Mark Eddinger

Mark Eddinger
Mark Eddinger in 1991, New York City. Photograph by Bob Gruen
Background information
Born	(1958-12-11) December 11, 1958 (age 58) Santa Rosa, California, United States
Genres	Rock, pop, jazz, R&B
Occupation(s)	Musician, producer, music executive
Instruments	Piano, keyboards, synthesizers
Years active	1977–present
Labels	Chrysalis Records, Warner Bros Records
Associated acts	Cliff Richard, Bill Champlin, Butthole Surfers
Notable instruments
Piano, Moog Modular System 55, Kurzweil and Oberheim synthesizers

Mark Eddinger is an American keyboardist, composer, arranger, music producer, record company executive, and music and entertainment industry consultant. Eddinger is also involved as an executive and consultant in other business sectors unrelated to the entertainment industry.

Mark Eddinger was born in Santa Rosa, California on December 11, 1958. He began studying classical piano at the age of 5 under Frances Kelly, a student of classical composer Sergei Prokofiev. He continued his studies and competed in several young pianists competitions. Although unpopular in the strict classical music circles, Eddinger became interested in rock music and in particular analog synthesizers. While still studying under Kelly, and later with Sonoma County pianist Norma Brown, he began studying analog synthesizer programming with analog synthesizer pioneer Patrick Gleeson. In the summer of 1975 while traveling in England with a close friend, he met Peter Bardens of the band Camel and producer Alan Tarney, both of whom he would work with in later years.

While living in Las Vegas in 1977 and again in 1980 and 1981, Eddinger worked primarily as a musician and producer. He performed live with acts including Lola Falana and Sadler and Young, recorded with artists including Sam Butera and Doc Severinsen, and worked with producers including Brooks Arthur and George Richey. The bulk of his recording and production work during this period took place at Las Vegas Recording Studio, a facility owned by Hank Castro, Chips Davis (a pioneer of Live End – Dead End (LEDE) acoustic technology), and Mel and Sheila Godfrey. Eddinger was working at this studio during the time that Las Vegas Recording Studio was being developed into the Live End-Dead End prototype studio, and therefore was one of the first people to produce and record using this acoustic technology.

In early 1980, Eddinger co-founded Worldwide Entertainment, one of the premier independent promotion companies in the music industry. During his tenure with Worldwide, Eddinger created and directed regional promotional campaigns for over 30 artists including Aretha Franklin, Fleetwood Mac, Toto, Van Halen, David Bowie, Grateful Dead, Journey, AC/DC and Heart. The company was sold to WEA in the Fall of 1981, and Eddinger was retained by WEA as a consultant following the sale. He also worked briefly for Warner Bros. Records in 1982 and for Columbia Records in 1984. Eddinger moved to New York City late in 1984. Over the past 25 years, Eddinger has served as president of two independent record labels, AudioTone Records from 1986–1988 and InVision Records in 2000. Eddinger has provided consulting services to a wide variety of companies in the music and entertainment industries including Sony Music, BMG, Warner Bros. Records, MCA Records, Warner/Chappell Music, ASCAP, and the RIAA, and has been a trusted advisor and consultant to many music industry executives, managers, attorneys and recording artists. He is a voting member of National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, a founding member of Digital Audio Consortium and a member of the Audio Engineering Society. He has conducted master classes at Berklee College of Music and the Juilliard School, and has taught graduate courses and seminars relating to the music industry at Brigham Young University, UCLA and NYU.