|
Fly
Background:
“The greatest thing about Hollywood is the most talented
people don't necessarily make it. I made it as a singer and I can
barely sing. I can hit a couple notes and I can get by.” Mark
McGrath
Musician, occasional actor and TV host Mark McGrath is best known
as the lead singer of well-liked American rock band Sugar Ray. Along
with the group, which was formed in 1992 in Orange County, CA, the
Hartford, Connecticut native rose to fame with the second and
double-platinum album “Floored” (1997), which spawned the
group's first No. hit single, “Fly.” They continued to
gain success with the triple-platinum album “14:59”
(1999), which produced such hit singles as “Every Morning,”
“Someday” and “Falls Apart,” and the gold
album “Sugar Ray” (2001). “In the Pursuit of
Leisure,” their fifth and last album with Atlantic Records,
was relesaed in 2003, two years before the launch of the greatest
hits album “The Best of Sugar Ray.”
Frequently mocked by critics for being an alternative rock pinup
boy, McGrath attained pop-star status and became a sex symbol
following the success of “Fly.” Since then, he has
decorated such magazine covers as Rolling Stone and made a number
appearences on VHI, MTV, and various talk and award shows. He has
also hosted several TV programs, most notbaly the entertaiment
magazine show “Extra” (2004-2008). As an actor, McGrath
appeared as Assholf Golfer in “Pauly Shore Is Dead”
(2003) and a rock star in the Brittany Murphy starring vehicle
“Uptown Girls” (2003). He guested as J.J. Price in an
episode of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” called
“Design” (2005).
Blue-eyed, 6'1” tall McGrath has a Cadillac Coupe DeVille
from 1968. Commenting about his car, he said, “I'm
psychotically in love with that car, The elegance, class, and
unnecessary hugeness of it all. It also holds a special memory for me
cause when I was little my Grandma used to take me for rides in it to
get ice cream.”
In 2004, McGrath was involved in The Justice Ball, an annual
fundraiser for the Los Angeles-based charity Bet Tzedek Legal
Services - The House of Justice. The show was held at Hollywood
Palladium in Hollywood, California, in which he became the headliner
along with Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind.
As for his romantic life, the Irish Catholic whose favorite TV
shows are “Jerry Springer” and “Rikki Lake”
had a long term relationship with aesthetician Carin Kingsland. The
pair experienced a short-lived split during Fall 2003 to Spring 2004.
In the meantime, McGrath reportedly dated actress Jordana Brewster,
whom he met at a 2004 New Year's Eve party in New York City. As a
freshmen at USC, one of People magazine's “Sexiest Rocker”
of 1998 was deeply in love with a fellow student and lost his
virginity to her. Later, she broke his heart and convinced him that
he was a “terrible boyfriend.” More recently, in October
2007, McGrath declared that he separated from his girlfriend of four
years during a concert at SingFest in Singapore.
McGrath has three dogs: Lola, Chopper and Ruby.
Boxing Lover
Childhood and Family:
Mark Sayers McGrath was born on March 15, 1968, in Hartford,
Connecticut. He was raised in Newport Beach, California. His parents,
Edward T. McGrath, who is of Irish descent, and AM McGrath, a
software trainer, divorced when Mark was only 12 years old. He has an
older sister named Tracey. His older brother, Edward T. McGrath Jr.,
died of SIDS before Mark was born.
Mark attended Corona Del Mar High School and joined the school's
track and basketball teams. After graduating in 1986, he studied
Business Communication at the University of Southern California's
Marshall School of Business in Los Angeles.
The fan of LA Kings & LA Lakers mentions boxing and hockey as
his favorite sports and was inspired to be a hockey player when he
was a kid. He stated, “I'm a huge boxing fan. I love the
strategy and the combat. I'm not a fighter, but I would love to be a
boxer because I love the courage and toughness. I mean, there can be
nothing more terrifying than walking into an arena and looking at
Mike Tyson in the ring. That's pretty terrifying!”
Extra
Career:
A truck driver prior to his flourishing career in music, Mark
McGrath had his early exposure of performing in front of public at
age 14, when he made his Broadway debut in a 1982 production of
“Little Man.” Two years later, he appeared in “The
Three Musketeers.” The Californian bred went on to develop a
passion for music and played with some different bands before joining
The Shrinky Dinx in 1992. Along with bassist Murphy Karges, guitarist
Rodney Sheppard and drummer Stan Frazier, he collected a fan base
through their performances around the Los Angeles/San Diego area and
eventually landed a recorded deal with Atlantic Record. In 1994,
after a terror of legal action by Shrinky Dinks manufacturer Milton
Bradley, the group changed its name to Sugar Ray, which they adapted
from boxer Sugar Ray Leonard.
McGrath and Sugar Ray launched a debut album called “Lemonade
& Brownies” on April 4, 1995, but it was a failure. Their
huge breakthrough arrived two years later with the release of their
sophomore effort, “Floored.” The album reached No. 12 on
the U.S. Billboard and was certified double-platinum thanks largely
to the highly popular “Fly,” a collaboration with reggae
artist Super Cat. The song peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard's Hot 100
Airplay and stayed there for six consecutive weeks. It also became a
No. 1 hit at the U.S. Modern Rock Tracks.
The success of Sugar Ray subsequently established McGrath as a
pop-star. He appeared on the covers of such national magazines as
Rolling Stone and Spin and made appearances on the television shows
like “Oddville, MTV,” “Late Night with Conan
O'Brien,” “Hollywood Squares,” “VH1/Vogue
Fashion Awards,” “The Howard Stern Radio Show,”
“ESPY Awards” and “My VH1 Music Awards.” He
also hosted the 1998 “MTV Sports & Music Festival 2”
and “The 2000 Radio Music Awards,” and along with Sugar
Ray, he appeared in the 1997 motion picture “Fathers' Day,”
starring Robin Williams and Billy Crystal.
After “Floored,” McGrath and his group resurfaced with
the third studio album “14:59,” which was released on
January 12, 1999. The album Spawning one of the group's most
successful singles, “Every Morning” (#1 on the Modern
Rock Tracks, #2 on the Hot 100 Airplay and #3 on the Billboard Hot
100), as well as the hits “Someday” and “Falls
Apart,” the album reached No. 17 on the Billboard 200 and
earned triple-platinum certification from RIAA. The follow-up, “Sugar
Ray” (2001), a top ten hit on the Billboard 200, has been
certified gold since its release. It consisted 11 tracks, including a
radio-airplay favorite, “When It's Over,” and the song
“Under the Sun,” about the new rise days of Los Angeles
radio station KROQ which McGrath sang lovingly.
The fifth studio album “In the Pursuit of Leisure” hit
the music stores in 2003. It was followed by the greatest hits album
“The Best of Sugar Ray” in 2005. Released by Warner Bros,
the album comprised a dozen of previous hits and three new songs,
including the Howard Stern-penned “Psychedelic Bee.”
Magnetic and personable McGrath has continued to work on his own.
He contributed vocals to the track “Reaching Out” on
“Strait Up,” a tribute album to decease vocalist Lynn
Strait, and appeared on the video of “Angel's Son,” a
song written by the band Sevendust that was also included on“Strait
Up.” In 2004, McGrath teamed up with country music super star
Shania Twain in the song “Party for Two,” which was
included in her greatest hits album. It debuted at No. 39 on the
Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart and went on to reach
No. 7.
McGrath has also made self-appearances in such TV shows as “Las
Vegas” and “North Shore” (both 2004) and acted in
the comedy movies “Pauly Shore Is Dead” (2003), playing
Assholf Golfer, and “Uptown Girls”(2003), directed by
Boaz Yakin and starring Brittany Murphy and Dakota Fanning, as well
as a 2005 episode of the TV series “Law & Order: Special
Victims Unit,” as J.J. Price. McGrath has hosted TV programs
like “The Teen Choice Awards 2002” (2002), “2005
Radio Music Awards” (NBC, 2005), “Extra”
(2004-2008), “The Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the
Next Doll” (2007) and “Pussycat Dolls Present:
Girlicious” (2008). He once served as guest judge for “American
Idol” auditions.
Having left Atlantic Records in 2006, Sugar Ray currently finds a
new home with Pulse Recordings. Their new album is expected to be
released in late 2008.
Awards: ---
|