Kenneth Michael Marks (November 6, 1950 – October 31, 2018) was an American Christian singer.

Early life and education

Marks' father Mirko “Michael” Mrakovic and mother Ljubica “Lucy” Vukic came from

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

. His parents changed the name Mrakovic to Marks three months before he was born. His father was born in today’s Croatia in 1922 and first moved to Canada before settling in the USA. Growing up in Detroit, Marks studied

classical piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

and learned to play

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

at age 13. He graduated from

Messiah College Messiah University is a private interdenominational evangelical Christian university in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. History The school was founded as Messiah Bible School and Missionary Training Home in 1909 by the Brethren in Christ Church. O ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

in 1971. While in college he was the drummer in a contemporary Christian group, the Fellowship.

Career

Marks began performing for

Billy Graham William Franklin Graham Jr. (November 7, 1918 – February 21, 2018) was an American evangelist and an ordained Southern Baptist minister who became well known internationally in the late 1940s. He was a prominent evangelical Christi ...

's Afterglow Concert Series. In 1981 he participated in a project called "Premiere Performance" by

Myrrh Records __NOTOC__ Myrrh Records (also known as Myrrh Worship) was an American Christian music record label. According to ''Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music'', the label was instrumental in developing a popular following for contemporary Christian ...

. His song was on an album with songs by various artists and an invitation for buyers to vote for their favorite who would then be offered a full contract with the Christian recording label. Marks was the fans choice. Marks' first album ''Follow Him'' was released on Myrrh Records in 1982. With his second album 1984's ''Right Where You Are'', he began to find his own definitive style as an artist and wanting to sing about relationships. In the 1990s, Marks became a host on the

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

based Shop at Home TV Network.

Music

Jeannie and Johnny, a fictitious Franklin High School couple created by Marks, appear on his albums ''Attitude'' (1985) and ''Make It Right'' (1987). In the song, "Growing Up Too Fast" they are two individual kids dealing separately with emotions and impulses. In "The Party's Over, they meet at a party and get together in the back seat of Johnny's car, resulting in a

pregnancy Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring develops ( gestates) inside a woman's uterus (womb). A multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins. Pregnancy usually occurs by sexual intercourse, but ca ...

that robs them of their carefree teenage lifestyle. On the album ''Another Friday Night'', with the song, "Next Time You See Johnny", Johnny has left Jeannie with their son, who is who's old enough to hurt over Daddy's leaving, and innocent enough to hold forgiveness in his heart for Johnny. "Fire of Forgiveness" is the fourth and final song, a reflection of Johnny looking back on his life. He sang another song "Friends", which was the theme song for the dramatic segment on the series '' Fire by Nite'' called "Friends". The song "Say a Prayer for Me Tonight" reflects on a true story when a young man named Richard talked to Marks after a concert in

on his ''Make It Right'' tour and asked Marks to pray for him and then shared some songs he had written. Three weeks later Marks learned that Richard had committed suicide. "White Dress", which began as a song for Marks' daughter Allegra on her first birthday, tells the story of a girl growing up abandoned by her father, and then becoming a mother.

Personal life

Marks was married to Pamela Marks for twenty-four years; she co-wrote some of his songs. They divorced in 1997. Marks died of a heart attack on October 31, 2018.

Discography

* ''Follow Him'' 1982 * ''Right Where You Are'' 1984 * ''Attitude'' 1986 * ''Make It Right'' 1987 * ''Another Friday Night'' 1990 * ''Fire of Forgiveness'' 1992 * ''Absolutely Positively'' 1994 * ''World Gone Mad'' 1995 * ''Best That I Can'' 2015

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marks, Kenny 2018 deaths 1950 births American male singers Singers from Detroit Messiah University alumni American gospel singers American people of Yugoslav descent