David Marks (musician)

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David Lee Marks (born August 22, 1948) is a songwriter and musician.

Marks was part of the original Beach Boys line-up that was signed to Capitol Records in 1962. David Marks played rhythm guitar and sang harmony vocals. Marks moved in across the street from the family home of young Brian Wilson in 1956 and began playing music with the family soon after. By 1958, David Marks and Brian's younger brother Carl had begun to develop their own style of playing guitars and Brian soon realized the contemporary feel Carl and David brought to his original compositions. Though at thirteen he was too young to participate on the band's first single, Surfin', which was a local hit in early 1962, Marks would eventually play on the first five Beach Boys albums which incude some of the Beach Boys' greatest hits from 1962's Surfin' Safari and Surfin' USA, Surfer Girl & Little Deuce Coupe as well. While his time in the band may have been short, the impact of those earliest years of the Beach Boys success on popular music is undeniable.

Although it is often assumed Marks left the Beach Boys because Al Jardine wanted to return to the band, this is not the case. Marks and Jardine were both part of the 1963 touring line-up. Jardine's return to the Beach Boys came as a part-time replacement on bass for Brian Wilson, who left the road to focus on writing music for a short period in the spring and early summer of 1963 before returning to the road in July. Marks quit the band at the end of the 1963, following an argument with the band's notoriously difficult manager Murry Wilson, and Al Jardine was hired to play rhythm guitar for the first time.

After the Beach Boys, David Marks formed Dave & the Marksmen, one of the first acts to be signed to Herb Alpert's A&M Records. Later, the group signed with Warner Brothers. In 1966 David worked with Casey Kasem's Band Without a Name. He then worked with the late 60s psych-pop band, The Moon along with Matt Moore and Larry Brown. The band released two albums on the Imperial label. Marks also studied jazz and classical guitar as a private student at the Berklee School of Music and the New England Conservatory, and worked as a session player and live performer with many noted artists.

After the 1971 departure of Beach Boy Bruce Johnston, Marks received an offer to rejoin the band as a bass guitarist but he declined. Marks did eventually join Mike Love's "new" Beach Boys in 1997, but left in 1999 due to health related issues. He continues to work as a musician, and tours with various bands.

Marks has also spoken in national media, discussing his struggle with Hepatitis C which he contracted some time ago.