
Mark Josephs - TGF Founder
2017 Inductee - TGF Founder
2017 Inductee - TGF Founder
MARK JOSEPHS - the founder of the Tenor Guitar Foundation
Mark Elliott Josephs, was born on December 19, 1949, and died on January 18, 2016. He was born and raised in Ventnor, New Jersey, and resided in both Los Angeles and Astoria at the time of his death. Mark graduated from Atlantic City High School, attended Atlantic Community College, and the University of Miami.
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Mark started playing guitar when he was young. The first band Mark was in was called The Four Guys. One of the guys was Seth Justman, who went on to be in the J. Geils Band. After that, he was in The Wazoos with Harvey Schrier. He was in other bands, like The Super Jam Blues Band, The Gingerbread Express, and Cadillac Jack. Mark was in The Lew London Trio, and played at the Philadelphia Folk Festival, college campuses, and opened for Ann Murray, Ry Cooder and Don McLean in Saratoga Springs, New York. The Lew London Trio opened up other famous performers, and played in festivals that often featured historic blues players. That's how Mark learned the riffs that characterized his guitar and harmonica performances. He loved the music and that process of learning from the "old timers" and passing it along to the "youngsters," their music and their stories.
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He was a six- string guitar player, harmonica player and singer-songwriter. He wrote over 300 songs. Later in life, Mark fell in love with the sound of the four string tenor guitar. When he started searching the internet on the tenor guitar, he found little information, so he and a few others started the Tenor Guitar Registry, and a website that led to TenorGuitar.org.
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It was a labor of love for him, and he involved many local people and venues into making the event a successful one. Mark got the mayor to sing, and proclaim Astoria to be the Unofficial Tenor Guitar Capitol of the World, along with subsequent mayors.
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Mark loved people and music, and his enthusiasm and zest for life made him an unforgettable person. He was warm, creative and artistic. Besides writing over 300 songs, he had written short stories, and a children’s book.
Mark was living in Los Angeles, and worked at Cedars Sinai Hospital as a unit clerk. He frequently played his ukulele for cancer patients. Sadly, he never had a colonoscopy, and died of colon cancer. At the time of his death, Mark was planning and organizing the 2016 Tenor Guitar Gathering. He was inducted in to the Tenor Guitar Hall of Fame in 2017.
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