Mark Kuiper

I was born and raised in a little town outside of Kalamazoo Michigan. I went to Western Michigan University where I studied Voice, Saxophone, Jazz, Theory and even some composition. I also attended Memphis State University(now the University of Memphis) and studied Commercial Music for a year. I then joined up with Dean Madonia, my hometown best buddy, and worked briefly in a band he was in. That's how I started being a working musician, something that I have done now for almost 20 years. I'll always be grateful to Dean. Check his page out, he is an amazing songwriter. I am still recovering from vocal chord surgery to remove nodules and scar tissue gained by 9 years of hollering and howling at Howl At The Moon. I am studying with Mary Walkley, who I would recommend to any vocalist, whether you are in a situation like mine or if you just want to learn how to have longevity. Check out her website, www.floridasings.com. I hope that with some hard work I can regain my singing range and not only go back to work, but record songs that I have written recently. The songs played here are from old recordings."Highway Signs" was written as I was getting ready to travel away from Michigan to Florida and start the adventure of playing on the road. That road led me to a gig in Finland back before the Cold War ended. I wrote "The Human Side" while I was in Helsinki after I saw a Soviet Passenger train one afternoon during a run through the city. On this train I saw a Soviet citizen and at the other end of the same train car, a Soviet soldier. It began to make me think about all the people in the world and how much we are different but the same. "Highway Signs" and "The Human Side" were both recorded in 1988 in Memphis. The song "Megan" is, of course, about Megan, my daughter and oldest of two children. Written in 1994 and recorded in 2001, it may be kind of cornball to some, but for anyone who has children, that kind of feeling is pretty understandable. I have yet to write the song for my son, Zachary, but I know it will come someday because he is just as spectacular as his sister. "Always Signed In Blue" is inspired by a poem written by a high school girl with whom I reunited 20 years after graduation. She wrote the chorus and I filled in the rest. Always great friends in school but so much more when we rediscovered one another. I'm a lucky boy. That about sums it up for now. For everybody who writes songs and music, my best wishes to you! You add something wonderful to this world we live in. Come see me at Howl At The Moon on Ft. Lauderdale beach Wed-Sun.