Mark is the founding member of Mulligan Stew. The band started as an offshoot for him and his friend’s Rich Trumbo & Bob Stern while playing folk music together in the mid-seventies. On his first trip to Ireland back in 1977, Mark fell in love with his rediscovered heritage and the music. The transition from Folk to Celtic was very quick and soon they were playing in the emerging Chicago Irish Music Scene. Mark’s musical legacy comes from the church choirs he has belonged to and his Lane Tech High School Music Teacher, George Rico. This lead him to the American Conservatory of Music where he studied Voice with Frances Ernest & Walter Kirchner and Composition with William Ferris which has helped him in the arrangements for the band as well as the original compositions he has composed.