Mark Weitz

Not to be confused with Mark Wirtz.

Mark Stephen Weitz (born 1945) is an American musician. A keyboard player for the 1960s psychedelic rock group Strawberry Alarm Clock, Weitz was the principal composing member of the band.

Early life and The Strawberry Alarm Clock

Weitz was born Mark Stephen Weitz in Brooklyn, New York, in 1945 and at 6 months old moved to California. He took up playing piano and organ at age 8 and at age 20 joined a rock group called Thee Sixpence as one of the singers and the organist. Three or four years older than everyone else, he had more definite musical ideas than his bandmates, as well as a more mature and professional outlook on music, which served them well the next four years. He also found something of a kindred musical spirit in Ed King, the band's lead guitarist.

Weitz was an able composer, and for the group's 1967 single on the all American label he submitted three songs: "The Birdman of Alkatrash", "Heart full of Rain", and "Incense and Peppermints" (a collaboration with Ed King). The latter, turned over to another composer by the record's producer to write the lyrics, became a #1 national hit for the group, newly christened Strawberry Alarm Clock. For the next three years, Weitz rode a whirlwind of dizzying success and frustrating attempts at a follow-up, though he did prove the single wasn't a fluke and wasn't to the credit of the lyricist by creating a top 30 hit called "Tomorrow" (Lyrics written by Weitz and music by Weitz and King). Weitz played some memorable keyboard parts on their first three albums, and on S.A.C.'s album Good Morning Starshine he showed himself in collaboration with King to be an able first-time producer.

Later life, Strawberry Alarm Clock, Billy Corgan

Weitz played keyboards for Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan's side project Spirits in the Sky, which toured for several weeks in 2009. Weitz first played with the band at a memorial concert for Sky Saxon, the late singer for the Seeds. In 2010, the Strawberry Alarm Clock was working on material for Corgan's new record label.

External links

• Strawberry Alarm Clock official site
• Interview with Mark Weitz