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, London, 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 e ...

, 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 movie '' Jubilee'' (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, and was involved with The Moors Murderers. The vocalist in both bands was Steve Strange, who later became the singer of

Visage Visage may refer to: *A synonym of face *Visage Mobile, an American software as a service company *Visage, Georgia, a community in the United States * ''Visage'' (film), also known as ''Face'', a 2009 French film * ''Visage'' (video game), a surv ...

. He also was in King, alongside The Damned's Captain Sensible. 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, 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