Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2008 | Page 47

JOHN HANNAM
and we’ll feel the ramifications
a few years down the line. We
need the money and it has
to come from somewhere.
“Despite my love for the Island
I now think a fixed link is a
sensible alternative.”
Mark is an Island boy from
a very working class family
and has certainly earned all
his world fame. He still fondly
remembers a few local teachers
who proved so influential in his
school days. These include Mrs
Drudge, his first music teacher
at Parkhurst Primary, and later
Graham Holmes and Alan
Senior at Cowes High.
Musically, he was also
inspired by local bands like
The JAE, who comprised
John Wheeler, Andy Newman
and Graham Elderfield. In
those days Mark was a young
drummer.
“They were real musical
heroes of mine after I saw them
play in a Newport church hall.
I then went on to play with
John in Joe Bear,” said Mark.
John Wheeler still vividly
remembers the day he
interviewed Mark in the
Union pub, in Cowes, for the
job in the band, particularly,
as he found out later, that he
was only sixteen and not old
enough to even go into the pub.
Also in the Joe Bear line-up
was guitarist Boon Gould, who
a few years later went on to
help form the original Level 42.
Phil Gould, Boon’s brother and
another Level 42 original, had
also been in Joe Bear.
Mark played in local holiday
camp bands which proved
a great grounding in a wide
variety of musical styles –
anything from Rockin’ Robin to
the Gay Gordons.
Eventually he put his drum
kit into an old Bedford van that
he’d used on his Cowes area
milk round for Don Butchers
and headed for London to seek
his fortune.
Life was not easy and once he
had to sell his drum kit to get

home from a gig in Belgium.
In 1980 he formed Level 42,
who initially played in the jazz
funk style, with the Gould
brothers, Phil and Boon, and
Mike Lindup. By this time
Mark was a formidable bass
player with an innovative style
that was almost an extension
of his drumming. He also
volunteered to sing the lead
vocals as there was no obvious
front man. The rest is history.
From their early jazz funk
style Level 42 suddenly broke
through into mainstream pop
with the release of World
Machine which produced their
first American Top Ten hit.
The follow-up, Running in the
Family, sold over half a million
in the first week.
They toured with Madonna
and Tina Turner and undertook
their own worldwide tours.
Their manic lifestyle eventually
took its toll and fellow
Islanders, Boon and Phil, left
the group for a