorded to produce a fabulous live CD, Live at the Grosvenor. The CD really catches the essence of Steve's music and is a must for fans. To order your copy click here Also, check out Steve's new My Space page. (12/01/08)

GUY FLETCHER CD: Guy's first solo CD, Inamorata, features Mark on the title track, Inamorata, and on Different World.

The full track list is:

Love is Coming Round/Broken Wing/Different World/Stone/Inamorata/High in the Hills/Cup of Tea/Life's Taste/Cold Water/The Logistics of Intimacy/See Myself in You/Black Sand Theme

To purchase the CD click here (07/01/08)

MFN ON MTV: MTV has returned to its musical roots by launching a new website, MTVMusic.com. The site hosts music videos dating back to the early days of the network. Dire Straits' Money for Nothing was the site’s most viewed video during its first few days online, out-pacing numerous other classic videos. (29/10/08)

GUITAR WINNER: The winning bidder of the recent AMREF signed Fender MK Signature Strat auction was Marc Dousset. A few days ago Marc and his wife, Jennifer, made it to Mark's British Grove studio to collect his prize. Marc has written a webpage so he can share his experience. (28/01/09)

BRITISH GROVE STUDIO: Mark's British Grove Studio was the winner of the prestigious Music Producers Guild Award for 'Best Studio'. The award was presented last night at London's Café de Paris. (updated: 13/02/09)

GOSH STARCARD AUCTION: The MK Starcard below sold for £205. Thanks to all who bid. All money raised from this auction goes to London's Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital. (updated: 04/12/08)

CHILDREN IN NEED: A guitar lesson with Mark, auctioned on BBC Radio 2's Terry Wogan programme as part of this year's fund-raising for Children In Need, was won with an anonymous bid of £100,000. (12/11/08)

MK COLLABORATION: Mark plays on a track called Love Song on the new Earth CD by The Dandy Warhols. For more info go to dandywarhols.com (19/05/08)

MK ON SONNY LANDRETH CD: Mark is among a number of the world's great guitar players featured on the new Sonny Landreth CD From The Reach due to be released on the 20th of May. Mark plays on the opening track, Blue Tarp Blues. (19/04/08)

NEW RICHARD BENNETT CD: Richard has finally released his second CD. Code Red Cloud Nine is a great follow up to his 2004 album, Themes From A Rainy Decade. Richard told MKNews, "I always think the most honest record anyone can or should make is the one that most closely resembles an audio scrapbook of that person's life since their last record. Code Red is certainly that for me....what I've been listening to....what I'm interested in....how my playing has evolved and what I've been writing." Richard says that, therefore, the new CD is very different to Rainy Decade. Visit Richard's website for further details. (19/02/08)