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Mark St. John (born Mark Leslie Norton February 7, 1956 in Hollywood, California Ð April 5, 2007) was a guitarist best known for his short stint with the rock band KISS.
St. John was featured on the album, "Animalize" recorded during mid-1984. During work for the album, St. John clashed with the other members of the band, and eventually developed arthritis (Reiter's Syndrome), which caused his hands and arms to swell. He was all but unable to perform live as a member of KISS, and only played three (one in full) shows during the "Animalize" tour, with Bruce Kulick filling in for the rest. He was officially replaced by Kulick on December 8, 1984.
St. John's only video appearance with KISS is in the video for "Heaven's On Fire". Regardless, Mark played on KISSÕ most successful studio album of the unmasked period and any line-up apart from the originals.
Before joining KISS, St. John was a well known and respected teacher and guitarist for the SoCal cover band Front Page. Musicians from all over SoCal would follow Front Page just to see what Mark would do next. Mark also worked in a band featuring David Donato (Vocals), J.R. Saenz (Drums), Glenn Hughes (Vocals/Bass). The loose group apparently recorded some demos with producer Andy Johns which led to Donato's equally short tenure with another legendary band: Black Sabbath.Garry Sharpe-Young/Rockdetector
Following his departure from KISS, Mark reconnected with David Donato and formed White Tiger, becoming the first ex-KISS guitarist to release an album (1986, pre-dating both Ace Frehley and Vinnie Vincent's efforts). The band also included Mark's younger brother, Michael, on bass. While the independent release did well on that level, and the band gigged around California, they didn't manage to break and split while working on demos for a second album in 1988. St. John teamed up with Jeff Scott Soto in 1988 to make a demo. Mark also did some session work performing lead guitar on "Livin' For My Lord" on Ken Tamplin's 1990 album, "Axe To Grind." Ken is an insiprational Christian rocker more famed for his involvement in the band "Shout". Needless to say, Tamplin has also cowritten material with Gene Simmons of KISS.
St. John made a demo in 1990 with fellow former KISS member Peter Criss. This band, known as "The Keep," was essentially White Tiger, with Peter Criss replacing Brian Fox on drums and David Donato using the alias Michael McDonald. This lineup performed live just once, on May 2, 1990 at a drum clinic at the Guitar Center music store in Lawndale, CA.
When the band started shopping their demo (credited as "Peter Criss") around the response was universally negative. One cassette demo to circulate simply featured "Love For Sale," "Long Time," and "All Night Long," though they had also covered Lee Michaels' 1971 hit "Do Ya Know What I Mean," and had other original material such as "Between The Lines." By early 1991, the difficulty shopping the demo, and Mark's need to get on with making a living, led to friction between he and Peter and he left the band (which eventually became "Criss").
He was in a short lived band with Phil Naro called the Mark St. John Project that released a limited edition EP in 1999. He later released an all instrumental CD in 2003 called "Magic Bullet Theory."
In later years, St. John did not make many public appearances. However, he was rumored to have returned to his pre-KISS gig as a guitar instructor in the SoCal area.
St. John died on the morning of April 5, 2007 of a cerebral hemorrhage.
Wow, a guy dies and people want to rip on him for not being a great guitarist, well we NEVER found out what he was all about but I can tell anyone with 100% certainty that KISS wouldn't put up a poor playing lead guitarist, they never have.
Those that have bashed on everyone after Frehley are fools for doing so. Which one of you idiots would stand up and audition for a band like KISS and turn them down? Which one of you have what it takes to actually get a call from KISS to audition in person?You really think they'd pick someone just becasue they could play their catalog? FOOLS! Better go back and really listen to what they do. Also, it's not like they were going to get creative control of KISS with Gene and Paul at the helm of their band! "Carnival of Souls" is about as close as it got to "Lick It Up" with Gene and Paul letting others contribute fully to a project.
The guy was an awesome guitarist that had an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity only to have his body give out at the most inopportune moment. I'm willing to cut the guy some slack
St. John was featured on the album, "Animalize" recorded during mid-1984. During work for the album, St. John clashed with the other members of the band, and eventually developed arthritis (Reiter's Syndrome), which caused his hands and arms to swell. He was all but unable to perform live as a member of KISS, and only played three (one in full) shows during the "Animalize" tour, with Bruce Kulick filling in for the rest. He was officially replaced by Kulick on December 8, 1984.
St. John's only video appearance with KISS is in the video for "Heaven's On Fire". Regardless, Mark played on KISSÕ most successful studio album of the unmasked period and any line-up apart from the originals.
Before joining KISS, St. John was a well known and respected teacher and guitarist for the SoCal cover band Front Page. Musicians from all over SoCal would follow Front Page just to see what Mark would do next. Mark also worked in a band featuring David Donato (Vocals), J.R. Saenz (Drums), Glenn Hughes (Vocals/Bass). The loose group apparently recorded some demos with producer Andy Johns which led to Donato's equally short tenure with another legendary band: Black Sabbath.Garry Sharpe-Young/Rockdetector
Following his departure from KISS, Mark reconnected with David Donato and formed White Tiger, becoming the first ex-KISS guitarist to release an album (1986, pre-dating both Ace Frehley and Vinnie Vincent's efforts). The band also included Mark's younger brother, Michael, on bass. While the independent release did well on that level, and the band gigged around California, they didn't manage to break and split while working on demos for a second album in 1988. St. John teamed up with Jeff Scott Soto in 1988 to make a demo. Mark also did some session work performing lead guitar on "Livin' For My Lord" on Ken Tamplin's 1990 album, "Axe To Grind." Ken is an insiprational Christian rocker more famed for his involvement in the band "Shout". Needless to say, Tamplin has also cowritten material with Gene Simmons of KISS.
St. John made a demo in 1990 with fellow former KISS member Peter Criss. This band, known as "The Keep," was essentially White Tiger, with Peter Criss replacing Brian Fox on drums and David Donato using the alias Michael McDonald. This lineup performed live just once, on May 2, 1990 at a drum clinic at the Guitar Center music store in Lawndale, CA.
When the band started shopping their demo (credited as "Peter Criss") around the response was universally negative. One cassette demo to circulate simply featured "Love For Sale," "Long Time," and "All Night Long," though they had also covered Lee Michaels' 1971 hit "Do Ya Know What I Mean," and had other original material such as "Between The Lines." By early 1991, the difficulty shopping the demo, and Mark's need to get on with making a living, led to friction between he and Peter and he left the band (which eventually became "Criss").
He was in a short lived band with Phil Naro called the Mark St. John Project that released a limited edition EP in 1999. He later released an all instrumental CD in 2003 called "Magic Bullet Theory."
In later years, St. John did not make many public appearances. However, he was rumored to have returned to his pre-KISS gig as a guitar instructor in the SoCal area.
St. John died on the morning of April 5, 2007 of a cerebral hemorrhage.
Wow, a guy dies and people want to rip on him for not being a great guitarist, well we NEVER found out what he was all about but I can tell anyone with 100% certainty that KISS wouldn't put up a poor playing lead guitarist, they never have.
Those that have bashed on everyone after Frehley are fools for doing so. Which one of you idiots would stand up and audition for a band like KISS and turn them down? Which one of you have what it takes to actually get a call from KISS to audition in person?You really think they'd pick someone just becasue they could play their catalog? FOOLS! Better go back and really listen to what they do. Also, it's not like they were going to get creative control of KISS with Gene and Paul at the helm of their band! "Carnival of Souls" is about as close as it got to "Lick It Up" with Gene and Paul letting others contribute fully to a project.
The guy was an awesome guitarist that had an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity only to have his body give out at the most inopportune moment. I'm willing to cut the guy some slack
I agree about Bruce "The Tree" Kulick.....anyone seen recent pics of him? Bald as fuck on top, but still hanging on to the long hair.....no, it's REALLY bad now!
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