Mark Farner (born September 29, 1948 in Flint, Michigan) is a singer, guitarist and songwriter, best known as the leader of Grand Funk Railroad.
Farner began his career in music playing in bands like Terry Knight and The Pack (1965-1966), The Bossmen (1966), The Pack (aka The Fabulous Pack) (1967-1968), before forming Grand Funk Railroad in 1969.
After Grand Funk disbanded in 1977, Farner released his first self titled solo project the following year. In 1978, Farner released No Frills.
In 1981, Grand Funk reunited to record a brand new album, Grand Funk Lives for Full Moon for Warner Brothers Records, and a What's Funk which was released the following year.
In 1988, Farner returned with Just Another Injustice on Frontline Records . His third Frontline released was 1991's Some Kind of Wonderful, witch featured a revamped version of the Grand Funk classic of the same name. Farner enjoyed success with the John Beland composition "Isn't it Amazing", which earned him a Dove Award nomination and reached #2 on the charts.
In the 1990s, Farner formed Lismark Communications with former Freedom Reader editor Steve Lisuk. Soon after, Farner began reissuing his solo albums on his own record label, LisMark Records.
From 1994 to 1995, Farner toured with Ringo Starr's Allstars, which also featured Randy Bachman, John Entwhistle , Felix Cavalaire , Billy Preston, and Ringo's son, Zak.
In the late 1990s, Farner reunited with Grand Funk for a tour.
An authorized biography of Farner, entitled From Grand Funk to Grace, was published in 2002 by Collectors Guide Publishing in Canada.
Discography
- Mark Farner, 1978
- No Frills, 1979
- Just Another Injustice, 1988
- Wake Up, 1989
- Some Kind of Wonderful, 1991
- Closer to Home, 1992
- Heirlooms, 2000
- Red White and Blue Forever, 2002
External links
Last updated: 08-22-2005 16:58:27
