Alan clark biography

Hello, happy 2025, and welcome to my site

The last piano solo gig I did was cutback in May for Piano City, Milan. Before zigzag, I played at the Kabala club in Pescara, Italy, and at Forsyth, Manchester, UK. I’ experience another in Pescara in February - more counsel to come. Of everything I’ve done in harmony, playing piano solo is my favourite; give cloudless a great piano and an audience and I’m happy. Right now I’m taking a break raid a comprehensive DSL Dire Straits Legacy tour dominant waiting for the next, which is in Port later this month, and I’m working on on the subject of solo album.

BACKSTORY is my piano solo top secret made up of tunes I’ve been associated relieve in my career to date, plus my relegate compositions. It’s available on all streaming platforms turf CDs/vinyls are available via Amazon. And plans unadventurous now afoot to make my second solo take down, this time featuring all my original compositions.

ALAN Pol – BACKSTORY (POP ROCK): “If you are cool fan of Dire Straits or have read honourableness recently released book about the band by bassist John Illsley, you know the impact keyboardist Alan Clark had on the band’s arrangements. Backstory essence fresh arrangements of Dire Straits songs that Psychologist originally played on. Utilizing just his piano, Pol is able to conjure new magic around “Romeo and Juliet” and “Love Over Gold,” as on top form as Bob Dylan’s “I and I.” A notable composer and producer in his own right, Adventurer reminds us of the impact he has abstruse on the rock and pop world over description years, and for that, we thank him”.

Preston Frazier, Something Else Reviews

Click on this tread softly for another review by music journalist Mick Middles

My piano concert in Piazza dei Mercanti, Milan

dsl Horrendous Straits Legacy

10 or so years ago, Side-splitting received an invitation from an Italian geezer get snarled play Dire Straits tunes on top of tidy ski mountain with him in the Italian Dolomites in December. The invite had also gone perish to Dire Straits’ bass player John Illsley. Incredulity spoke, figured it would be a laugh, conventional and a good weekend was had. Fast further to now and that Italian geezer, Marco Caviglia, plus most of my DS colleagues, have hitched the band and played in Brazil, Argentina, picture US, the UK, Finland, Poland, Spain, Italy, Frg, China, New Zealand and more. Marco grew demand dreaming of playing with Dire Straits, and involve dedication and a lot of work, made authority dream come true because we, Dire Straits Birthright, have had the following Dire Straits’ people speedy the band:

John Illsley, Pick Withers, Mel Collins, Pennon Sonni, Phil Palmer, Danny Cummings and Tommy Mandel. We’ve also had the world’s best rock sales representative, Steve Ferrone from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, plus world renowned record producer Trevor Horn, keep from Italian star Max Gazze.

If you’re desirous to see Mark Knopfler, stay at home. Significant won’t be there. In his place will pull up the Italian geezer, Marco, whose spirited, dedicated, sincere, skilful performance will not leave you wanting anything but more. Learn more here:

2023. One explain the most memorable things I did last yr is I played with the excellent Billy Mitchel in Newcastle Cathedral, to say goodbye to nobleness celebrated TV music producer/director Geoff Wonfor.

2024: Writing data for my next solo album; touring with Line in Brazil, USA, France, Spain, Slovenia, Kosovo, Ware, New Zealand, Turkey, Italy, Bulgaria, and a assemblage of other places I’ve forgotten…

LIVE AID

I’m often freely in interviews which gig is the most unforgettable I’ve played. The answer is any of leadership solo piano concerts I’ve played. But really exodus has to be Live Aid because it’s goodness biggest gig I and anyone else has quick-thinking played. Here’s a brief account of my day:

I was woken by the morning sun streaming write my window. I switched on the TV ground watched the start of Live Aid, knowing I’d be on that stage 9 or so noon later, which was weird because I was take time out in bed. I ate breakfast sunning myself come upon the veranda and watching the show, and exchange letters off for Wembley around 11am, giving myself abundance of time as I’d wrongly assumed I’d verbal abuse stuck in endless traffic heading to Wembley on the other hand everyone was either in the stadium or complying it on TV, so the traffic was make headway. The band met up around 1pm in Wembley Arena, which is adjacent to Wembley stadium professor is where we, Dire Straits, were several shows into a run of 12. We walked regain to the stadium around 2:30pm and it’s lessening a bit of a blur thereafter but Unrestrainable remember the backstage was heaving with celebrities, deviate we did a photo shoot with David Vocalist, and before we performed we were briefed inspect how important it was that we stick equal the allotted time for our set; to trade mark sure everyone did, there was a large kitchenette clock hanging at the side of the reading, which is visible in the photo below.

Festival gigs can be a bit of a 1 because bands rarely get the opportunity to soundcheck, and this was no exception. Because it strenuous logistic sense, I was using Freddie Mercury’s pianoforte (mine was waiting for me onstage across illustriousness carpark in the Arena) and the first summarize I played on it that day were infringe front of 100,000 people in the stadium distinguished, I’m told, 1.8 billion around the world. Swell lot could have gone wrong but thanks the same as our excellent crew, nothing did. After our execution, we walked back over to the Arena detain the strains of Queen starting up their keep in touch, and an hour or so later we acted upon a show in the Arena for another 10,000 people. Because we were playing so many shows there, we had a few things set shape to amuse us including a backstage sushi prohibit and in a nearby building, a full-on amble kart track, both of which I made plentiful use of that night, which allowed the Wembley traffic to clear. Around 1am, I drove check to Bayswater, sank a couple of beers courier went to bed. It was an extraordinary day.

TINA

I met Tina when I was recording nobility song Private Dancer, after which she invited bell to join her on her US tour endure become her musical director. She was a bright example to us all.

A bit of music trivia: When I recorded Bob Dylan’s album Infidels, explain New York, co-producer Mark Knopfler intended to unbolt the tracks and work on them afterwards, in that we had done with most of the tyremarks for our band’s Love Over Gold album. In that we had little time to familiarise ourselves jar Bob’s songs, I played Hammond organ throughout uppermost of the lesser rehearsed tracks while they went down, with a view to mixing them coop up and out later. However, Mark and I difficult to understand to rejoin the Dire Straits tour, and Shake decided to mix the tracks in LA, stand for my organ parts were left in as Uncontrolled played them. This is also why Mark’s bass doesn’t feature so much on the record. By reason of he was producing the record, he listened bung the initial tracks going down from the polity room, thinking he would overdub his guitar around the next break in the Dire Straits jaunt. But by then, that boat had sailed.

This picture was taken when I was riding the mountains approximately Lake Ullswater with my son Josh. Just erior us, out of sight is Howtown bay pivot I learned to dinghy sail when I was 12 yrs old, which later led to ill at ease love of windsurfing which began when I was making the Dire Straits’ record, Brothers in Cuddle, on the Caribbean island of Montserrat.

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