Mark Ryan (2 March 1959 – 31 January 2011) was an English guitarist who played in different punk bands during the late 1970s. He was born in

Tottenham Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Waltham ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, to an Irish Catholic family. His father was a university lecturer and his mother was a nurse and midwife. Ryan left school at sixteen, working in factories and dedicating his spare time to music. In 1977, after being in a number of experimental punk bands, he joined The Ants, replacing

Lester Square : ''For the London landmark, see Leicester Square.'' Lester Square (born Thomas Hardy, 17 April 1954, Canada) is the former lead guitarist for The Monochrome Set. He joined the first incarnation of Adam and the Ants as lead guitarist , (and its ...

, to complete the line-up who debuted live at the ICA restaurant in May, and recorded ''Plastic Surgery'' and a number of demos with the band. After appearing with the band in the

Derek Jarman Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman (31 January 1942 – 19 February 1994) was an English artist, film maker, costume designer, stage designer, writer, gardener and gay rights activist. Biography Jarman was born at the Royal Victoria Nursing Home ...

movie ''

Jubilee A jubilee is a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term is often now used to denote the celebrations associated with the reign of a monarch after a milestone number of y ...

'' (released in July 1977) Ryan was fired in October 1977, shortly before the band lengthened their name to the more familiar Adam and the Ants. Subsequently, he joined

The Photons The Photons was a punk/ new wave band active between 1977 and 1978. They are most notable for their vocalist Steve Strange, who went on to form Visage. Two of Visage's early singles, "Tar" and "Mind of a Toy", were originally Photons' songs ...

, and was involved with

The Moors Murderers The Moors murders were carried out by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley between July 1963 and October 1965, in and around Manchester, England. The victims were five children—Pauline Reade, John Kilbride, Keith Bennett, Lesley Ann Downey, and Edward E ...

. The vocalist in both bands was

Steve Strange Stephen John Harrington (28 May 1959 – 12 February 2015), known professionally as Steve Strange, was a Welsh singer. From the late 1970s he was a nightclub host and promoter. He became famous as the leader of the new wave synth-pop group ...

, who later became the singer of Visage. He also was in King, alongside The Damned's

Captain Sensible Raymond Ian Burns (born 24 April 1954), known by the stage name Captain Sensible, is an English singer, songwriter and guitarist. Captain Sensible co-founded the punk rock band The Damned (band), the Damned, originally playing bass before switc ...

. From 1985 to 1989, Ryan attended the

Dartington College of Arts Dartington College of Arts was a specialist arts college located at Dartington Hall in the south-west of England, offering courses at degree and postgraduate level together with an arts research programme. It existed for a period of almost 50 ...

, earning a bachelor's degree in music in 1989. He turned his interest in performance to the theatre and began a successful career as a writer for the stage based in Cardiff, Wales. He is the author of ''The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde As Told To Carl Jung by an Inmate of Broadmoor Asylum'', first produced in 1998.

Death

Ryan lived in

Heath, Cardiff Heath ( cy, Y Mynydd Bychan) is a district, community and coterminous electoral ward in the north of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It is a predominantly affluent area with property prices being the third highest in the city. The area is known fo ...

, Wales for many years until his death there on 31 January 2011, aged 51. Ryan had suffered from ill-health, and succumbed to complications caused by liver damage.

References

External links

Punk77: Mark Ryan aka The Kid
Interview about The Moors Murderers {{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, Mark 1959 births 2011 deaths 20th-century British dramatists and playwrights Adam and the Ants members English punk rock guitarists English male guitarists English people of Irish descent Deaths from liver disease English male dramatists and playwrights People from Tottenham