Level 42 at the opening of Nisville

21 Nov Level 42 at the opening of Nisville

Posted at 12:57h in Nišville Jazz Festival - eng by Ivan Petrovic 0 Comments

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The greats of the British scene are coming to Serbia

The famous British group Level 42 led by the singer and one of the most influential bassists (the famous by the characteristic “slap” playing technique) by Mark King, will perform at Nisville on August 14.2025.

This band is recognizable for its great live performances and for its highly rated albums, the widest he gained popularity primarily with hits like “Lessons in Love” and “Something about you”, which reached the tops of the British and American charts.

The band was founded in 1979 on the Isle of Wight, where all the members of the first line-up lived, among others I keyboardist Mike Lindup, who is also a member of the band in the current line-up. Mark and Mike had a similar musical background taste and the same jazz idols (Miles Davis, John McLauglin, Keith Jarret and Jan Hammer), so at the beginning of their career they were jazz-funk fusion band that was classified in the group of compositions like Atmosphere, Light of the World, Incognito and Beggar & Co, to later be classified as sophisticated pop and/or dance rock were mentioned “in the same flat” with Sade and the Style Council. It is interesting that during the “prehistory” of the band – the first guitarist was Dominic Miller, known today above all for his long-term cooperation with Sting.

The story that Mark King was primarily a drummer (and he also played guitar) seems almost unbelievable. Considering that the other members of the first lineup – the Gould brothers (Phil and Boon) were better on those instruments, Mark King decided to learn to play the bass guitar – and proved to be a very flexible musician who learns very quickly. Since he was working in a musical instrument shop in London at the time, he watched some American funk bassists how they demonstrate the technique of playing the bass guitar with right-hand thumb strikes – and in just a few weeks developed his own style, on the basis of which he is today ranked among the most influential bass guitarists of all genres. Otherwise, the band’s name is a reference to the novel “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams in which “42” – the answer to “the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything.”

Before they released their first single “Love Meeting Love”, this originally instrumental band was forced to comply to the demands of the music industry and add vocals to give a more commercial sound – well that’s how Mark King became the lead singer. Released in 1981, their debut album followed the path of soul and – R&B immediately entered the UK Top 20, to be immediately followed by the album “The Early Tapes”. The group until 1984 had several minor hit singles before “The Sun Goes Down” (from the album “Living It Up”) from 1984 reached the British Top Ten list. Released at the end of 1985, the album “World Machine” (whose fortieth anniversary they are celebrating with a big tour next year) brought the band world fame and the single “Something About you” reached the seventh place in the US charts, while the song “Lessons in Love” (with of the next album “Running in the family”) was a number one hit in Britain. Both Gould brothers left the band at the end of 1987; they were replaced by guitarist Alan Murphy and famous jazz drummer Gary Husband. Murphy who passed away in 1989, was replaced by the famous fusion guitarist Alan Holdsworth. Throughout the rest of the 90s and 2000s, the band’s line-up varied, with King as the only original member and his brother, the guitarist Nathan King.

To mark the band’s 30th anniversary (2009), keyboardist Mike Lindup returned to the band. Level 42 went on tour and released a new album. In 2010, Husband left the band again, he was replaced by Pete Ray Biggin. Standard four-piece line-up (bass, keyboards, guitar and drums) it has been supplemented in recent years with a brass line consisting of saxophonist Sean Freeman, trombonist Nichol Thompson and trumpeter Dan Carpenter.

In addition, pre-sale of 500 sets of tickets for Nisville 2025 at a price of 25 EUR or 2,900 RSD

(for a total of 25 bands) starts on December the 2^nd–

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x1RcVrGjGM

Lessons in Love