Americana / Folk / Rock
Glendale, California, USA
John Mark Heard III (December 16, 1951 – August 16, 1992) was an American record producer, folk rock singer, and songwriter originally from Macon, Georgia, United States. Heard released 16 albums, and produced and performed with many other artists as well, such as Sam Phillips (a.k.a. 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”).
Mark Heard's first musical musical project was a folk rock band called Infinity+3. They released one album independently called Setting Yesterday Free in 1970. It was re-released on Spirit Records in 1972. Mark Heard played guitar, harmonica, and bass guitar, provided vocals, and wrote 5 of the 11 songs.
After graduating from the University of Georgia in 1974 with an ABJ (Bachelor of Arts in Journalism) degree in television, Heard traveled to Switzerland to study at L'Abri under the influential evangelical Christian philosopher Francis Schaeffer. Singers Larry Norman and Randy Stonehill stumbled onto Mark one day playing his guitar. Because Norman and Stonehill expressed interest, Heard spent most of his spare time the next two months putting together a demo tape in a local studio with the help of the Pat Terry group (Pat Terry, Sonny Lallerstedt, and Randy Bugg). 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 is what Mark wanted. His signing to the label was a departure from the commercial artists 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 assistance from Dan Russell and Chuck Long, Fingerprint Records and studio were born. Heard began to produce albums for a number of artists including two albums for Randy Stonehill, Jacob’s Trouble, Pierce Pettis, The Lucky Stiffs, 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 includes a song co-written by Heard, “Faithful”, although the CD liner notes credit the song to Heard's pseudonym, Giovanni Audiori. In 1988 Heard collaborated with Randy Stonehill and other well known artists on Phil Keaggy and Sunday's Child. In addition to writing and performing credits, he helped with the engineering.
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 in Bushnell, IL, near Peoria. 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. 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.
1975 | Mark Heard | Mark Heard | Airborn Records |
1978 | Mark Heard | On Turning to Dust [re-issue] | AB Records |
1979 | Mark Heard | Appalachian Melody | Solid Rock Records |
1980 | Mark Heard | Fingerprint | King's / Palmfrond Records |
1981 | Mark Heard | Stop the Dominoes | Home Sweet Home Records |
1982 | Mark Heard | Victims of the Age | Home Sweet Home Records |
1983 | Mark Heard | Eye of the Storm | Home Sweet Home Records / Myrrh Records |
1984 | Mark Heard | Ashes and Light | Home Sweet Home Records / Myrrh Records |
1985 | Mark Heard | Mosaics | Home Sweet Home Records / Myrrh Records |
1987 | iDEoLA | Tribal Opera | What? Records |
1989? | Mark Heard | Demo Stuff | |
1990 | Mark Heard | Dry Bones Dance | Fingerprint Records |
1991 | Mark Heard | Second Hand | Fingerprint Records |
1992 | Mark Heard | Satellite Sky | Fingerprint Records |
1975 Airborn Records (751005)
1998 Fingerprint Records (FPCD19982)
Mark Heard – Guitars, vocals, piano, synthesizer, and hambone
Earl Grigsby – Bass guitar
Frank Godby – Banjo
John Heinrich – Pedal steel guitar
Chuck Long – Sandblocks
Jim Pennington – Percussion
Dave Aldrich – String arrangement
Lamay String Quartet – String section
1978 AB Records (AB 778)
1998 Fingerprint Records (FPCD19982)
Re-issue of Mark Heard
1978 Solid Rock Records (SRA 2009)
Mark Heard – Acoustic and electric guitars, piano, mandolin, hambone, vocals, harmonies, arranging, co-producer, mixing, photography, album artwork
Larry Norman – Background vocals, producer, arranger, photography, album artwork
Randy Stonehill – Background vocals
Tom Howard – Fender Rhodes, orchestration
Jon Linn – Lead guitar
Flim Johnson – Bass guitar
Peter Johnson – Drums
Al Perkins – Pedal steel guitar, dobro
Chuck Long – Electric and acoustic guitars, additional photography
Alex MacDougall – Percussion and congas
Janet Sue Heard – Harmony, additional photography
1980 King's / Palmfrond Records (PALM 10010)
1995 Via Records (VRD6023)
Mark Heard - Lead vocals, lead guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass, slide guitar, mandolin, synthesizer, percussion, backing vocals
Jon Linn - Acoustic guitar, electric guitar, lead vocals, slide guitar
Tom Howard - Piano, synthesizer
Peter Johnson - Drums
Produce by Mark Heard
1981 Home Sweet Home Records (R2101)
Mark Heard - Lead vocals, electric guitar, lead guitar, slide guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
Tony Eisenbarger - Electric guitar
John Patitucci - Bass
Tom Howard - Keyboards
Alex MacDougall - Percussion
Buddy Spicher - Fiddle
Karl Denson - Saxophone
Sonny Garrish - Pedal steel
Dave De Coup Crank - Backing vocals
Larry Norman - Backing vocals
Leslie Phillips - Backing vocals
Little Bobby Emmons - Backing vocals
Randy Stonehill - Backing vocals
Produced by Mark Heard
1982 Home Sweet Home Records (R2107)
Mark Heard - Lead vocals, electric guitar, lead guitar, slide guitar, backing vocals, percussion, harmonica, accordion, mandolin
Billy Batstone - Bass
Tom Howard - Keyboards
Carl Pickhard - Keyboards
John Mehler - Drums
Harry Stinson - Tambourine, shaker
Billy Batstone - Backing vocals
Larry Norman - Backing vocals
Leslie Phillips - Backing vocals
Produced by Mark Heard
1983 Home Sweet Home Records / Myrrh Records (MSB-6741)
Mark Heard - Lead vocals, backing vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, lead guitar, slide guitar, bass, drums, accordion, mandolin, harmonica, xylophone, percussion
Dave De Coup Crank - Backing vocals
Al Perkins - Pedal steel guitar
Brandon Fields - Saxophone
Tom Howard - Synthesizers, Fender Rhodes
Phil Madeira - Synthesizers, Fender Rhodes
Harry Stinson - Tambourine, shaker, percussion
Produced by Mark Heard
1984 Home Sweet Home Records / Myrrh Records (SPCN 7-01-679706-6)
Mark Heard - Lead vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, slide guitar, harmonica, accordion, backing vocals, twelve-string guitar, bass guitar, synthesizer
Bill Batstone - Bass guitar
Dave McSparran - Drums
Pat Terry - Acoustic guitar, electric guitar, synthesizer
Dori Howard - Backing vocals
Dave De Coup Crank - Backing vocals
David Mansfield - Fiddle, dobro, lead guitar
Carl Pickhardt - Hammond
Harry Stinson - Percussion
Tom Howard - Synthesizer
Produced by Mark Heard
1985 Home Sweet Home Records / Myrrh Records (SPCN 7-01-680006-7)
Mark Heard - Lead vocals, backing vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, lead guitar, bass
Harry Stinson - Percussion, Simmons drums
Billy Batstone - Bass
John Mehler - Drums
David McSparran - Simmons drums
Buddy Rufus Greene - Harmonica
David Mansfield - Lead guitar
Barry Miller Kaye - Organ
Tom Howard - Synthesizer
Dave De Coup Crank - Backing vocals
Dori Howard - Backing vocals
Leslie Phillips - Backing vocals
Produced by Mark Heard
1987 What? Records (7-01-684906-6)
Mark Heard - All instruments, lead vocals, backing vocals
David Baker - Drums
Dan Michaels - Drums
David McSparran - Drums
Doug Matthews - Drums
Steve Hindalong - Drums
Produced by Mark Heard
1989? Independent
Mark Heard – Vocals, guitars, other instruments?
(others?)
1990 Fingerprint Records (9001 FCD)
Mark Heard - Lead vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, vocals, accordion, harmonica, kalimba, backing vocals
David Birmingham - Drums
Fergus Jemison Marsh - Chapman stick
Doug Berch - Hammered dulcimer
Byron Berline - Fiddle, mandolin
Michael Been - Guitar solo
Novi - Viola
Jerry Chamberlain - Backing vocals
Pam Dwinell - Backing vocals
Sam Phillips - Backing vocals
Sharon McCall - Backing vocals
Produced by Mark Heard
1991 Fingerprint Records (9102 FCD)
Mark Heard - Lead vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, hammond, accordion, mandolin, harmonica
Bill Batstone - Acoustic bass guitar, electric bass
Glen Holmen - Stand-up bass, electric bass
David Raven - Drums
Steve Hindalong - Drums
Pam Dwinell-Miner - Backing vocals
Fergus Jemison Marsh - Chapman stick
Doug Atwell - Fiddle
Greg Liesz - Pedal steel guitar, dobro
David Baker - Percussion
Produced by Mark Heard
1992 Fingerprint Records (FLD9751)
Mark Heard - Lead vocals, electric steel mandolin, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, acoustic mandolin, hammond, accordion, harmonica
Michael Been - Bass
David Miner - Standup bass
David Raven - Drums
Fergus Jemison Marsh - Chapman stick
Doug Berch - Hammered dulcimer, mountain dulcimer
Buddy Miller - Electric guitar
Jack Sherman - Electric guitar
Mark Goldenberg - Electric guitar
Jim Goodwin - Horns
David Baker - African percussion
Dan Russell - Backing vocals
Joel Russell - Backing vocals
Pam Dwinell-Miner - Backing vocals
Sam Phillips - Backing vocals
Produced by Mark Heard
Adventures in the Land of Big Beats and Happy Feets (1989 Myrrh Records)
12) iDEoLA - Jericho
Re-mixes, Edits and Link Music by Lee Cahuenga (a.k.a. Mark Heard)
1985 | The Best of Mark Heard - Acoustic | Home Sweet Home Records |
1986 | The Greatest Hits of Mark Heard | Home Sweet Home Records |
1993 | Reflections of a Former Life | Home Sweet Home Records |
1993 | High Noon | Fingerprint Records |
1999 | Greatest Hits | BCI Music |
2000 | Mystery Mind | Fingerprint Records |
2000 | The Millennial Archives - Mark Heard | Home Sweet Home Records |
2001 | The Last Performance | Fingerprint Records |
2003 | Hammers & Nails | Paste Music |
2007 | The Lost Artifacts of an American Poet | Solid Rock Records |
2008 | The Lost Artifacts of an American Poet: Part II | Solid Rock Records |
1985 Home Sweet Home Records (7-01-000839-6)
A compilation of acoustic-oriented songs from Mark's Home Sweet Home releases (1981-84), including one new song: “Family Name” written by Bill Batstone.
1986 Home Sweet Home Records (7-01-001039-0)
A compilation of rock-oriented songs from Mark's Home Sweet Home releases (1981–85).
1993 Home Sweet Home Records (7-90113-275-2)
A compilation of songs from Mark's Home Sweet Home releases (1981-85).
1993 Fingerprint Records (7016978613)
A compilation of songs from Mark's three albums released on Fingerprint Records, including three previously unreleased songs.
1, 7, 8, 9, © 1990 Dry Bones Dance
2, 3, 12, 13, 17 © 1991 Second Hand
4. © 1992 At the Foot of the Cross
5, 10, 11, 15, 16, 18 © 1992 Satellite Sky
6, 14, 15 © 1993 High Noon
1999 BCI Music (BCCD 1103)
2000 Fingerprint Records (FP0001)
This benefit CD includes two live tracks from Mark's final concert at Cornerstone in 1992, 25 minutes recorded live in concert at Calvary Chapel 1982, as well as 4 demos (two previously unreleased). Track 11 was recorded live at a Daniel Amos benefit Concert in California in 1982. Mark and other performers had put on a special show to raise money for D.A. after the band had their touring equipment stolen. The show was recorded and the recording was donated to Fingerprint Records by Rick Deering.
2000 Home Sweet Home Records (HSHMH009)
This CD includes 13 unreleased tracks from Mark's days at Home Sweet Home Records, digitally remastered. Among the tracks are 3 previously unreleased songs as well as 3 previously unreleased instrumental renditions of Christmas songs.
2001 Fingerprint Records
This is Mark Heard recorded on what would become his very last performance, at Cornerstone Festival July 4, 1992. Mark had a minor heart attack on stage, but finished the set. Afterwards, Mark was taken to hospital. August 16, 1992, John Mark Heard passed away.
2003 Paste Music (PM08)
This album was released simultaneously with Matthew Dickerson's book on Mark’s life of the same name. Recorded as demos from 1987-1989 and just prior to Mark’s final three releases.
2007 Solid Rock Records (SRD-MH-001)
“These recently uncovered Mark Heard songs contain many of his primary recordings. Solid Rock Records had signed Mark Heard two years before the “Mother” company finally agreed to release his Solid Rock album, which was largely produced by himself. So from the first week Mark moved to Los Angeles and went into the Solid Rock Studios until he was able to make official recordings, he would often drop by SRS and record these beautiful renditions of songs he had written.
His skill as a guitarist and the subtlety of his chording is alarmingly clear. One only has to listen, in contrast, to the songs he later made official recordings of to see that any augmentation through arrangements detracted a great deal of the beauty of his natural instinct and disciplined gift.”
2008 Solid Rock Records (SRD-MH-002)
In 1993, Rich Mullins covered “How to Grow Up Big and Strong” on his A Liturgy, a Legacy, & a Ragamuffin Band. 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 re-titled 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 (see above). 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 (see above). 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 Music Honors & Awards at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, September 2005. The Song of the Year Award was presented to Mark Heard for “Worry Too Much” (originally featured on Second Hand). Buddy Miller, who performed the track on Universal United House of Prayer, accepted the award on behalf of Heard. Miller also 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.”
Pierce Pettis and Ralston Bowles have covered a song by Mark Heard on each of their albums released since Heard’s death.
In 2017, an 18-song retrospective, Mark Heard: Treasure of the Broken Land, was released. It focuses on Heard's last three albums and features Rodney Crowell, Buddy Miller, Over the Rhine and others. Produced by Phil Madeira, a member of Emmylou Harris' backing band Red Dirt Boys, the album received notable attention from Rolling Stone Magazine and other mainstream magazines like premier Americana music magazine No Depression.