BrownMark Announces Memoir, “My Life in the Purple Kingdom”
Former Prince and The Revolution bassist BrownMark has announced he’ll be publishing a memoir this fall. My Life in the Purple Kingdom will chronicle the bassist’s musical beginnings and call into stardom.
“In the summer of 1981, Mark Brown was a teenager at a 7-11 store when he wasn’t rehearsing with his high school band, Phantasy,” a press release explains. “Come fall, Brown, now called BrownMark, was onstage with Prince at the Los Angeles Coliseum, opening for the Rolling Stones in front of 90,000 people.”
Born and raised in Minneapolis, BrownMark would be a staple of Prince’s band until 1986 and performed on Purple Rain, Parade, and Around the World in a Day. He would eventually score his own contract with Motown and more recently has rejoined The Revolution to celebrate the late singer.
“BrownMark describes how his funky stylings earned him a reputation (leading to Prince’s call) and how he and Prince first played together—and never really stopped,” the release adds. “An inspiring memoir of making it against stacked odds, experiencing extreme highs and lows of success and pain, and breaking racial barriers, ‘My Life in the Purple Kingdom’ is also the story of a young man learning his craft and honing his skills like any musician, but in a world like no other and in a way that only BrownMark could tell.”
BrownMark’s memoir is co-written with Cynthia M. Uhrich and features a foreword by Questlove. It will be available in September 2020.
