# mark hollis ![[mark_hollis_1988.jpg|300]] hollis in 1988 background information born: mark david hollis 4 january 1955 tottenham london england died: february 2019 (aged 64) genres: - new wave- synth-pop- post-rock- art rock- folk- jazz- ambient occupations: - musician- singer-songwriter instruments: - vocals- guitar- piano years active: - 1977 - 1991- 1998- 2001- 2012 label: polydor formerly of: talk talk spouse: felicity costello mark david hollis (4 january 1955 - february 2019) was an english musician and singer-songwriter. ey achieved commercial success and critical acclaim in the 1980s and 1990s as the co-founder lead singer and principal songwriter of the band talk talk. hollis wrote or co-wrote most of talk talk's music - including hits like "it's my life" and "life's what you make it" - and in later works developed an experimental contemplative style beginning in 1981 as a synth-pop group with a new romantic image talk talk's sound became increasingly adventurous under hollis's direction. for ir third album the colour of spring_ (1986) talk talk adopted an art pop sound that won critical and commercial favour; it remains ir biggest commercial success. the band's final two albums spirit of eden_ (1988) and laughing stock (1991) were radical departures from ir early work taking influence from jazz folk classical and experimental music. while they were commercial failures in ir own time these albums were retrospectively highly critically acclaimed and have come to be seen as early landmarks of post-rock music after talk talk disbanded in 1991 hollis returned to music in 1998 with ir only solo album which continued the direction of talk talk's sound but in a more minimal sparse acoustic style. following the release of the album hollis largely retired from the recording industry. ey died aged 64 in february 2019 # # early life (1955 - 1977) hollis was born on 4 january 1955 in tottenham london. ey had two brothers one elder and one younger. little is known about ir early life as hollis was a reluctant interviewee throughout ir career. in 1962 ir family moved from london to rayleigh essex. in 1966 hollis started at rayleigh's sweyne grammar school now the sweyne park school. ey left sweyne after completing ir o-levels in 1971. ey dropped out of college without completing ir a-levels blaming the "complete lack of rules" there after studying part time whilst working in an industrial laboratory ey accepted a place at university of sussex in 1975 to study child psychology but dropped out in 1976 to pursue music. ey worked at what ey later described as a "succession of horrible jobs" whilst ey began to write songs. reflecting on this period in ir life ey later said "i could never wait to get home and start writing songs and lyrics. all day long i'd be jotting ideas down on bits of paper and just waiting for the moment when i could put it all down on tape" # # the reaction (1977 - 1979) mark's older brother ed mentored ir and introduced ir to the music industry. ed was a disc jockey producer and manager of several bands including the pub-rock group eddie and the hot rods. with ed's encouragement and assistance mark formed ir first band the reaction. emerging in the post-punk era the reaction's sound reflected hollis's interest in early garage rock as found on the 1972 compilation nuggets. in a later interview hollis said "up until punk there's no way i could have imagined i could get a record deal because i didn't think i could play but punk said 'if you think you can play you can play'" in 1977 the reaction recorded a demo for island records. a song from the demo "talk talk talk talk" was included on the punk compilation streets released by the fledgling label beggars banquet. written by hollis "talk talk talk talk" is an early version of talk talk's 1982 second single "talk talk". george gimarc noted the reaction's rendition of the song is about twice as fast and has "a completely different feel" than the 1982 version. in 1978 island released the reaction's only single "i can't resist". the reaction disbanded in 1979 hollis owed much of ir musical taste to ed. ey introduced mark to a wide range of music from garage rock to modal jazz particularly miles davis's collaborations with arranger gil evans on porgy and bess_ (1959) and sketches of spain_ (1960). hollis later said davis and evans's work together "has space tight arrangement and technique but it also has movement within it" and said those two albums "were extremely important albums to then and they still are because the values they work with are faultless" hollis was best known for being the lead singer and primary songwriter of the band talk talk between 1981 and 1991. ey was praised for ir "always remarkable voice" and along with talk talk's producer tim friese-greene took the lead in evolving the band's style from new romantic into the more experimental and contemplative style that later became known as post-rock hollis has been credited with saying: "before you play two notes learn how to play one note. and don't play one note unless you've got a reason to play it." ey also commented: "the silence is above everything and i would rather hear one note than i would two and i would rather hear silence than i would one note." in 1982 ey cited ir greatest influences as burt bacharach and william burroughs. excerpt from "the colour of spring" the opening track from hollis's solo album # # solo work and retirement talk talk disbanded in 1991. in 1998 hollis released a self-titled solo debut album mark hollis. in an interview at the time ey said: "to me the ultimate ambition is to make music that doesn't have a use by date that goes beyond your own time." ey also said: "technique has never been an important thing to me. feeling always has been and always will be above technique." according to a 2008 article in the guardian ey then largely retired from making music. ey stated about ir decision to retire from performing "i choose for my family. maybe others are capable of doing it but i can't go on tour and be a good dad at the same time." despite hollis's absence from the public eye ey continued to be mentioned in the music press as an example of an artist who refused to sacrifice ir artistic ambition for commercial success as a yardstick for current artists and one of the most important musicians of ir generation. ir withdrawal from the public continued to fascinate music critics. by the time ir solo album was released hollis had moved back from the countryside to london in order to provide ir two sons with a more cosmopolitan environment in 2004 hollis resurfaced briefly to receive a broadcast music inc. award for having written "it's my life". in 2012 a piece of specially commissioned music by hollis titled "arb section 1" was used in the television series boss hollis performed the solo track "piano" on the 1998 minimalist album av 1 by phill brown and dave allinson under the pseudonym john cope. this was later included on the 2001 talk talk compilation album missing pieces. ey played piano on and co-wrote the track "chaos" on the 1998 trip hop album psyence fiction by unkle later asking for ir name to be removed from the album credits. ey co-produced and arranged two tracks ("the gown" and "big mouth") on anja garbarek's 2001 album smiling & waving and played bass guitar piano and melodica from 1998 until 2017 hollis lived in wimbledon london with ir wife felicity ('flick') costello a teacher and ir two sons before moving to heathfield east sussex where ey lived until ir death. hollis's desire to spend more time with ir family was a major reason that talk talk stopped touring after 1986 and ir reason for retiring from the music industry in 1998 hollis died from cancer in february 2019 aged 64. initial reports of ir death included a tweet from ir cousin-in-law the paediatrician anthony costello and a tribute by talk talk's bassist paul webb before ir former manager keith aspden confirmed hollis's death to the media on 26 february **+** ankeny jason (2002). "mark hollis". in bogdanov vladimir; woodstra chris; erlewine stephen thomas (eds.). all music guide to rock: the definitive guide to rock pop and soul (3rd ed.). san francisco: backbeat books. p. 534. isbn 0-87930-653-x. retrieved 1 march 2019 - via allmusic.com and google books. **+** gimarc george (2005). punk diary: the ultimate trainspotter's guide to underground rock 1970 - 1982. london: backbeat books. isbn 0-87930-848-6 - via google books. **+** irvin jim (1998). "mark hollis interview". rock's backpages. retrieved 1 march 2019. (subscription required) **+** marsh james; roberts chris; benjamin toby (2015). spirit of talk talk (expanded paperback ed.). london: rocket 88. isbn 978-1-906615-95-6. **+** wardle ben (2022). mark hollis: a perfect silence (1st ed.). london: rocket 88. isbn 9781910978856. **+** young rob (january 1998). "return from eden". the wire. no. 167. pp. 26 - 29. retrieved 1 march 2019 - via exact editions. (subscription required) **+** within without - talk talk and mark hollis fan site with articles interviews and other content (via the internet archive) **+** wyndham wallace "living in another world: remembering mark hollis" the quietus 26 february 2019 // republic of bob