Mark John Race

Mark is a 22 year old musician who was born and bred in Durham City. He has always been a keen musician, playing in school bands, choirs and musical productions (attended Durham School); Mark was awarded a music scholarship at the beginning of secondary school.

Mark began playing cover gigs around the North East at the age 17 and reached the national final of a singing competition called TeenStar, where he had the opportunity to perform at the O2 Arena in London, subsequently performing all over the country, building a good fan base and partnering with some prestigious brands such as Diesel and Bodos Schloss (London).

Over the years Mark has amassed over 20,000 followers across social platforms. At 19 Mark was scouted by an independent label in London, called The Animal Farm, after the release of my first single “Slipping Away”, he then went on to release a few singles with them with some success.

During this time he also studied at both Edinburgh and Durham Universities before being scouted by the LA based band Raynes, approximately 18 months ago.

Raynes

Raynes was formed a few years ago, after members Mat Charley and Joe Berger, both from North Dakota, decided to start playing music together at The University of Mary.

They were scouted by LA music manager Gonzo Lubel who invited them to play a showcase and after the show, decided he wanted to represent the band as their manager.

The band and Gonzo where then looking for a lead singer and came across Mark Race on Instagram. After a week or so of phone conversations Mark was flown to LA to meet the band and the rest of the team and so Raynes was officially born.

After numerous months of writing sessions and meetings. The head of A&R for the East Coast at Sony ATV publishing (Rich Christina) wanted to meet he band. They flew to New York and were offered a publishing deal shortly after.

Raynes are now in the process of being paired with Sony ATV producer’s and songwriters to record their debut single/EP.

Here is the link to the bands EPK: www.raynesmusic.com/epk (it’s all just acoustic versions of the tracks at the moment).

Instagram: @raynesmusic and @markjohn.music (personal)