Mark White (musician)

Mark Andrew White (born 1 April 1961) is an English singer, songwriter, composer, musician and record producer.

White's music career spans more than 10 years. He came to prominence in the early 1980s as co-founder, keyboardist, and guitarist of the new wave band ABC, of which he was a member from 1980 to 1991. White was one of the main composers of ABC's music. As the band's keyboardist he used a variety of instruments, including the E-mu Emulator, Yamaha DX7 and Fairlight CMI. His last contribution to the band was their sixth studio album, Abracadabra (1991) before retiring from music.

In 2014 he came out of retirement to reform his first band Vice Versa with Stephen Singleton.

Mark Andrew White was born on 1 April 1961, in Sheffield, England.

In the late 1970s, White was a member of ABC's predecessor band, the three-piece synth-pop band Vice Versa. Other members of the trio were David Sydenham and future ABC saxophonist Stephen Singleton. After being interviewed by future ABC lead singer Martin Fry for his fanzine, Modern Drugs, the band members invited Fry to join the band as a keyboardist, and Vice Versa later evolved into ABC.

With Fry in place as lead singer and songwriter, Vice Versa changed its name to ABC and changed its sound to a synth-pop style that at that time led them to be categorised with bands like Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet and the Human League. Between 1982 and 1991, ABC recorded six studio albums (The Lexicon of Love, Beauty Stab, How to Be a ... Zillionaire!, Alphabet City, Up and Abracadabra) and released a greatest hits compilation album, Absolutely. Together with Fry, White co-wrote and produced a couple of songs on Paul Rutherford's 1989 solo album Oh World. During this time, the band went through numerous personnel changes, with White and Fry being its only permanent members.

ABC disbanded in 1992, with White retiring from music to pursue an interest in Reiki therapy. ABC reformed in 1997 without White, and Fry continued to tour under the band's name despite being its only official member. White declined to participate in VH1's Bands Reunited in 2004, when attempts were made to reform ABC for a one-off performance.

In 2014, White, together with Singleton, compiled the Vice Versa box set, Electrogenesis 1978–1980 which was released on VOD Records. This led to White coming out of retirement to reform the band. In December 2015 the duo released a Christmas single called "Little Drum Machine Boy", which was available to download for free on SoundCloud. They are currently writing and recording new material.

With Vice Versa

With ABC