Mark Knopfler

He plays guitars, built to his specifications by Pensa-Suhr. He also plays a 1936 National, and various Shecter Strats.

Prior to commencing his career as a professional musician, Knopfler studied journalism at Harlow Technical College and worked for two years as a junior reporter on the Yorkshire Evening Post. In 1973 he graduated in English from Leeds University and became a lecturer at Loughton College in Essex.

Mark Knopfler recorded his first single at age 16, but it was never released, He started the band Dire Straits in 1977, they were signed to Vertigo Records in 1978 and recorded the album "Dire Straits", which featured their first major hit single, "Sultans of Swing".

Their follow-up albums include "Communique" (1979), "Making Movies" (1980) (featuring "Romeo and Juliet" and "Tunnel of Love"), "Love Over Gold" (Private Investigations) 1982, "Alchemy--Live" (1984).

Is one of the few rock guitarists to use a resonator guitar, a distinctive-sounding instrument that predates electric guitars. The instrument was prominently used in Dire Straits' 1980 hit "Romeo and Juliet". Knopfler's 1937 National Style 0 resonator is displayed on the cover of their 1985 album 'Brothers in Arms'.

He wrote and recorded the backing track for the song "Private Dancer" for the 1982 Dire Straits album 'Love Over Gold'. Before recording the vocals, he realized that the lyric should be sung by a woman, and the track was shelved. Two years later, the track was re-recorded by Tina Turner, backed by most of Dire Straits, but with Jeff Beck on guitar; the song was the title track on Turner's 1984 comeback album, and one of the biggest hits of her career.

He also wrote the soundtrack to five films, including Local Hero (1983) and The Princess Bride (1987). His other band is "The Notting Hillbillies".

In 1985 the band released its mega-selling album "Brothers In Arms", which has sold more than 30 million copies to date.

Children: Benji and Joseph (twins), 1987, by second marriage; Isabella, 1998, by third marriage to Kitty Aldridge.

In 1988 a greatest hits collection was released. That year also saw the band appearing together with Eric Clapton at the Nelson Mandela Tribute at Wembley Stadium, performing seven songs.

When 'Weird Al' Yankovic asked for permission to record a parody of Dire Straits' hit "Money For Nothing" for his upcoming film UHF (1989), Knopfler agreed with one stipulation: he would perform the song's signature guitar line himself. Knopfler's performance in the song is looser than the original studio version, because by that time he had been performing it live for two years. The song's lyrics are a spoof of the theme from The Beverly Hillbillies (1962); to Yankovic's chagrin, legal wrangling resulted in the song receiving the unwieldy title "Money For Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies".

In 1991 the band returned as a nine-piece group and embarked on a massive two-year world tour to promote their new album, "On Every Street", which included "Calling Elvis", "Heavy Fuel" and "The Bug". Their last album was the live album "On the Night".

They released one album in 1991, "Missing. . . Presumed Having a Good Time" and, having toured Britain, recorded an episode of the TV show "Rock Steady".

In 1991 Dire Straits included Knopfler (guitar), John Illsley (bass), Alan Clark and Guy Fletcher (keyboards) with Phil Palmer, Chris White, Chris Whitten, Danny Cummings and Paul Franklin.

Knopfler guested on a large number of other artists' albums, including Jeff Healey's "Hell to Pay" and the recent "Read My Licks" by Chet Atkins (1994).

In autumn of 1997, Knopfler joined Clapton, Sting and others at the Royal Albert Hall in London for a special charity concert in aid of the people of Montserrat. The concert was organized by Sir George Martin.

He was awarded the (OBE) Officer of the Order of British Empire in the 2000 Queen's Millennium Honors List for his services to music.

New solo album, 'The Ragpicker's Dream', released. [September 2002]

The new solo album "Shangri-la" released. [September 2004]

Recently released his fifth solo studio-album Kill to Get Crimson. The album was released on September 14, 2007 in Germany, September 17 in the UK and September 18 in the USA. [September 2007]