Mark Heard

Mark Heard
Born	December 16, 1951(1951-12-16), Macon, Georgia
Died	August 16, 1992(1992-08-16) (aged 40)
Genres	folk-rock
Occupations	record producer, singer-songwriter
Instruments	guitar, singing, electric mandolin
Years active	1970–1992
Labels	Fingerprint Records What? Records Myrrh Records Home Sweet Home Records Solid Rock Records

John Mark Heard (December 16, 1951 - August 16, 1992) was a record producer, folk-rock singer, and songwriter originally from Macon, Georgia, USA. Mark Heard released 16 records in his lifetime, and produced and performed with many other artists as well, such as Sam Phillips (aka Leslie Phillips), Pierce Pettis, Phil Keaggy, Vigilantes of Love, Peter Buck of R.E.M. (who co-produced VOL's album Killing Floor with Heard), John Austin, The Choir, Randy Stonehill and Michael Been of The Call. Heard produced part of Olivia Newton-John's The Rumor, which also included a cover of Heard's own "Big and Strong" (originally called "How to Grow Up Big and Strong").

History

After graduating from the University of Georgia in 1974 with an ABJ (bachelor of arts in journalism) degree in television, Heard travelled to Switzerland to study at L'Abri under the influential evangelical Christian philosopher Francis Schaeffer. Singers Larry Norman and Randy Stonehill literally stumbled onto Mark one day playing his guitar. Norman was so impressed by Heard's abilities that he soon signed him to his record label, Solid Rock Records. Heard and his wife Janet moved to Glendale, California in 1977 to begin work on his Appalachian Melody album for the label, but would also maintain a close relationship with the people at the L'Abri for years. Heard would also record and release Fingerprint on a Swiss label in 1980.

In 1981, Heard began a recording contract with Chris Christian's Home Sweet Home Records. Although Mark's sales did not attract attention from the Major Christian Labels, Christian felt Mark's music was unique and fresh and deserved to be heard and funded his projects with no production oversight which Mark wanted. His signing to the label was a departure from the commercial Artist that Chris traditionally signed and produced on the Home Sweet Home label. Heard released five albums for the label; 1981's Stop the Dominoes, 1982's Victims of the Age; 1983's Eye of the Storm; 1984's Ashes and Light; and 1985's Mosaics. The overall experience was not one that Heard enjoyed, partly due to his personal experiences with record company executives, and partly due to compromises he felt under pressure to make in order to make himself and his songs more marketable to Christian audiences. In 1984, Heard began recording in his home studio, which he dubbed "Fingerprint Recorders", after the title of one of his earlier records. From that point on, his albums were largely made at home, with just a handful of friends and relatives lending a hand. In 1986, Heard decided to try something a little different and recorded the experimental Pop/Rock album for What? Records entitled Tribal Opera, under the name iDEoLA. When asked about the unusual name, Heard replied "It's not supposed to be mysterious or anything; I just put a band together and right now I happen to be the only one in it." Heard also directed a music video for the single of that album, "Is It Any Wonder."

With the formation of Fingerprint Records and his studio, Heard began to produce albums for a number of artists including two albums for Randy Stonehill, Jacob's Trouble, Pierce Pettis and 1992's Vigilantes of Love album, Killing Floor, which he co-produced with R.E.M.'s Peter Buck. Stonehill's Until We Have Wings including a song co-written by Heard, "Faithful," although the CD liner notes credit the song to Heard's pseudonym Giovanni Audiori.

The early 1990s saw a return to recording albums of his own, with 1990's Dry Bones Dance. Fans and reviewers alike hailed the new release as one of the best of his career. Heard followed Dry Bones Dance with Second Hand in 1991, and, finally, Satellite Sky in 1992, which would turn out to be his final release.

On July 4, 1992, Heard had a heart attack on stage while performing with Pierce Pettis and Kate Miner, at the Cornerstone Festival, near Chicago. Heard finished his set and went to the hospital immediately afterwards. Two weeks after being released from the hospital, Heard went into cardiac arrest and died on August 16 of 1992.^[1] Before Heard's death, he had been included on the Legacy II sampler from Windham Hill's High Street label, and was nearly finalizing a mainstream contract with Bruce Cockburn's label, True North Records in Canada. There was also interest from Sony's Columbia Records label for distribution in the US.

Tributes & Influence

In 1994, many artists came together to record a tribute album called Strong Hand of Love. Artists lending their talents to the project included Phil Keaggy, Victoria Williams, Chagall Guevara, Buddy Miller, Julie Miller, Daniel Amos, The Choir, Bruce Cockburn, and the Vigilantes of Love. The project was later reissued as a two-CD set with additional tracks and retitled Orphans of God. Cockburn frequently calls Heard his favorite songwriter and even wrote and recorded a song dedicated to Heard for his Dart to the Heart album, "Closer to the Light." Daniel Amos dedicated their album MotorCycle to Heard in 1993, and The Swirling Eddies dedicated Zoom Daddy to Heard the same year. Julie Miller also wrote a song in tribute to Heard called "All My Tears" which has also been recorded by Jars of Clay, Emmylou Harris (studio and live versions) and Selah with Kim Hill.

In 2000, a group of fans gathered together to help Fingerprint Records release Mystery Mind, the first collection of previously unreleased material from the songwriter. There were plans to release a full length collection that same year, but those plans never came to fruition.

In 2002, the Cornerstone Music Festival held a songwriting contest in honor of Heard. The following year, Paste Magazine released Hammers and Nails, a CD of previously unreleased recordings by Heard. An authorized biography of the same name was also released by Cornerstone Press, written by Matthew T. Dickerson.

The Americana Music Association held its annual Americana Honors and Awards Show at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, September 2005. The Song of the Year Award was presented to the late Mark Heard for "Worry Too Much" (originally featured on Heard's 1991 release Second Hand). Buddy Miller, who performed the track on his latest release Universal United House of Prayer, accepted the award on behalf of Heard. As well Miller received the award for Album of the Year for Universal United House of Prayer.

In Paste Magazine No. 22 June/July 2006 - a Special Collector's Issue featuring the 100 Best Living Songwriters - Mark Heard was remembered as well under the heading Wish You Were Here: "Mark Heard's lyrics are weighted with such a wry longing that they'll forever reflect a fresh turbulence."

On December 16, 2007, a collection of Solid Rock-era demos was announced, to be entitled: The Lost Artifacts of an American Poet.

Discography

Studio albums

Spirit Records

• Setting Yesterday Free - Infinity+3 (1970)

Home Sweet Home Records

• Mark Heard (1975) - reissued as On Turning To Dust (1978)
• Appalachian Melody (1979)
• Fingerprint (1980)
• Stop the Dominoes (1981)
• Victims of the Age (1982)
• Eye of the Storm (1983)
• Ashes and Light (1984)
• Mosaics (1985)

What? Records

• Tribal Opera - iDEoLA (1987)

Fingerprint Records

• Dry Bones Dance (1990)
• Second Hand (1991)
• Satellite Sky (1992)

Compilation albums

Home Sweet Home Records

• Acoustic: The Best of Mark Heard (1985)
• Reflections of a Former Life (1993)
• Greatest Hits (2000)

Fingerprint Records

• High Noon (1993)
• Mystery Mind (2000) - demos, live, and interviews
• Hammers and Nails (2003) - previously unreleased demos
• The Lost Artifacts Of An American Poet - The Original Recordings of Mark Heard (2007) - previously unreleased demos
• The Lost Artifacts of an American Poet - The Original Recordings of Mark Heard Part II (2008) - previously unreleased demos

Tribute Albums

• Strong Hand of Love: A Tribute to Mark Heard, Various Artists 1994 tribute album
• Orphans of God: A Tribute to Mark Heard, Various Artists 1996 tribute album

References

1. ^ *Full Circle "Classic Jesus Music - Episode 132 - ABCs part one"

External links

• Mark Heard website
• The Mark Heard Tribute Project
• Book on Mark's life and music by Matthew Dickerson
• Internet Movie Database Profile
• Mark Heard Retrospective on Popdose.Com

Videos

• An animated tribute video featuring Mark Heard's "Lonely Moon"
• The "Treasure of the Broken Land" video
• The "Is It Any Wonder" video (iDEoLA)
• A music video by Buddy Miller - a cover of Mark Heard's "Worry Too Much"
• Emmylou Harris featuring Buddy & Julie Miller - Live in Concert, covering Julie Miller's "All My Tears", a Mark Heard tribute
• Bob Bennett with Bruce Carroll and Buddy Greene - Live in Concert covering "Heart of Hearts" at 1992 Tribute (Nashville)

Awards
Preceded by Rodney Crowell	AMA Song of the Year (Songwriter) 2005	Succeeded by James McMurtry

Persondata
Name	Heard, Mark
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1951-12-16
Place of birth
Date of death	1992-08-16
Place of death