Duke (born Mark Carson Adams) is a British singer, songwriter and producer, who was born and raised in England. He had two Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart: His deep house version of So In Love With You, which was his biggest hit, reaching #1 in 1997, and his follow-up Greater, which peaked at #9 in 1998. Mark Adams was born and bred in the West End in Newcastle upon Tyne, which is in the North East of England. In his teens Mark fell in love with soul music and artists Marvin Gaye, Leon Ware, Barry White and Isaac Hayes; he also let rip with a passion for the golden age of rock n’ roll of Buddy Holly, Little Richard, Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran. Barely in his teens, Mark put together his first band – a thrashing thing like Iggy and the Stooges. It was called Catch 22 after the film. For three years the band treated the Newcastle club scene to a repertoire of 1950s classics rendered in a high-octane style mixed with their own three-chord rockers. After Catch 22 ran out of juice, it was a rethink time for Mark. “When I saw the band One Hand One Heart on local TV they blew my mind, They were tight and shiny something was going to happen for them.” Hearing that the band needed a singer, Mark approached then and landed the gig. Picked up by manager Chas Chandler (bassist from The Animals), “Chas was fascinating to work with, a true music man who brought Jimi Hendrix to the UK”. Years of gigging followed, and then a deal with Epic records. Two singles and an album were released before One Hand One Heart fell apart. Nor, as anyone whose witnessed this amazing singer live will tell you, does it stop there. Mark went solo and wrote his first hit So In Love With You, this record opened many doors, it led him into the dance world, a new stage name ‘DUKE’ and to producers Norman Cook (Fatboy Slim) and Full Intention (Jon Pearn/Michael Gray) responsible for the classic remixes of So In Love With You. It hit the charts first in the Netherlands and then bounced from territory to territory “I will always have a love for Holland where it all began” ‘SO IN LOVE WITH YOU’ was a bona fide dance hit in most territories worldwide, topping the mainstream and club charts in the Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy and many more. It reached no.22 in the UK mainstream charts with the Full Intention mix and a club billboard no.1 which brought Duke to the attention of U.S. audiences. Mark signed to various labels, including Gary Kurfirst’s label for the U.S. Radioactive/Universal Records (Garbage, Live, Blondie & Talking Heads) “Gary was an amazing guy to work with, a true innovator”.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 17:14:26 +0000
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