Mark started out as many agents did - in the mailroom of the William Morris Agency's New York office in 1965. His tasks were shared with other mail room participants of that time. David Geffen, Jeff Wald, AI DiMarino and Elliot Roberts were some who became more distinguished among them. He was paid $50 a week and lived inexpensively in Greenwich Village. Since those days he has had the good fortune of knowing and working with many top (and legendary) industry people. Among them Don Kirschner, Clive Davis, Ahmet Ertegun, Bill Graham, Frank Barsalona, Herb Spar, Walter "Herbie" Herbert, Bill Elson, Tom Ross, Norby Walters, Nick Caris, John Dittmar, Burt Stein and AI Nalli.
Through the years Mark has represented numerous major musical attractions. Many were unknown at first and Mark contributed significantly to their success. Names such as B. B. King, The Scorpions, The Allman Brothers and Ted Nugent were among them. Those that he has been more directly responsible for are Quiet Riot ("with 'Metal Health' Pasha/EPA Records, I had the honor of sharing both a No.1 album and No.1 single with them." They are still his clients to this day), Journey (the Columbia Records Look Into The Future & Next lineup), The Romantics ("with whom I had the pleasure of having the No.2 single in the country, 'Talking In Your Sleep' and the timeless hit 'What I Like About You' on Nemperor Records. I first found the band playing in bowling alleys and clubs in Detroit"), Autograph (big hit with their album Sign In on RCA and the hit single "Turn Up The Radio"), Blackfoot, (big hits with "Highway Song" and "Train Train" from the Atco Records album Strikes) and more Skid Row, Luxx, Blue October, Slaughter, UFO, M S G I Michael Schenker Group and Vince Neil. Although Mark has booked many many more, these are the artists he has worked with most closely.
Based in Brooklyn, Michigan, Ashley Talent International, LLC books its' exclusive clients and package tours all over the world. Aside from domestic shows, events have been placed in such varying locations as Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Chile, Venezuela, Mexico, Canada, and elsewhere. Today, events booked by A.T.I. number in the thousands.
"We have what we believe to be a wonderful and innovative company with a great roster of excellent exclusive clients," says Mark. "We have a fabulous team of truly devoted people. Our staff concentrates on booking personal appearances, pursuing record deals, publishing deals, merchandise and sponsorship deals as well as working on new artist development. But the most important thing is the client. The client comes first, always. We pride ourselves on devoting our time to our clients 24-7.
Mark's (our) growing roster includes: Blackfoot, Genitorturers, King's X, ACCEPT (North America only) Rickey Medlocke of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Sweet, The Outfit, Molly Hatchet, Nik 11 & The Rock Never Stops Tour.
Mark is the principal of Ashley Talent International, LLC.