King to start Cowes powerboat race

One of the Isle of Wight’s most famous and successful residents will be setting the Cowes Torquay Cowes fleet on its way this weekend for the 63rd running of this historic and prestigious race. Mark King, frontman and bassist with Level 42, will make the short journey from his home to Cowes on Saturday morning, where he will board the start boat in the Yacht Haven to head into the Solent. When he raises the green flag, almost twenty boats will begin their challenging 210-mile journey along the south coast to Torquay and back.

Mark’s story, which spans more than four decades in the music business that has seen him rise to fame with his unique bass guitar style and dynamic performances, begins in Cowes where he was born and raised. His family history on the Island stretches back to the 1850s. His father was a dairyman and the family lived in a tied dairy house before moving to a prison estate. He attended Cowes High School and moved to London at the age of 19.

Level 42, the band Mark helped to form in 1979 and named after the meaning of life number in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, has achieved considerable success on the international stage with hit songs like ‘Lessons in Love.’ Its distinctive jazz-funk sound captivated audiences worldwide during the 1980s and Mark says: “We were so successful at that time – nobody was more surprised than me at how big the band became.” With a warm grin, he describes the 1980s as ‘hedonistic times’ and talks about the band selling out 21-night runs at Wembley, jetting to LA, flying back for Top of The Pops and then off to shows in Munich and New York.

The sea has been a big part of Mark’s life. “I spent most of my early summers playing on the shore at Gurnard just a couple of miles from Cowes, and one of the highlights was watching the powerboats thunder down the Solent,” he recounts. “I’ve watched the Cowes Torquay Cowes race many times since then, and around 1989 I blagged a ride in one of the Drakar Noir boats and roared around Southampton Water. I was hooked and bought a Princess 38, then a Grandbanks 42.”

The Island remains Mark’s favourite place on the planet: “I’ve travelled far and wide so this is not something I say lightly. Travel broadens the mind, to borrow from another Mark (Twain) who urged us to ‘explore, dream, discover’, and having toured a great deal around Europe throughout the 80s I felt the Island could use a little ‘Café Culture’ so I purchased an old jewellers in Ryde and transformed it into a café-bar like I had seen in Amsterdam. It was cool!”

“Touring with Level 42 today is more fun than it has ever been,” enthuses Mark. “I love the guys in the band and I seem to have reached that venerable age when everyone is so nice and complimentary to me. Age doesn’t define you – what you have accomplished over the preceding decades does. So far this year we have played festivals here in the UK, Norway, the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland. Looking ahead, we will be heading to Japan for eight shows, followed by Singapore, Chile, Mexico, Germany and the Netherlands again, and then back to London. Happy days!“

“My friends Martin and Laura Levi at the British Powerboat Racing Club have enabled me to get my ‘fast boat fixes’ and it’s always a delight to wander through their home at The Prospect in Cowes and soak in the history of powerboating and their families huge part in it,” added Mark. “So you can imagine my reaction when they invited me to start the big race this weekend. Hand me that green flag!”

BritishPowerboatRacingClub.co.uk CowesTorquayCowes.co.uk CowesTorquayCowes.co.uk Race Timetable Cowes Powerboat Festival Entry List

Photo Credit

Race Fleet Leaving Cowes: Marc Attrill
Level 2 Frontman & Bass Guitarist Mark King on Stage: Tina Korhonen
Mark King (Front Right) with Level 42 band members: Steve Perks