Mark Wakefield is an American singer-songwriter and manager born in 31 May 1974. He is known for being the manager of band Taproot and for being the former vocalist of Xero, the band that would eventually become Linkin Park.
Biography[]
Wakefield met Mike Shinoda in high school and joined the band, who were at that time called Xero, and later recorded the self-titled Xero sampler tape, their first EP featuring the songs: "Fuse", "Reading My Eyes", "Stick N' Move" and "Rhinestone".
Before quitting the band, Mark and the rest of Xero are known to have played 11 shows as opening acts for System Of A Down, and Bredrin Daddys, among others.
The band had so much of a lack of success and stalemate that, eventually, following a public showcase at the Whiskey A Go Go on December 10, 1998 that went horribly, Wakefield, at that time the band's vocalist, left the band, and went on in search of other projects thereafter. Chester Bennington later joined the band as its new main vocalist in March of 1999 after auditioning for the band on his birthday in 1999.
Work[]
Although Wakefield left Xero, he was credited as lyricist in some songs from Linkin Park's debut album Hybrid Theory including "Runaway", "A Place for My Head" and "Forgotten".
In 2001, Wakefield was responsible for the artwork of System of a Down's 'Toxicity' album[1]. Wakefield has now been working at a record label called VelvetHammer, he has been working over there for around 20 years.
1998 - Clip)
In 2019, was leaked online a video of Xero performing live with Wakefield as vocalist at "Whisky a Go-Go", around 1998.
Songwriting credits[]
- Xero
- A Place for My Head (Esaul)
- Forgotten (Rhinestone)
- Fuse
- Pictureboard
- Runaway
- Reading My Eyes
- Slip
- Stick and Move
- Coal
- As a soloist
- Ground Xero
- Barack Your World (as White Pegacorn) (with Mike Shinoda)