Mark Cherrie
Experienced Solo Steel Pan player who performs with backing tracks through a Bose S1 (battery powered PA system) and can function completely self-contained, without even the need for any power. Also available as a duo with a nylon string guitarist.
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Mark Cherrie's Bio
Mark has enjoyed a career in music, spanning over 40 years. His earliest experiences of playing live music began in his father’s band at the age of 14, whilst studying piano & ‘cello. Having turned professional in 1986, Mark has enjoyed a varied musical career. Playing the steel pan has been an ongoing passion and Mark has had the opportunity to travel the world playing this amazing instrument, for all sorts of audiences. Lots of this work was with Paul Cherrie’s Solid Steel with whom Mark has enjoyed playing with for many years. Then in 2016, Mark was offered some free studio time to record a steel pan led jazz project, which went on to become “Joining The Dots”, an album rated 4 ★s in the Guardian and also made Dave Gelly’s top ten jazz albums list of 2018.
Mark has also played keyboards professionally in his career, touring with Jimmy Ruffin, The Drifters, Edwin Starr, Odyssey and Ronnie Laws. Mark also toured the former Soviet Union with soul singer Precious Wilson back in 1988, who was the first female soul singer to have undertaken an extensive tour in that region.
The combination of experience in music technology, together with experience of working in Caribbean music led to an introduction to music publisher JW MediaMusic in 1993. Since then, Mark has written and recorded over 30 albums to his name, encompassing many musical genres. With a total in excess of 600 titles, Mark’s music has been featured on literally 100’s of TV shows and films, including Friends, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, ER, The Fresh Prince and many more. A track from the first of those albums won the Stemra music prize back in 1993. Mark’s experience in writing and playing music led to an offer in 2003 to run workshops in schools in South London teaching music writing and music technology. This culminated in a concert at the Albert Hall where all the pieces of music that had originated from the students themselves had been rearranged by Mark to be performed by orchestra, choir, an onstage ensemble and the music technology running live.