Mark Frith (musician)

Mark Frith

Mark Frith (musician, Songwriter, Artist)

Mark Robert Frith (born 22 October 1984 in Billinge, Lancashire, England) is an English Singer-songwriter, Musician and Artist. He was the Lead singer/Guitarist and sole creative force of critically acclaimed Wigan/Liverpool band The Troubadours from their formation in 2005 until their split in 2009. Frith now fronts and writes the songs for the greatly anticipated Wigan band The Captive Hearts. The Captive Hearts debut single 'Hummingbird' is expected for a July/August release.

Early Life

Mark attended Rose Hill Infant School in Bryn before moving onto Our Lady's Primary School, Downall Green Road, Bryn and even at this young age showed a great talent for Drawing and Painting and writing Poems and Verse. He later attended St Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic High School in Ashton-in-Makerfield where his love for Art and Music furthered. He started to play the guitar while at Edmund Arrowsmith and after achieving 10 GCSE's including an A* in Art went on to attend Winstanley College, the college at which Richard Ashcroft met Nick McCabe and The Verve were formed. At this time Mark had become a well advanced Guitarist and his attendance record slipped at the collage to the point were he left after only 10 months of attending, preferring to join a rock n roll band and , in his own words 'Sign on the dole and learn how to write Songs'. This paid off as in 2006 after John Leckie, producer of Stone Roses, Radiohead and Pink Floyd heard his songs and his band, The Troubadours and agreed to produce their first single.

The Troubadours

The Troubadours originally started in 2005, when Mark Frith (Songwriter/Lead Vocalist/Guitarist) decided to get a band together to play his growing number of self-penned songs. He began work with Johnny Molyneux (Lead Guitar) immediately. Without a bassist or a drummer, he put adverts in local newspapers in and around the Liverpool area. with the name The Troubadours already born, the band soon recruited Tony Ferguson to play bass, and Nathan Watts to be their drummer after both expressed a strong interest in joining the band.

After countless gigs, they built up a strong fan base, amongst them was legendary producer, John Leckie, well-known for his previous work with The Stone Roses, Pink Floyd and Radiohead. In 2007, Leckie offered to produce two of their songs, which the band quickly accepted. They recorded "Gimme Love" and "Here Comes The Tide" under the production of John Leckie in May 2007 at The Dog House Sudios in Henley-on-Thames. Their debut single, "Gimme Love" was released soon after recordings were finished under the production of Leckie.

In the February 2008 edition of Q Magazine, the Troubadours were included in the "10 Best New Acts of 2008". 2008 also saw the band support Paul Weller during his UK tour. Their second single, "(I'm Not) Superstitious" was released in June 2008.

The summer of 2008 saw the band playing many festivals including V festival in Chelmsford/Stafford and Summer Sonic Festival in Tokyo. Late 2008 saw the departure of original lead guiratist, Johnny Molyneux. The permanent replacement was announced to be Robbie Taylor in January 2009.

The recording and mixing of their debut album was completed in September 2008, and was released in Japan in the same month. The Album has been pushed to an early 2010 release.

The Troubadours achieved two top ten indie singles with Gimme Love and (I'm Not) Supertitious The album they released in Japan gained top ten success on the Billboard Hot 100 and turned the band into asian superstars.

Critical and Contemporary Acclaim

During The Troubadours 2008 Tour with Paul Weller, Weller made clear his love for Marks songs after proclaiming him a "Classic British Songwriter"

Q (magazine) wrote about Marks band in 2008/09, including them in the 'best new bands of 2008' list of ten. Calling Mark one of the best songwriters of his generation

in 2009 John Leckie was qouted saying 'Mark is one of the best Songwriters I have worked with in the past 10 years'. A qoute that appeared on the Japenese EP The Troubadours

He is known affectionately to fellow Musicians and friends as the 'Human Jukebox' for his virtuoso Guitar playing and the fact he an play almost anything after hearing it a couple of times.

Artwork

Mark is a very keen Artist and most notably designed the Logo for his band The Troubadours. It is believed after Mark left college that he became a freelance Artist, drawing peoples children and sporting figures. In fact mark could be seen outside Anfield and Goodison Park every saturday selling his picture to the market stalls around the grounds. Mark is a huge fan of artists M. C. Escher and Andy Warhol

Discography

Albums

Release Date	Title	Peak Chart Position																	Certifications (sales thresholds)
		JAP Chart Stats. "Chart Stats - The Troubadours". ChartStats.com. Retrieved 2009-01-20.</ref>
29 September 20008	The Troubadours (japan Album)	6	7	10	21	41	39	37	32	29	25	23	-	-	19	26	36	37
29 September 20008	The Troubadours EP(japan)	15	18	23	28	35	39	45	49	56	66	77	-	-	-	-	-	-	Singles Release Date Title Peak Chart Position Certifications (sales thresholds) UK Chart Stats. "Chart Stats - The Troubadours". ChartStats.com. Retrieved 2009-01-20.</ref> 22 October 20007 Gimme Love produced by John Leckie 12 15 20 26 33 37 42 49 52 64 72 88 - - - - - 15 July 20008 I'm Not Superstitious, Loog Records 5 7 9 14 23 29 31 35 42 48 57 69 78 - - - -