Mark Hollis (musician)

Mark Hollis
File:Mark Hollis 1998.jpg Mark Hollis in a photo portrait from the January 1998 issue of The Wire. Photo by Frank Bauer.
Background information
Birth name	Mark David Hollis
Born	(1955-01-04)4 January 1955 Tottenham, London, England
Died
Genres	New wave, synthpop, art rock, post-rock, folk, jazz, ambient
Occupation(s)	Musician, singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, piano
Years active	1977–1992, 1998, 2012
Associated acts	Talk Talk, Unkle, Anja Garbarek

Mark David Hollis (4 January 1955 – 25 February 2019) was an English musician and singer-songwriter. He 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 increasingly developed an influential experimental and 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 their third album, The Colour of Spring (1986), Talk Talk adopted an art pop sound that won critical and commercial favour; it remains their biggest commercial success. The band's final two albums, Spirit of Eden (1988) and Laughing Stock (1991), were radical departures from their early work, taking influence from jazz, folk, classical and experimental music. While they were commercial failures in their own time, these albums have come to be seen as early landmarks of post-rock music.

After Talk Talk disbanded in 1992, Hollis returned to music in 1998 with a self-titled solo album, which continued the direction of Talk Talk's sound but in a more minimal, spare, acoustic style. Following the release of his only solo album, Hollis largely retired from the recording industry.

On 25 February 2019, reports emerged online that Hollis had died, with posts from his family, collaborators and musical contemporaries acknowledging the death and offering condolences and tributes. His former manager, Keith Aspden, confirmed the next day that Hollis had died after a short illness.

Biography

Early career

Hollis was born on 4 January 1955 in Tottenham, London. He had two brothers, one elder and one younger. Little is known about his early life, for Hollis was a reluctant interviewee throughout his career. He attended Tollington School, a now-defunct grammar school in Muswell Hill, London. In one interview, he claimed to have quit pursuing an education before he had completed his A-levels; in another, he said he had taken a course in child psychology at the University of Sussex but dropped out after a year and a half. Between school and the launch of his music career, he worked in factories and as a laboratory technician. Reflecting on this period in his life, he 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!"

His older brother, Ed Hollis, became a disc jockey and producer who managed bands such as Eddie and the Hot Rods.

His music career started to come to fruition when he formed a band, The Reaction. In 1977, The Reaction recorded a demo for Island Records; among the tracks was a Hollis original titled "Talk Talk Talk Talk" which later surfaced on the Beggars Banquet Records punk compilation Streets. After just one single, 1978's "I Can't Resist", The Reaction disbanded. Through his brother, Hollis was introduced to musicians Paul Webb, Lee Harris and Simon Brenner, with whom he formed Talk Talk in 1981, soon signing to the EMI label.

Talk Talk

Main article: Talk Talk

Hollis is best known for being the lead singer and primary songwriter of the band Talk Talk between 1981 and 1991. He was praised for his "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." In 1982, he cited his greatest influences as Burt Bacharach and William Burroughs.

Solo work

Talk Talk disbanded in 1991. In 1998, Hollis released an eponymous solo debut album, Mark Hollis. In an interview at the time, he said: "To me the ultimate ambition is to make music that doesn't have a use by date, that goes beyond your own time." He 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, he then largely retired from making music. He stated about his 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' absence from the public eye, he continued to be mentioned in the music press as an example of an artist who refused to sacrifice his artistic ambition for commercial success, and as a yardstick for current artists. His withdrawal from the public continued to fascinate music critics. By the time his solo album was released, Hollis had moved back from the countryside to London in order to provide his two sons with a more cosmopolitan environment.

He participated in occasional musical projects, including playing melodica and bass guitar on Anja Garbarek's 2001 album Smiling & Waving, as well as producing two tracks on it. 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 entitled "ARB Section 1", was used in the television series Boss.

Collaborations

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. He played piano on and co-wrote the track "Chaos" on the 1998 trip hop album Psyence Fiction by Unkle, later asking for his name to be removed from the album credits. He also produced and arranged two tracks ("The Gown" and "Big Mouth") on Anja Garbarek's 2001 album Smiling & Waving.

Personal life

As of 1998, Hollis lived in Wimbledon, London with his wife (a teacher) and his two children. Hollis's desire to spend more time with his family was a major reason that Talk Talk stopped touring after 1986, and his reason for retiring from the music industry in 1998.

Death

It was reported on 25 February 2019 that Mark Hollis had died, aged 64. Initial reports included a tweet from his cousin-in-law, the paediatrician Anthony Costello, and a tribute by Talk Talk’s bassist Paul Webb. Hollis's death, from "a short illness from which he never recovered", was confirmed by his former manager on 26 February.

Further tributes to Hollis included Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, The The, Alexis Taylor, Andy Kim, Charlotte Church, Flea, Roland Orzabal, Ryley Walker, Peter Hammill, Wendy Smith, Tim Burgess, Dave Rowntree, Doves, Guy Garvey, DJ Ariel, Ed Simons, Elijah Wood, Chris Baio, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Covenant, Marc Almond , Rachel Goswell and Broken Social Scene.

Discography

See also: Talk Talk discography

Solo albums

• Mark Hollis (1998)

References

Bibliography

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External links

• 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