Mark Morrison was born in Leicester, England. He lived in Florida for several years before he returned to the U.K to finish High School. Mark Morrison left his home in America in 1993 for his native UK, determined to guide his future by a burgeoning songwriting talent and life-long love of music. In 1993 he decided to have a go at singing so he recorded a song called "Changed" on a white label, and all of the thousand copies were sold within a month! Then came the release of "Crazy" which he wrote within an hour.
Morrison made his first appearance on the UK singles chart in 1995 when his single, "Crazy," shot straight into the top 20 and became a pervasive club anthem. This was later followed by "Let's Get Down" which accentuated Mark's musical style. The video for "Let's Get Down" was filmed at a golf course in Spain. Next came the notorious "Return Of The Mack" which caught fire in the spring of 1996 across Europe and jumped to Number 1 on the UK chart - where it spent two weeks during a nine week run in the top 10. In doing so, Morrison became the first black male solo artist with a UK #1 in the '90s. The single firmly established Morrison as one of the country's stand-out new artists. For Morrison, seeing "Return of the Mack" make it to the top of the UK singles chart was the ideal complement to the song's self-assured sentiment and to the dreams he dedicated himself to realizing while serving a prison term in early 1995.
"When I wrote that song, it was all about my moving from the negative into the positive," says Mark, reflecting on a three month sentence related to a wrong place/wrong time incident at a London club. "And that's how it turned out. Within the space of a year, I went from the lowest point of my life to return as the mack, and move forward to what's become the highest point of my life. Getting this album out has meant everything to me."
His first album titled "Return of the Mack" went to Number 4 on the British album chart. The album earned him four nominations for the Brit Awards and a nomination for the Mercury Music prize. The huge success of "Return of the Mack" made it necessary for the re release of Crazy which earned Morrison another top 10 hit. This was followed by subsequent top 10 hits including the release of "Trippin", "Horny" and "Moan And Groan" from the album.
Mark has supported various R&B groups on their tours such as Blackstreet and R.Kelly. European magazines and Newspapers agree that Mark delivers a uniquness which has never been seen or heard before.
Mark was one of the most successful British urban R&B singers of the mid-'90s. His breakthrough single, "Return of the Mack," became a Top Ten hit across Europe in 1996, and opened the U.S. market for him the following year. Although he became a commercial success nearly overnight, his career was plagued by run-ins with the law that prevented him from consolidating his position as a star.
Ironically, if it wasn't for jail, he wouldn't have pursued a career in music at all. He decided to become a vocalist in 1995 while serving a three-month sentence for causing an incident at a club. Following his release, he entered the studio with a production team. In the fall of 1995, he released "Crazy," which became a club favorite and a Top 20 hit in Britain. It was followed in the spring of 1996 by "Return of the Mack," which became a smash hit, spending two weeks at number one on the U.K. charts; he became the first black male solo artist to reach number one in the '90s. his debut album, also titled Return of the Mack, followed and peaked at number four.
With the success of the Return of the Mac album, high expectations were expected to the follow up. In 1997, came the release of the second Morrison album titled Only God Can Judge Me. Morrison claimed this to be his most important recording of his career and expressing this was more about artistic expression and not commercial success. The albumhighlighted some of the troubles he had been in. However, although overall the album was another fantastic piece by Morrison, many criticised the album and even question wheteher a 9 track cd could be an album. Critics claimed there was very few new material onthe cd and much was concerned with the re-released
Although his career was going well, he was constantly in trouble with the law, culminating in an arrest for trying threaten a policeman with a stun gun. He was convicted and sent to jail in early 1997. Around the same time, he received four Brit Award nominations (he didn't win any), and "Return of the Mack" began to climb its way to number two on the American charts.
After a few quiet years from Morrison (due to time in HMP), the Mac hit the news again in summer 2001, after siging to Tha Row UK (part of the formerly known as Deathrow Records). Then came the release of the Innocent Man album, which as of yet has not officially been released in the UK (although in some countries it has been released), mainly due to the problems with the record company and again some "minor problems" with Morrison.
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