Mark McGuinn | |
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Born | [1] | August 19, 1968
Origin | Greensboro, North Carolina, U.S. |
Genres | Country |
Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter |
Instrument(s) | Vocals, guitar, piano, trumpet |
Years active | 2000–2002 2006 2011 |
Labels | VFR, Blue Flamingo, Off Center |
Mark McGuinn (born August 19, 1968) is an American country music artist. He made his debut in 2001 with the single "Mrs. Steven Rudy", a Top 10 hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts. It was the first of three singles from his first album Mark McGuinn, which was released in 2001 on the independent VFR Records label. The label was closed in 2002, and McGuinn did not a record another album until One Man's Crazy in 2006, released on Blue Flamingo Records. He has not recorded an album since then.
McGuinn was born in Greensboro, North Carolina. His musical background includes playing trumpet in a jazz band.[2] McGuinn later aspired to become a professional soccer player. After a knee injury, he decided to move to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1994 to become a songwriter instead.[3]
By 2001, McGuinn was signed to VFR Records, a newly formed independent record label, which released his first album, Mark McGuinn, in May that year.[3] Initially, the label had planned to release "That's a Plan" as the album's first single. After a disc jockey at KPLX in Dallas, Texas, began playing "Mrs. Steven Rudy", another track from the album, other nearby stations soon followed suit. Due to the reaction the song was receiving in this market, the label released it as McGuinn's first single, with "That's a Plan" on the B-side.[1]
Upon the release of "Mrs. Steven Rudy", McGuinn was considered a "dark horse" on the country music scene, due in part to his jazz background and beatnik image, which were considered outside the norms of country radio.[2] "Mrs. Steven Rudy" was a top ten hit on the Billboard country music charts, and the highest-selling single on the country singles sales charts for five consecutive weeks.[4] His album entered the Top Country Albums chart at number 18, setting a new record for the highest entry on that chart for the first release from an independent label.[5] "That's a Plan" was eventually released as the second single, followed by "She Doesn't Dance". These songs peaked at numbers 25 and 29, respectively, on the country charts.
Rick Cohoon of Allmusic rated the album four stars out of five, saying that it "combines an entertaining musical arrangement with solid songwriting."[6]
On the day of the September 11, 2001, attacks, McGuinn wrote and recorded a tribute song entitled "More Beautiful Today". He insisted that the song not be released to radio (although it did receive enough airplay to enter the country charts), and made it available only as a download on his website.[7]
McGuinn also wrote a song entitled "Unusually Unusual", which was recorded by the country band Lonestar on their 2001 album I'm Already There. This song was released in late 2002 as a single, reaching number 12 on the country charts.[8] Later that year, VFR declared bankruptcy, leaving McGuinn without a record deal. He then took a break to begin a family.
McGuinn returned to the studio in 2005 to record his second album, One Man's Crazy. It was released that year on Blue Flamingo Records, an independent label started by McGuinn and one of his co-writing partners, Jim Foster.[9] "More Beautiful Today" was also reprised for this album.[8] In 2008, George Jones released the single "You and Me and Time", which McGuinn co-wrote.
Mark McGuinn | ||||
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Studio album by Mark McGuinn | ||||
Released | May 8, 2001 | |||
Recorded | 2000–01 | |||
Genre | Country | |||
Length | 43:58 | |||
Label | VFR | |||
Producer | Mark McGuinn, Shane Decker | |||
Mark McGuinn chronology | ||||
|
Chart (2001) | Peak position |
---|---|
US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[10] | 18 |
US Billboard 200[11] | 117 |
U.S. Billboard Top Independent Albums | 2 |
U.S. Billboard Top Heatseekers | 1 |
One Man's Crazy | ||||
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Studio album by Mark McGuinn | ||||
Released | July 4, 2006 | |||
Recorded | 2006 | |||
Genre | Country | |||
Length | 52:26 | |||
Label | Blue Flamingo | |||
Producer | Mark McGuinn, Jim Foster, Don Kerce | |||
Mark McGuinn chronology | ||||
|
Year | Single | Peak chart positions |
Album | |
---|---|---|---|---|
US Country | US | |||
2001 | "Mrs. Steven Rudy" | 6 | 44 | Mark McGuinn |
"That's a Plan" | 25 | — | ||
2002 | "She Doesn't Dance" | 29 | — | |
"More Beautiful Today" | 54 | — | One Man's Crazy | |
2006 | "Bring 'Em Back" | — | — | |
"One Man's Crazy" | — | — | ||
"Deep" | — | — | ||
"God Bless the Children" (with Wayne Warner and the Nashville All-Star Choir)[12] | — | — | Turbo Twang'n | |
2011 | "Til U Got Home" | — | — | single only |
"—" denotes releases that did not chart |
Year | Video | Director |
---|---|---|
2001 | "Mrs. Steven Rudy"[13] | David Abbott |
"That's a Plan"[14] | ||
"She Doesn't Dance" | Eric Welch |