Mark Eitzel

Mark Eitzel (born January 30, 1959) is an American musician, best known as a songwriter and lead singer of the San Francisco band American Music Club.^[2][3]

Biography

Eitzel spent his formative years in a military family living in Okinawa, Taiwan, Ohio and the United Kingdom.^[4] He moved to San Francisco in 1979, and came out as gay in 1985.^[5][6]

He started making music while he was a teenager in Southampton, England. His first band was a punk band called the Cowboys when he moved to Columbus, Ohio, at 19. They released one single in 1980. His second band was called The Naked Skinnies^[7] and they released one single in 1981. He moved to San Francisco with The Naked Skinnies in 1981 where they disbanded in 1982. Eitzel formed American Music Club (AMC) in San Francisco in 1982. The band performed and created albums for twelve years. At one point, Eitzel also sang with San Francisco's Toiling Midgets, and often recorded solo work while involved in AMC.

American Music Club disbanded in 1994, and Eitzel focused on his solo career, releasing

Eitzel released more music in 2001, beginning with a more electronic turn in The Invisible Man^[9] on Matador Records. This was followed by two covers projects in 2002: Music for Courage and Confidence,^[10] which was material written by other songwriters, and The Ugly American,^[11] an album which included reinterpretations of American Music Club songs performed with a band of traditional and non traditional Greek musicians.

American Music Club reformed in 2003 for a sold out show at the