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.
37 articles
List of articles in the library
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. ...
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. ...
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. ...
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 ...
Brinsley Schwarz: Brinsley Schwartz: Schwarz Thoughts
Interview by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 19 February 1972
COMMUNAL LIVING has been a great experiment for Brinsley Schwarz, with the band, roadies, wives and children all under the same roof in a big ...
Rita Coolidge: Nice Feelin' (A&M)
Review by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 4 March 1972
Lovely Rita ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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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