Mark Shaw has some intimate gigs coming up which should please Then Jerico fans everywhere…
By Ian Woolley
Then Jerico
We recently spoke with an upbeat Mark Shaw on what it’s like to be stepping (treading carefully this time) back onto the stage once again.
With some intimate acoustic gigs amongst the festival ones, did he enjoy being up close and personal? “I really love playing them because they’ve got amazing PA’s”.
“These special venues were built to play jazz and so as we all know jazz musicians are some of the most demanding around so they have to be to a certain standard so the acoustics are just phenomenal. People can just sit and relax and enjoy what I’m playing”.
Since 2004, Mark has been registered disabled after shattering both heels at a gig one night.
“I’ve never worried about the past but always looked forward to new challenges. Yes, it’s been rough and I’ve had my ups and downs. When I look back I have been through a lot but compared to other people who have been less fortunate than me I’ve been incredibly lucky”.
Mark Shaw 2020 (photo credit Kyron Armstrong Photography)
Not so in 2002, a freak accident he had whilst performing at the famed London cabaret club called Café de Paris. Sadly no longer in existence as the pandemic knocked the final nail into it’s coffin but back in the day it was the place to be seen.
Mark takes up the story “People like Noel Coward would go there. Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Becall frequented the venue and even Cole Porter went there back in the day”.
“What happened was my friends had a night every week called the Kitsch Lounge Riot which was a homage to lounge music. It was a tribute if you like to the rat pack”.
“I never looked at it as more than just fun but it gave me a chance to dress up in flares and velvet jackets. People used to wear wigs and didn’t care what they looked like. I grew up listening to lounge music. Sacha Distel, Andy Williams, and James Last, and our parents were very into that stuff”.
“I got to meet one of my heroes Tony Christie and he came to the club which was amazing. Paul McCartney turned up as did Boy George”.
“Also, we’d have all these amazing singers from the West End musicals turn up and it was a melting pot for anybody who loved that type of music. I was the riot at the end of the night and I’d bring a bit of rock ‘n’ roll into it. I’d climb onto the speakers and unclip the microphone and then climb onto the balcony. Running through the crowd and then back down the stairs and back on to the stage. It was something that the crowd came to expect and was something of a showpiece if you like”.
“One night we had this gangster in who started causing problems by dropping bottles of champagne from the balcony onto the dancers on the dance floor below. I thought I could pacify him by climbing up onto the speakers and singing to him. Big mistake as he was having none of it”.
“Eventually, he threw a punch and I felt the speakers going and so jumped off onto the dance floor. Unfortunately, I landed on the rim of the steel-edged dance floor and basically, my legs went straight through my heels. Because I was wearing Chelsea boots I wasn’t aware of the damage I had caused. I tried to stand up but couldn’t and I didn’t know why”.
“When they took me to the hospital they cut off my beloved Chelsea boots and told me I’d never walk again as my feet had shattered into a thousand pieces. I had several gigs coming up oversees for our armed forces which get no recognition for what they do and so I went over in my wheelchair to perform for them”.
“Music can bring people together no matter what is going on in their lives. You can make them forget in a few minutes where they are and what they are doing” he added humbly.
It took two years of hard work and physio despite being told he’d never walk again. “Even though I still walk with a limp and constantly in pain but at least I can walk” he added.
The Milk Tray ad
Before becoming a singer, he wanted to be a stuntman and missed a total of two years from school through injuries. “I read a book by Alf Joint about his stuntman days”.
“He’d done everything from Bond movies to Milk Tray adverts and when I met him I said I wanted to do what he did”.
“He said you have to study mathematics and need to understand algebra. Ratio and projectory and all those things and it’s not about risking your life but being safe, there’s no money in it and nobody gets to know who you are”.
“There’s no fame and you have to learn how to ride a horse and learn how to fence and it’s not what you think it is. It’s 99% preparation at the end of the day”.
” And after all that, I thought about what he said and thought…I don’t fancy that”.
“But it made him give up drinking. That’s a positive thing that’s come out of that right? “Yes, that’s a positive thing that came out of it. I haven’t drunk for eleven years now. I was given a lot of positivity from all kinds of people and nobody shut the door on me. For example boxer Barry McGuigan gave me tips on how to survive things”.
“What I did find it’s very hard to get a job when you are disabled. You rarely see people in wheelchairs on music shows. It’s a little more open now with diversity with race and gender but it taught me one thing that you have to get out of your wheelchair if you want to get on. Yet it made me realise what disabled people go through and it did me the world of good really. It taught me a lesson”.
(photo credit Richard Purvis – RJP Photography UK)
Now Mark is looking forward to the future and has some exciting shows for his fans.
“Several upcoming festivals will see me on stage with my band but also, I will be performing some intimate acoustic gigs at the Pizza Express Live venues which are really exciting”.
One thing guaranteed is that he won’t be jumping off any of the speakers this time. Just doing what he loves most…entertaining those fans that need some much-needed positivity coming out of the pandemic.
The real ‘motive’ perhaps?