Mark St. John
Mark St. John (born February 7, 1956 in Anaheim, California as Mark Leslie Norton; † April 5, 2007) was an American rock musician and sometime guitarist for the group KISS.
St. John replaced Vinnie Vincent in Kiss in April 1984. In the group, he was an employee who received a fixed salary; he was not contractually entitled to income from authors' rights. He recorded the album Animalize with the group; Bruce Kulick added a solo on each of two tracks. St. John fell ill with Reiter's disease during rehearsals for the following tour and was replaced by Bruce Kulick for the Animalize tour concerts in Europe, which ran from September 30, 1984 to November 5, 1984.
When Kiss returned to the USA, St. John took part in the tour which started on November 15, 1984, but was again represented by Bruce Kulick and watched the concerts from the stage side or the auditorium. It was not until the concert in Baltimore on November 27, 1984 that he was able to perform with Kiss for the first time ever. Bruce Kulick played the first third of the show, after Paul Stanley's guitar solo he made room for St. John, who joined the band during the song "Under the Gun". St. John also played at the next two concerts, in each case the whole show, but already on December 2, 1984 in Indianapolis he had to be replaced completely by Bruce Kulick again.
St. John still accompanied the band in the first week of December 1984, but received his resignation on December 7, 1984 and was sent home. The unforeseeable development of his illness was ultimately decisive for the decision to fire him. Bruce Kulick officially became a member of the band one day later.
After he recovered, St. John and his brother formed the band White Tiger, with which he released an album in 1986. However, the group was not more than a respectable success, but the album was re-released in 1999; at the same time, "Raw" was released, an album with old recordings of the group, which were made after the release of the first album.
After the end of White Tiger, St. John returned to giving guitar lessons and working as a session musician. He appeared in 1989 in the video clip for David Hasselhoff's song "Is Everybody Happy", but no evidence can be found of the guitarist's involvement in the recording of the Hasselhoff album "Looking for Freedom", on which the song is included. In 1989 and 1990 Mark St. John worked with Peter Criss on the project The Keep, but it was never released.
In 1999 he released the EP Mark St. John Project, which contained five tracks. Two of the tracks had been written by St. John together with Peter Criss, a third track was written by Peter Criss and Phil Naro. The remaining two tracks were instrumentals. In 2003 a complete album with the title Magic Bullet Theory followed, in 2006 St. John performed in the context of so-called "Kiss-Expos" in Europe and played together with a Kiss cover band.
On April 5, 2007, Mark St. John died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 51.
Discography
As a band musician
- Kiss - Animalize (1984)
- White Tiger - White Tiger (1986)
- White Tiger - Raw (1999)
Solo
- Mark St. John Project - Mark St. John Project (1999)
- Mark St. John - Magic Bullet Theory (2003)
As a studio guitarist
- Ken Tamplin - Tamplin & Friends An Axe To Grind (1990)
