Solo Work
In 1984, he released his first solo album, Influences (at the time he needed a deposit to put down on a house - this album gave him that opportunity), followed by One Man in 1998.
In 1999, he issued a collection of unused songs in the form of the album 'Trash'; the name hinted at the rough, unpolished nature of the recordings (which were rejected by Virgin Records in favour of the tracks which would ultimately appear on the 'One Man' album).
'Trash' was a historic release as it was issued without a record company and initially offered to hardcore fans via a low-key guestbook entry, made by King, on www.level42.com. Using an Apple Mac, CD burner and inkjet printer, King manufactured the CD himself and posted it directly to fans, charging £17 plus postage. He hand signed and numbered early copies. Clearly not anticipating the popularity of the album, the initial CDs were numbered as part of a series of 100. Word soon spread of the CD and King eventually shifted in excess of 1,000 copies.
In the years following Trash, King repeated the successful 'home-made' formula releasing a string of live recordings including 'Live At The Jazz Cafe', 'Live On The Isle of Wight' and 'Live At Reading Concert Hall' (which despite being performed as a Mark King solo show, was released under the name of Level 42 as King retained the rights to the name shortly before releasing the CD). Despite being contracted to Universal Music imprint W14, King continues to release live shows on his own Summerhouse Record label, of which 2007's 'Retroglide Live' DVD was the first.
Since coming back into the limelight in 1998 with 'One Man' and the supporting UK tour, King has toured consistently around Europe and as far east as Indonesia. With the exception of 'Trash' he has only issued one new professionally-released studio album in the 8 year period, September 2006's 'Retroglide' under the Level 42 banner.
As of 2012, King is still the Level 42 front man and plays a number of festival dates with co-founder, former band member, and keyboard player, Mike Lindup.
Read more about this topic: Mark King (musician)
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