He might have become the UK's Phil Spector, but it didn't quite work out that way. I'm talking about Mark Wirtz who has died aged 76. Originally from Alsace, he was taken on by EMI to work with Beatles producer Geoff Emerick as in-house producer for Parlophone. This led to the Keith West hit 'Excerpt from a Teenage Opera' ('Grocer Jack') which reached number two in the UK, but although this psychedelic work never led to a full scale 'opera' project as planned it was influential (The Who's 'Tommy' for example). Mark was described by Mojo magazine as 'Phil Spector scoring Camberwick Green' and he was multi talented as producer, composer, singer, musician, author and comedian. He was involved with the psychedelic band Tomorrow, whose 1968 LP is now highly collectable. Early productions included 'A Touch of Velvet - A Sting of Brass' by Mood Mosaic. Solo records included '(He's Our Dear Old) Weatherman' which was supposed to be part of the Teenage Opera but success
eluded him.He recorded with Les Reed's Chapter One label and with Larry Page's Penny Farthing, but after leaving EMI he moved to California where he worked with the Shelter label. Two albums were made with Capitol and he moved on to record production with the likes of Helen Reddy, Leon Russell and Anthony Newley. After a further solo album called 'Lost Pets' he took up a variety of jobs including comedian and voice over artist and moved to Georgia where he became a successful magazine columnist, drama critic and novelist. In 2004 he moved to Spain where he produced his daughter's rock band boyfriend's album plus a couple of albums of his own.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEED9Iyk124 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzLTVKNcP4w
Another death that has been announced - from COVID 19 - is that of
Trini Lopez who had huge success with songs such as 'If I Had A Hammer' and 'Lemon Tree' for Reprise and was best known for his night club performances. Prior to that he recorded 'The Right To Rock' for the Dallas based Volk label which is popular on the rock and roll scene. He also recorded for King and to capitalise on his later success one of his King recordings, 'Jeanie Marie', was re-released on London in the UK.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohzuN8_L8p0
Another death that has been announced - from COVID 19 - is that of Trini Lopez who had huge success with songs such as 'If I Had A Hammer' and 'Lemon Tree' for Reprise and was best known for his night club performances. Prior to that he recorded 'The Right To Rock' for the Dallas based Volk label which is popular on the rock and roll scene. He also recorded for King and to capitalise on his later success one of his King recordings, 'Jeanie Marie', was re-released on London in the UK.
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