| Mark |
| Mark was born in Sligo, Ireland. Which is were he grew up. He has two brothers called Barry and Colin. Barry is fourteen and Colin is nine. He use to live in a small area just outside Sligo, about 2 and a half miles from the centre of town. His first school was a small local infants, then he went to St Patrick's National, which was also a small school with about 300 kids. He enjoyed school but he was a total daydreamer and he never studied and always talked or sand and stuff like that. One of Marks hobbies when he was younger was Tennis. He played every single day and traveled round Ireland playing for Cannaught province. There are four provinces in Ireland. And he played for them twice in the under 12s and Under 14s. He did well but never won the whole thing. He loved it so much that for a while he wanted to become a professional player, but then realized it couldn't be possible because he didn't have the facilities or the coaching to take him to a higher level in his area, the nearest was in Dublin but that would mean lots of money. Mark still enjoyed playing Tennis but stopped taking it so seriously, he also played a lot of badminton and squash. When Mark was 12 he left his local school and went to Summerhill college in Sligo. It was a big change from his old school because there were about a thousand kids going there whilst his old school only had a few hundred. Mark was very shy at school so it took him a while to settle in. Another thing that Mark was good at as well as Tennis was Singing. He first realized that he loved performing when he was 4 and he use to go round his grandparents house and everyone had to get up and do a party piece and Mark usually did a song. When he was 7 he started entering talent competitions. He loved them and once won a plaque for singing. When he was in his second year of junior school he came first in a talent show and won a trophy and £50. Mark also use to sing in the school choir which was a big influence on him but also another big influence on his music was going to see musicals at his local theatre, which he use to wish that he could be up on that stage, but thought he didn't have the chance cos he thought you had to be special to be up on stage. But one year when Mark was about 9 one of his cousins got a part in a pantomime he remembers watching her and thinking maybe I can get up and do that too. When he was 10 he did his first show which was Scrooged. Then he got a part in West Side Story. It was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to him and he remembers his parents being really proud. Another big influence on his life was Grease. He watched the film every spare moment he got and new all the words to the songs and use to pretend to be Danny. The first time he saw it as a stage show was when he was about 10. He remembers seeing Shane in it and thinking that he was a a really good singer. Watching Shane made Mark even more determined to be in musicals. Summerhill college put on shows every year and Mark was in Annie get your gun and Oliver but only in the chorus. He became friends with Kian and Shane during these shows. The first time he really got to sing probably in front of a big audience was in Grease. Mark played Teen Angel and Jonny Casino, he had 3 solos. This was a big turning point in his life. He realized for sure now that what he wanted to be was a singer or actor. Mark did many more shows and his life revolved around Musicals. He even gave up his job in a sports shop to be in the plays. He got to now Shane and Kian very well becuase it was almost all the same crowd that always did the musicals He is at his happiest when he is singing, he loves it and feels really comfortable on stage. |
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