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Mark Johnson Biography (By Ron Lord)
I wanted to write this biography because I probably know as much about Mark, after almost 30 years of friendship, as anybody, but also because I wanted people to know the real Mark; The Mark that he is too humble to tell you about. He is as genuine a person as I've ever known and I hope to show you that.
Mark was born January 10th a long, long time ago in Buffalo, New York. When he was a young child his family moved to Kennedy New York where his Grandmother had purchased a nudist colony. No, it wasn't a nudist colony anymore but from what we understand Grandma was a member. Mark lived in a cabin with his three brothers and his mother.  Things were very tight and as a single mom, his mother worked two sometimes three jobs just to make ends meet.
As a teenager, Mark aspired to be a stuntman and practiced regularly on his property. He started jumping and generally being crazy on bicycles but quickly graduated to motorcycles and cars. He and his buddy's would hold regular smash up derby's and motocross races where they would try and perfect their smashing and jumping! This all went over quite well with his Mother by the way (not!). I tried to join them but I am the world's worst motorcycle rider and after driving Mark's Yamaha 250 up a telephone pole, Mark gave up trying to teach me (thank you).
Around this time, music entered Mark's life. He wanted to play drums and sing. Something about music allowed him to escape the poverty and difficult times at home. For fun he used to frequent the local skating rink (Evan's Skateland) and in his usual fashion, he was good at it. It was here where Mark and I met. I was younger than him but I could do a double jump and Mark could only do a one and half jump so that's what led us to become friends. I was also a guitar player and songwriter. In Mark's words "Ron was the best guitar player I had ever seen and he wrote songs too!" That's not to say I was any good at guitar, I was just the best he had seen at the time. Anyway, we started jamming together. Neither of us would know that some thirty years later, we would still be friends.
In school, Mark was popular but not a very good student. It turns out he was diagnosed with dyslexia so school was a challenge for him. He graduated from Frewsburg High School in Frewsburg New York by the skin of his teeth and set out to conquer the world. Oh wait a minute, that's someone else's story. After school, Mark worked his butt off at a local factory. I can remember going up to his house to jam and seeing paystubs with 110 hours on them! I thought he was crazy but he didn't want the rest of his life to be like the poverty of his childhood and it drove him to work hard. Mark wanted to achieve something and he was not afraid to work for it (he's still not). Mark sang with several local bands and in 1988, he joined a band called Tayor.
Click here to see a rare video of Mark and Ron in Tayor (.mov 13megs)
They quickly gained local recognition and when they needed a guitar player Mark recruited me. I'm not ashamed to say that I felt Mark had what it takes to be a star so I jumped on his coattails. Together we played all the local places, did TV shows, shot videos, recorded demos and generally tried to be stars. We were doing quite well but we had a falling out with the other band members and we left.
It was 1989 and Mark was working at another local factory when his boss (Howard) called him into the office and asked him to look out at the shop and tell him what he saw. Mark didn't know what Howard was getting at so Howard told him what you see out there is you in twenty years! He said, "Mark, you don't belong here, this is not you. Get out of here and follow your dreams while you still can." To this day, Mark is still grateful to Howard for showing him the way. Little did I know how much this conversation would affect my life. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was sitting at the kitchen table at our apartment on Foote Avenue in Jamestown, New York when Mark came busting in and said "I'm moving to Florida, do you want to go?" I said without hesitation "sure" and we went to Florida. Another friend Al went with us. When we got there, we found out that we could not stay at the place we thought we could so we were homeless! Great start to our new lives. Mark wanted to move to Florida because Disney and Universal were there. He thought he could work as a stunt man at one of these places but after going through the interview orientation and finding out that they would only pay $6 per/hour and wanted him to cut his hair, he decided against it. We stayed wherever we could and worked wherever we could. The first house that we rented turned out to be subleased to us illegally (which we didn't know about) and we were escorted out by the police. It's a good thing we were young and too stupid to know enough to go home.
 While driving around one day, Mark saw a castle. He thought it looked really cool so we stopped in to see what it was all about. That was Medieval Times in Kissimmee. Mark immediately went and talked to the head knight Tim, and asked what it took to be a knight. Tim asked Mark if he had any riding experience and Mark said "I've been riding for nine years!" What Mark meant was nine years ago I rode a donkey once. Tim said "ok, get on and show me." I remember trying not to laugh my but off as that horse bounced Mark all over the arena. Tim, of course, knew that Mark wasn't a rider but he liked the fact that Mark was bold enough to try so he hired him. That was the beginning of Mark's career as a knight for Medieval Times. During the next seven years Mark traveled all over the country, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico doing shows for thousands of fans. He loved being a knight. He was in show business and he was a stuntman. Dreams do come true and although he loved what he did, he still had dreams of becoming a professional musician.
It was in 1994 while in Puerto Rico doing shows for Medieval Times that Marks entire life changed. Mark and his boss Tim went out to the ocean for a swim and Mark got caught in a rip tide. Now Mark is not a particularly good swimmer and he doesn't really care for swimming in the ocean (to many creepy things that bite according to him) so why he was out there is beyond me. At any rate, Mark was out there and he was in trouble. Lifeguards have a tough time getting out of a rip tide so Mark was in real trouble. He has told me of the experience - "I was going under. I was out of strength and I had tunnel vision." The powerful rip tide had carried him about two miles from shore so his friends could not see or hear him. Mark Johnson was facing his demise in an ocean off the coast of Puerto Rico. Mark said "I cried out to God. I said God if you save me, I swear I will follow you." The next thing Mark knew he was washing ashore and still alive!
Mark says of that day - "I should have died and I began to wonder did God really save me?" Mark had made a promise and with that day still fresh in his mind and unnerving his core, he picked up the Bible. Now if you recall, Mark is dyslexic and as it turns out, this has been a hidden gift in Mark's life. You see being dyslexic forces Mark to read in a way that the rest of us don't. It forces him to visualize and analyze anything that he reads or he cannot retain it. So Mark began to read the Bible. Genesis, chapter one, verse one - "In the beginning…" Mark closed his eyes and tried to picture the beginning. He could not do it. "In the beginning God…" Mark closed his eyes and tried to picture God. "There He is the big guy with the beard and the robe. Wait a minute, that's not Him. I've never seen Him and neither has anyone else! So how is Moses writing about a God he's never seen and a beginning he wasn't at?!?" Mark was already frustrated and he hadn't gotten past the first four words! To make a long story short, Mark went on like this until he got to the third verse. Then he slammed the book shut! Frustrated and dejected Mark began to talk to God and God answered him that day by showing him and helping him understand what he had just read. That was 14 years ago and Mark has not stopped talking to God since. I can tell you as his friend, that Mark has a way of understanding and explaining the Bible in ways that leave you shaking your head. It is because of the gifts that God bestowed upon Mark and his desire to do God's will that myself and countless others have been given the greatest gift a human can give - salvation. Did God save Mark's life that day in Puerto Rico? I know Mark. I've seen him swim and I know what a rip tide is. I believe that 14 years ago, in the ocean off of San Juan Puerto Rico, God did save Mark Johnson's life. I'm glad he did. I don't know what I would do without my best friend and I don't know where my life would be if Mark wasn't here.
That day changed my friend Mark. It's not as though he was a bad person before that day but he definitely had his faults and did some stupid things. God has done miracles in Mark's life and I need to look no farther than my friend Mark to know that God is real. It has not been all easy sailing (pardon the pun) for Mark. In many ways, following God's will has been the hardest thing he has ever done. I know this is supposed to be a short biography telling you about all the wonderful things that Mark has done, but I know Mark and I know God, and of all his accomplishments, surrendering to God's will is without comparison his greatest achievement.
You see, most people want to talk about what they've done. Mark wants to talk about what God has done. Mark has done a lot since that day in Puerto Rico. He won the Mister Romance Title, appeared on two episodes of Walker, Texas Ranger, appeared in Wishbone the TV show, appeared on countless TV talk shows including, Sally Jessie Rafael and James Robinson's show. He's done book covers, appeared in countless newspaper articles, done several movies, performed in the Batman Stunt show, performed in several other stunt shows and with his former band Cornerstone, has even had his music played on the radio.
Currently he owns his own business making custom cabinets (www.creationcabinets.com). Mark figures if Jesus was a carpenter, that's good enough for him. That's quite a resume for a poor boy from a nudist colony in Kennedy, New York!
Mark still has a dream and that dream is to reach as many people as humanly possible with the gift of God. This current CD release is filled with uplifting and joyful music that tells the story of the human relationship with God. I may be bias but I have spent over 600 hours mixing and preparing this CD for release and I can tell you that I still enjoy listening to it. I can also tell you as Mark's friend that his sincere desire is for this music to touch people in a positive way and hopefully bring them closer to God. He has worked his butt off (in ways that you wouldn't believe if I told you) to do God's will and to bring you this music and I know that he sincerely hopes it brings you joy.
God bless you,
Mark's friend Ron
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Click here to email Mark
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Click CD cover to order CD.
To order click on the CD picture above or click the Store button on the main menu at the top of the page.
Thanks and God Bless,
Mark
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