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Mark Plummer

Mark Plummer

Mark Plummer (aka Brixton Key, left in picture with Barry White) grew up all over West London with a single mother who played piano, and an elder brother and sister who "never turned the record player down".

The first record he bought was Muddy Waters live at Newport with his birthday money when he was eight. When he first heard the Beatles singing 'Love Me Do' on a transistor radio in the toilets at boarding school, he knew he would be involved in music. He joined Melody Maker as a full-time staff writer in 1970. In his three years with the MM he interviewed many of his favourite acts, including Marc Bolan, Paul McCartney, Rod Stewart and Steve Marriott. After leaving the MM, Plummer worked in PR, promotions, and management.

In 1978 he moved to America, where he worked with punk bands in Los Angeles, before moving to San Francisco to manage Chris Isaak. After suffering a brain aneurysm in the late 1990s, Plummer decided to leave show business. After earning his MA in English at San Francisco State University, he changed his name to Brixton Key when he became an author. His first novel, Charlie Six, was released to critical acclaim in 2011. His website is www.WhereIsCharlieSix.com.

36 articles

List of articles in the library

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The Edgar Broughton Band, Formerly Fat Harry, Kevin Ayers, Pink Floyd, Roy Harper: Pink Floyd, Roy Harper, Edgar Broughton Band, Kevin Ayers & The Whole World, Formerly Fat Harry: Hyde Park, London

Live Review by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 25 July 1970

Good music, bad vibes at free Hyde Park ...

Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep, Yes: Yes, Black Sabbath, Uriah Heap: Lyceum, London

Live Review by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 25 July 1970

YES MADE their comeback at the Lyceum on Friday, but what should have been a great occasion turned out to be rather mediocre. ...

Joe Cocker, Leon Russell: Leon Russell: King of the Delta Rockers

Interview by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 29 August 1970

Top US session man LEON RUSSELL talks to Mark Plummer. ...

Hawkwind: The Hawk: sailing in the face of the wind

Interview by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 5 September 1970

HAWKWIND ARE the progressive band, who, they say, are too progressive for British progressive clubs, and receive few bookings because of that fact. ...

Chicago, Leonard Cohen, Miles Davis, The Doors, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Richie Havens, Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, The Moody Blues, Pentangle, Procol Harum, John Sebastian, Taste, Ten Years After, Tiny Tim, The Who: The Isle of Wight Festival: Five Days That Rocked Britain

Report by Mark Plummer, Michael Watts, Chris Welch, Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 5 September 1970

MM's Richard Williams, Chris Welch, Michael Watts and Mark Plummer present a five-page report on an amazing weekend of music and other scenes... ...

Juicy Lucy: Lie Back and Enjoy It (Vertigo)

Review by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 17 October 1970

JUICY LUCY have come a long way from 'Who Do You Love' and young ladies smothered in fruit. ...

Black Sabbath: Paranoia — As The Fans Go Wild For Sabbath

Report by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 31 October 1970

Mark Plummer on a one night stand with the 'Paranoid' hitmakers ...

Stone The Crows: London School of Economics

Live Review by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 23 January 1971

MAGGIE BELL, with a lot of help from her friends in Stone The Crows, turned what could have been a disappointing evening at the London ...

The Equals: Black Skin, Blue-Eyed Boys...

Interview by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 23 January 1971

Mark Plummer talks to EDDY GRANT ...

Martha Reeves & The Vandellas: No Place Like England Says Martha

Interview by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 30 January 1971

"I WANT you to tell everybody what a beautiful audience we had tonight. We haven't been over here in four years. We're professional but I ...

Stevie Wonder: Stevie Freaks Out

Interview by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 30 January 1971

LAST TIME Stevie Wonder was in Britain he promised that his next album would be the new-style him, with a deeper musical and lyrical feeling. ...

The Grease Band, Juicy Lucy, Leon Russell, Status Quo: Leon Russell, the Grease Band, Juicy Lucy, Status Quo: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 13 February 1971

LEON: ROCK SHOWMAN ...

Neil Diamond: Diamond Shining Brightly

Interview by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 20 March 1971

FOR NEIL Diamond, things are looking good. As a pop singer he has left his mark on both sides of the Atlantic with his sweet ...

The Rolling Stones: The Roundhouse, London

Live Review by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 20 March 1971

THE ROLLING STONES Circus came to town last Sunday, maybe for the last time. At least for their own sakes it should be. The fire ...

Barclay James Harvest, Caravan: Caravan, Barclay James Harvest: The Lyceum, London

Live Review by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 24 April 1971

Live and well? ...

The Faces: Smiling Faces make it at last

Interview by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 24 April 1971

STRANGE. PEOPLE keep telling the Faces they've made it at last in this country. Strange because they themselves don't quite know where they stand in ...

Dave and Ansell Collins: 'Double Barrel' — A High Calibre Hit?

Interview by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 8 May 1971

CRITICS PUT it down, musicians loathe it — and mention reggae to a progressive music fan and a string of abuse will follow. It appears ...

Terry Reid, Santana: Santana, Terry Reid: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 15 May 1971

Slick, smooth Santana ...

Dave and Ansell Collins, Desmond Dekker, Alton Ellis: Reggae

Report and Interview by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 22 May 1971

"Send a reggae band for my wedding reception" said Mick Jagger. The unpredictable move by a Stone symbolised the final acceptance of the music as ...

Terry Reid: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London

Live Review by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 18 September 1971

IF YOU think rock and roll died the minute Stephen Stills decided to inflict us with his pains, you better believe that it's alive and ...

Steve Peregrin Took: Down in Ladbroke Grove: Steve Took

Interview by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 8 January 1972

"You live high in your apartmentSee people turn to machines,I'm scratching hard to pay my rent,I hope to God I die naturally." ...

Emerson Lake And Palmer, Yes: Ready, Eddie? An Interview with Eddie Offord

Interview by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 12 February 1972

EDDIE OFFORD SITS in his penthouse flat, way above the traffic that thunders down the Vauxhall Bridge Road past Victoria. ...

MC5: The MC5: Back in the UK

Interview by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 12 February 1972

THE MC5 don't want to be stars, if you can dig that. They reason that they are there with you to fill the air with ...

Rita Coolidge: Nice Feelin' (A&M)

Review by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 4 March 1972

Lovely Rita ...

Stackridge: 'If McCartney really wants to do something for Ireland why doesn't he stop singing about it and come here?'

Report by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 4 March 1972

Stackridge are one of the few bands to take their music to the people in the 'front line' in Ireland, Mark Plummer reports. ...

Noel Redding: Redding, Willing And Able

Interview by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 20 May 1972

NOEL Redding looks a bit shell-shocked these days. ...

Rory Gallagher: Rory on the Road

Report and Interview by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 8 July 1972

RORY GALLAGHER changes out of his striped tee shirt, folds it neatly and places it in his zipper case, exchanging it for an equally familiar ...

Stone the Crows: Greens Playhouse, Glasgow

Live Review by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 23 September 1972

Crows — home is where the heart is ...

Sweet: Bitter Sweet

Interview by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 7 October 1972

We're tired of being dismissed as a teenybop band say the Wig Wam Bam men ...

Patto Break Out

Interview by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 4 November 1972

NOW YOU'D EXPECT Mike Patto to be sardonic, and embittered after five years in various guises and never really making it. ...

Cat Stevens: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 9 December 1972

Bad nerves dog Cat ...

Michael Des Barres, Silverhead: Silverhead Savage

Interview by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 9 June 1973

MICHAEL DES BARRES, the ultimate rock and roll star sits drinking decaffeinated coffee in the health food-come-curio shop on the Portobello Road, London. He's swamped ...

Little Feat, Big Future

Profile by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 14 July 1973

LITTLE FEAT'S Dixie Chicken is possibly the finest rock record to have come from the other side of the Atlantic since the Allman Brothers were unleashed on ...

Steely Dan's Smart Rock

Profile and Interview by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 21 July 1973

"WE LIKE TO think of every song as a composition in itself, a composition in the more orthodox meaning. ...

Steely Dan: Countdown To Ecstasy (Probe)

Review by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 18 August 1973

STEELY DAN'S first album was completely ignored in Britain. Yet it was a masterpiece. Can't Buy A Thrill contained conceptual songs that told stories with ...

Mott The Hoople: Ariel Bender

Interview by Mark Plummer, Zoo World, 6 June 1974

ARIEL BENDER was the eternal loser. A rock 'n roll gypsy who could touch gold and turn it to lead. All his roads took the ...

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