MARK BOALS ( Yngwie J. Malmsteen,Royal Hunt)
Mark Boals is an American hard rock/progressive metal singer noted most for his work with Yngwie J. Malmsteen. Mark was born on December 5 1958 (or 1959), in Youngstown, Ohio, USA. As a young child he learned to play the piano and bass guitar, but he is best known for his singing abilities: Mark is known as a master of the soprano high A (A5) note, which he hits in many songs. This is a difficult note for many singers, and Mark is one of the few to have mastery of it. Although Boals has never had any vocal lessons or training, as a teenager he gained a lot of experience as a vocalist in local groups (for example in Jasmine at 14 years old). Mark Boals is the founder and vocalist for the band Ring of Fire. His newest contribution as a singer is the vocalist seat of Danish neoclassical/progressive metal act Royal Hunt, which he inherited from John West.
1982 Mark Boals joined the legendary blues band "Savoy Brown" and in 1982-83, they were touring around Canada and the USA. Together they had written several songs but they never recorded an album (had problems with concluding a contract with a recording company). Also during these years Boals performed in his band "Lazer".
Mark joined Ted Nugent's band as a bass guitarist in 1984 and toured throughout the U.S. In 1985 he joined Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force and performed on "Trilogy". After leaving Yngwie in 1986, Mark has been working for 10 years out of the music eye. He gave up music at first time, but later returned to it and recorded with Mike Slamer a soundtrack to "White Water Summer" movie at 1987. Also he appeared at Maestro Alex Gregory's "Paganini's Last Stand" (1992) and Billionaires Boys Club's album "Something Wicked Comes" (1993).
Then in 1996 Yngwie Malmsteen called Boals and asked if he want to perform on several songs in the cover album, "Inspiration". Mark accepted his suggestion and also, he resumed his role as vocalist with Yngwie Malmsteen for the album "Alchemy" showing amazing vocals on songs such as "Leonardo". The band subsequently went on tour.
In March 2000, Mark Boals won the No.1 Vocalist Prize in the Japanese music magazines "Burrn" and "Young Guitar". At the end of that year, on the same day, his second solo CD, entitled Ring Of Fire and Yngwie Malmsteen's "War To End All Wars", with Mark on vocals, were released. However, after many years of musical magic and friendship, the team of Yngwie Malmsteen and Mark Boals had decided to move in different directions, and Mark formed a new band, Ring of Fire, named after his solo album. At the beginning of this year, Ring of Fire recorded their subsequent "debut" "The Oracle" album at the George Bellas Studios in Chicago. Alongside Mark are George Bellas, Vitalij Kuprij, Virgil Donati and Philip Bynoe.
In addition Mark has participated in two exciting projects of Lion Music in Finland. He appears on the Jason Becker tribute "Warmth in the Wilderness", singing a version of David Lee Roth's "Hammerhead Shark" with Lars Eric Mattsson. Speaking about Mattsson, in 2005 he also recorded an album "War" with Mark Boals lead singing on track "Deep In The Shadows". As Yngwie Malmsteen urgently needed a singer for his current tour, Mark has toured again with him in Europe, but only as guest vocalist.
Also Mark is featured on vocals on two songs, "Into The Light" and "I Will Always Be There", for the Empire CD "Hypnotica" (2001). Another cool project where Mark took part in, was "Genius Rock Opera" Trilogy by Daniele Liverani. There he was recording as the main character (Genius) on Episode 1: A human into dreams' world (2002) and Episode 2: In search of the little prince (2004). But he refused to sing on the last Episode because of personal reasons and was replaced by D. C. Cooper. In 2004 Mark Boals recorded two songs for young Japanese guitarist named Takayoshi Ohmura. Ohmura's debut album, entitled "Nowhere To Go", features additional guest appearances by Doogie White (Yngwie Malmsteen, Cornerstone, ex-Rainbow) and Richie Kotzen (ex-Mr. Big, Poison). Commented Boals:
After I was asked by the representatives of Omura, I listened to his demo. I thought his music was good and he has a talent to play guitar, and I thought it'd be great to support this young Japanese musician. I also thought it would be great to share the vocals with the other singers, Richie Kotzen and Doogie White, so I recorded two songs here in L.A. and sent them to Japan.
Boals has also performed with Lana Lane, Indigo Dying, Empire and Chris Brooks.
In recent years Mark Boals recorded 3 solo albums as well as 3 studio albums and one live DVD with his own band, "Ring Of Fire". The latest project album is entitled "The Codex", which Mark recorded with Magnus Karlsson in 2007. The album project marks the return to recording after a 3 years hiatus for Mark Boals.
In the summer of 2007 Mark started looking for a serious, permanent band situation and Royal Hunt became a perfect opportunity for a singer to exploit and expand his vocal abilities.
In 2008 Mark appeared on Uli Jon Roth's album tittled "Under A Dark Sky" Mark shared vocal duties with Liz Vandall. The band with Mark toured the world from July - Dec 2008!
Discography
Solo albums
* Ignition (1998)
* Ring of Fire (2000)
* Edge of the World (2002)
Yngwie J. Malmsteen
* Trilogy (1986)
* Collection (1991)
* Inspiration (1996)
* Alchemy (1999)
* War to End All Wars (2000)
* Anthology 1994-1999 (2000)
Maestro Alex Gregory
* Paganini's Last Stand (1992)
Billionaires Boys Club
* Something Wicked Comes (1993)
Thread
* Thread (1996)[6]
Lana Lane
* Project Shangri-La (2002)
Erik Norlander
* Music Machine (2003)
Ring of Fire
* The Oracle (2001)
* Burning Live in Tokyo - live album (2002)
* Dreamtower (2003)
* Lapse of Reality (2004)
Empire
* Hypnotica (2001)
Genius: A Rock Opera
* Part 1: A Human into Dreams' World (2002)
* Part 2: In Search of the Little Prince (2004)
Takayoshi Ohmura
* Nowhere To Go (2004)
* Emotions In Motion (2007)
Lars Eric Mattsson
* War (2005)
Indigo Dying
* Indigo Dying (2007)
The Codex
* The Codex (2007)
Royal Hunt
* Paradox II: Collision Course (2008)
* TBA (2009)
Uli Jon Roth
* Under A Dark Sky (Sky of Avalon) (2008)
Tribute albums
* Dragon Attack: A Tribute to Queen (1997)
* We Will Rock You: A Tribute to Queen (2000)
* Warmth In The Wilderness: A Tribute To Jason Becker (2001)
* 24/7/365: A Tribute To Led Zeppelin (2007)
Soundtracks
* "Restless heart" from the film "White Water Summer" (1987)
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