FEATURE © Ian Tomey
FROM ROCKER TO WRITER
© Robert Cunningham
On November 4th 2013, when a heavyweight biography on Irish music giants Horslips was published by The O’Brien Press, an unlikely dream was fulfilled. Its author, MARK CUNNINGHAM talks about his ‘Plan B’ career journey. If you had somehow gone back in time to 1976, when I first fell in love with Horslips, and told my spotty, 13 year old self that I would one day be responsible for charting the extraordinary journey of this pioneering Irish band, I would have laughed you out of the door because, hey, I was an aspiring musician. But at the very start, I had every intention of becoming a writer. In 1968, at the age of five, I formally announced to my parents that I wanted to be a journalist when I grew up and proceeded to write a letter to Michael Aspel, then a Daily Express columnist, seeking his advice on how this precocious, working class kid from London’s East End might attain such a lofty career. To my family’s surprise, Michael replied on an Express letterhead, recommending a couple of University degrees and wishing me good luck. The letter has long vanished but I have never forgotten the kindness shown by Michael in taking the time to point the way. As far as Mum and Dad were concerned, their son’s future was mapped out. By the time I reached my teens, however, the lure of rock’n’roll had diverted my attention as I began to lay a path for a future career as a professional musician and producer. After the age of 16, I received my education from the University of 24 writing.ie
Life, and went from one band to another in search of that elusive Top 10 status. Brushes with fame were fleeting but I made a decent living until late nights and periods away from home were no longer conducive with a state of domestic bliss. Left-field thinking was applied. I had always been the go-to guy whenever friends needed a creative paragraph or two written, and I had accumulated a wealth of music knowledge. Perhaps I could marry two disciplines. Eureka! Within three months of deciding to become a music writer, I had five feature-length articles published by leading musicians’ magazines. They were all lucky breaks. I’d interviewed a handful of musicians I knew and, chancing my arm, I submitted pieces to editors, hoping they would be of some use. I must have done something right because commissions started to pour in. In the early ’90s, however, there was much competition amongst the pool of freelance writers and I had to find a way of distinguishing myself. Up to this point, there had never been a book published on the development of record production through the decades. It was a gap Mark at his first typewriter, with his mother Joan, Christmas 1967.