David Marks (musician)
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David Lee Marks (born August 22, 1948) is a songwriter and musician.
Sometimes referred to by Beach Boys historians as the "forgotten" Beach Boy, Marks was part of the group's line-up when they signed to Capitol Records in 1962. David Marks played rhythm guitar and sang harmony vocals.
As a child, Marks had lived across the street from the family home of young Brian Wilson in 1956 and began playing music with them. By 1958, David Marks and Brian's younger brother Carl had begun to develop their own style of playing guitars and Brian soon realized that Carl and David brought a contemporary feel to his original compositions. David was not part of the original Beach Boys line-up that recorded "Surfin" for Candix Records in early '62; this line-up included the slightly older Al Jardine. But a few months later, on the eve of the Beach Boys' first recording session for Capitol, Jardine opted out, unsure of a steady future in the music business, and the fourteen-year-old Marks was quickly drafted to fill the post. He would continue to sing and play rhythm guitar for the Beach Boys for about a year and a half, recording several albums with them, as well as the early hit singles "Surfin Safari", "Surfin USA", "Surfer Girl" and "In My Room". While his time in the band may have been relatively short, Marks contributed to the foundational sound of one of America's most influential pop groups.
Although it is often assumed that Marks left the Beach Boys because Al Jardine wanted to return to the band, this is not the case. Marks and Jardine were both part of the 1963 Beach Boys touring line-up. This six man line-up was memorialized on the Beach Boys Historic Landmark in Hawthorne, California. Marks quit toward the end of the tour after an argument with the band's temperamental manager, Murry Wilson.
After the Beach Boys, David Marks formed Dave & the Marksmen, one of the first acts to be signed to Herb Alpert's A&M Records in 1964. Later, the group signed with Warner Brothers. In 1966 David worked with Casey Kasem's Band Without a Name. He then worked with the late 60s psych-pop band, The Moon along with Matt Moore and Larry Brown. The band released two albums on the Imperial label. Marks also studied jazz and classical guitar as a private student at the Berklee School of Music and the New England Conservatory, and worked as a session player and live performer with many noted artists.
After the 1971 departure of Beach Boy Bruce Johnston, Marks received an offer to rejoin the band as a bass guitarist but he declined. Marks did eventually join the band on lead guitar in 1997, but left in 1999 due to health issues. He subsequently continued to work as a musician, and tour with various bands, but was battling against alcohol and drug abuse - which ultimately led to the discovery that he was suffering from Hepatitis C.
He became a leading light in the bid to raise awareness of this disease, often appearing in the media to highlight the cause, and during 2007, working alongside noted author Jon Stebbins, David published his autobiography “The Lost Beach Boy”, which detailed his early career as a member of America’s most famous band, as well as uncovering the dramatic truth about his ‘lost years’ as a drug addict, the fight against his illness, his musical wanderings and his recovery and acceptance within the Beach Boys community.
Now free of the threat of the Hepatitis C virus, and happily married to wife Carrie, he spends his time exploring new musical ventures, whilst regularly acknowledging the contributions he made in the past to the many hits by the Beach Boys by appearing onstage alongside his former band members in various off-shoots of the original line-up. In 2008, following the release of a career retrospective, “The Lost Years” (released to coincide with his autobiography), he toured the UK as a ‘special guest’ with Mike Love and Bruce Johnston’s touring Beach Boys Band.
[edit] Solo Discography
- Work Tapes (Compiled 1992 / Re-issued 2000) Mail order release
- Something Funny Goin’ On (2003) Quiver Records DM5513
- The Marks-Clifford Band "Live At The Blue Dolphin '77" (2006) DJM Records 0603
- I Think About You Often (2006) Quiver Records 0602
- The Lost Years : Limited Edition 3-CD Set (2008) Mail order release
