A Pittsburgh native, Mark's interest in guitar was strongly influenced by the music he found in the record collections of his sister and his cousin (conveniently accessed when they were out on dates). He immersed himself in the sounds of Crosby, Stills, & Nash, Led Zeppelin, and Hendrix, amazed at the interplay of the musicians and the variety of sounds the bands created.

Mark started playing guitar when he was 12 years old -- he used to sneak into his sister's room and play her Silvertone archtop guitar when she wasn't home. A couple years later, his parents bought him his first guitar, a Coral Firefly, for Christmas.

In high school, he learned more by jamming with his friends in the basement than he did at the guitar lessons he took. And he had more fun hanging out with those friends (some say stealing cars...some say joy riding...) than he did practicing the guitar. So for a while, his musical career took a back seat to petty crime.

But when he started working at Pittsburgh Guitars in 1987, his interest in playing was revived. He joined his first band, The Rowdy Bovines, that year and started playing out in clubs. In the late 80's Mark was a founding member of Whitey and the Blind Venetians, a Pittsburgh R&B band that featured Whitey Cooper, of Norm Nardini fame, on lead vocals. By now, crime was out of the question, and playing music in bars was a more attractive option than spending time behind bars.

In 1993, Mark became a member of the Hot House Band that hosts Excuses' Thursday night jam sessions. That same year, he became a part-time member of Jill West and Blues Attack. As he played more and more gigs with the band, he became an integral part of the sound, and before he knew it he was working with Blues Attack full-time. He enjoys the powerful sounding two-guitar attack, and the interplay between band members.