Mark Morriss

Few singers have moved between a chart-topping band and a quieter solo life as easily as Mark Morriss. Born in Chiswick in 1971 and raised in Hounslow, he is the lead singer of the indie rock group the Bluetones, which he co-formed in 1993 with his younger brother Scott and guitarist Adam Devlin. He began as a rhythm guitarist before taking on the vocals, and wrote many of the band's early songs. Beyond the Bluetones, he has fronted the Mummys, worked with Matt Berry's band the Maypoles and sung lead for the Helicopter of the Holy Ghost project.

Expecting to Fly, the Bluetones' 1996 debut, reached number one on the UK Albums Chart on first-week sales of 82,000, and sold 300,000 copies overall. Its follow-up, Return to the Last Chance Saloon, arrived in March 1998 as the post-Britpop mood took hold and sold 100,000 copies. The band split in 2011 and reformed in April 2015. Morriss's solo work began in 2006 under the alias Fi-Lo Beddow, followed by the folk-tinged Memory Muscle in 2008, and A Flash of Darkness, funded through a PledgeMusic campaign. Since 2023 he has toured acoustic shows with Adam Devlin, playing Bluetones songs.