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Mark Guerrero Bio

    Mark Guerrero grew up in East Los Angeles attending James A. Garfield High School, East L.A. College and Cal State L.A., earning a B.A. in Chicano Studies. 

    The son of legendary singer/composer Lalo Guerrero began performing at age 13 with the rock band Mark & the Escorts, who often shared the bill with storied eastside groups such as The Blendells and Thee Midniters, and was included on the album "West Coast Eastside Revue" along with The Premiers, Cannibal & the Headhunters, the aforementioned Blendells, and others.  Mark then led the popular East L.A. group The Men From S.O.U.N.D., and at the age of 21 wrote and recorded his first single for producer Lou Adler of the Mamas and the Papas and Carole King fame. His recording career continued with an album for A&M Records with his group TANGO, which was re-released on CD in Japan in 1990.

    Mark's "Pre-Columbian Dream" was recorded by Herb Alpert on the 1983 album "Noche de Amor" and his "Fernando, El Toro," a tribute to Dodger pitcher Fernando Valenzuela, was recorded by his father.  The latter song was used twenty years later on an ESPN documentary on Fernando called "Fernandomania."  The two Guerrero's have collaborated on numerous songs recorded by the elder songwriter and Mark has written and performed songs featured in the television productions, "Murals of Aztlán," about L.A.'s Chicano muralists, and "L.A.: An Artist's View," which profiled L.A.'s artists for the city's bicentennial.  Both programs included segments on legendary Chicano artist, Carlos Almaraz.

    In 1989, Mark recorded and co-produced an E.P. entitled "On The Boulevard," which was released on the Eastside Landmark label and contained four Guerrero original songs.  In 1992 Mark wrote and performed tribute songs for the aforementioned Carlos Almaraz at the Bing Theater at the L.A. County Museum and for his father, Lalo Guerrero, at his tribute concert at the McCallum Theater in Palm Desert, California.  Other guests at the Guerrero event included Edward James Olmos, Cheech Marin, Paul Rodriguez and Cesar Chavez.

    In 1994, Mark co-produced an album entitled "Fifties Flashback" with pioneer Chicano rocker Chan Romero, whose song "The Hippy Hippy Shake" can be heard on the Beatles' "Live at the BBC" album.  Mark has recorded with Harry Nilsson, backed Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Eric Burdon in a live concert, and participated on Los Lobos' 1994 Grammy nominated "Papa's Dream" L.P.  In 1998, he performed with his father and Tex Mex legend Flaco Jimenez at the Cite de la Musique in Paris, France, which was followed by a series of about a dozen concerts with Lalo between 1998 and 2000.  Highlights in this series of concerts included performances at the Getty Center in Los Angeles and in Lalo's hometown of Tucson, Arizona.  Two of Mark's recordings were included on the "Chicano Alliance" CD in 1998, which also includes tracks by Tierra, El Chicano, Malo, Little Joe and others.  In 2002, Mark started a new band as a vehicle for his original material called Mark Guerrero & Radio Aztlán.  They performed at the Galaxy Theater in Santa Ana, CA and The Hop in Puente Hills, CA on the bill with Malo  and Tierra, as well as a concert at La Placita Village in Tucson, AZ.  In 2003, they've performed again in Tucson and at the Gene Autry Museum in Los Angeles with Thee Midniters.  The latter concert was to publicize the upcoming documentary called "Chicano Rock," in which Mark appears.  Also in 2003, Mark Guerrero played with legendary Native American/Chicano band, Redbone.  In 2004, Mark's song "Oh Maria" was covered by legendary Chicano singer Trini Lopez.  

    Mark Guerrero is mentioned in "The Folk Music Sourcebook," published by Alfred A. Knopf (1976), "Barrio Rhythm" by Steven Loza, University of Illinois Press (1993), and featured in "Land of a Thousand Dances," by Tom Waldman and David Reyes, University of New Mexico Press (1998).  He's also featured in, and wrote and compiled the discography for "Lalo, My Life and Music," by Lalo Guerrero and Sherilyn Meece Mentes, University of Arizona Press (2002).  Mark also hosts a popular website, www.markguerrero.net, which gives information on his music as well as Chicano music in general.  The articles he's written on Chicano music artists for his website have also appeared in various websites, newspapers, and magazines, including "Traditional Music Maker" in England.  Mark has spoken at colleges on Chicano music and wrote an entry on the same subject for an upcoming two volume encyclopedia of Latino culture. 

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Contact me at:  info@markguerrero.net

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