To you locals in the UK: How big a star is MK, Guy Fletcher & John McClusker ?

[peterromer]

Hi,
Just wondered how big a star are these artists in the UK ??  if you think of them as solo persons.... or in general.

Is for example Guy very well known in the UK or is his album "Inamorata" more unknown by the public ?

I just wondered because I think these persons like John McClusker and Guy are AWESOME musicians but we never hear of them
seperately, not here in Scandinavia anyway, unless you search for them and know who they are.

Cheers Peter

[dustyvalentino]

OK, I would say MK is reasonably well known these days. People might say "Who?" if you mentioned him, but then you would say "The guy out of Dire Straits" and they would know. I would say MK is about as well known as Tom Waits, Lou Reed, Van Morrison.

GF isn't known at all, except within muso fan circles like us.

John McCusker is very well known in folk music circles, but not really known at all in the wider community.

[Waterline Man]

Yup,agree with Dusty,MK is known as yer man from Dire Straits or else you get the WHO scenario I could nearly guarantee you that MK could walk down the street over here in one of the bigger cities & he would have about a 10% -15% chance of being recognised.If it was in my local town,that would be down to about 5%.

Guy wouldnt be known at all over here unless you were in the know,which most people wouldnt be.

JM may be known on the Irish folk scene but I personally wouldnt have heard of him until he started playing with MK - he is however going out with a folk singer from Kildare (near Dublin) or somewhere up there so we may be seeing a bit more of him.

[dmg]

JMcC is never off the telly up here in Scotland playing with the likes of Phil Cunningham and others so some people may recognise his face but his name isn't well known. 

Phil Cunningham is however very well known and performs regularly with his pal Aly Bain.  They are both great musicians and their show contains both great music and lots of banter.  They always play at the televised hogmanay celebrations from Edinburgh Castle and recently John has joined them so perhaps in years to come he too will become more famous.

[superval99]

John McCusker and, especially Phil Cunningham and Mike McGoldrick often can be seen on Transatlantic Sessions.  I really love that programme!   

[Pottel]

i think mk would be slightly more known then van morrisson, waits and reed...not michael J. status, but still, more famous then those three, my guess...

[sweetsurrender]

I don't think Mark is as well known here in the US for some unknown reasons.  Forget about GF or MC.  But when you mention Mark as the guy who sang MFN, then people would say " oh Yeah" " chicks for free". The other night, a mom  came over for a cub scout meeting at my house with a bunch of kids.  As always, I have Mark's music on .  I was playing DS songs then. After a while, out of the blue, she said  " that's Mark Knopfler" I was just shocked.  I dropped my cooking and went over to talk to her.  I was so happy that somebody else know Mark.  It turned out that she knows of him and loves his voice.  (Not a crazy fan like me) I gave her my extra GL cd and tried to convince her to go see him next April.  She even mentioned that " cleaning my gun" got airplay on local radio stations here. 

How do you feel when somebody else know of Mark or have heard of Mark ?

[Pottel]

happy

[dustyvalentino]

i think mk would be slightly more known then van morrisson, waits and reed...not michael J. status, but still, more famous then those three, my guess...

Well Pottel, the questio was about the UK, and I think it's a fair comparison, perhaps he has a higher profile in mainland Europe.

When I was in the States in October I heard DS twice, So Far Away in a shop and Twisting By The Pool in a pub.

[Pottel]

hey, and a happy b-day to you my son, or am i terribly mistaken?

[peterromer]

Thanks .... nice to know and I am a bit surprised that GF and John are not that known. I think that MK did a prefect job in investing John into his band (more or less) 

[dustyvalentino]

hey, and a happy b-day to you my son, or am i terribly mistaken?

You are not mistaken, thank you my friend.

[superval99]

Happy Birthday, dusty!   

[dustyvalentino]

Thanks Val, "you're very sweet".

[shangri la 1]

  Happy Birthday Dusty. Hope a great day had!!