737 - THE SPECTER (Mark St. John)

 

 

 

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KISS, MARK ST JOHN, DANGER ZONE, ECLIPSE, SWEET, JAMIE FRESH, KORTINI, NO FAVORS, SERIOUS BLACK, KEN TAMPLIN, COMPANY OF SNAKES, MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP, RICHIE KOTZEN, JOEY C JONES, VOLTAGE ARC, ELECTRIC HIGH, SEETHER, THE KEEP, WHITE TIGER

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KISS, MARK ST JOHN, DANGER ZONE, ECLIPSE, SWEET, JAMIE FRESH, KORTINI, NO FAVORS, SERIOUS BLACK, KEN TAMPLIN, COMPANY OF SNAKES, MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP, RICHIE KOTZEN, JOEY C JONES, VOLTAGE ARC, ELECTRIC HIGH, SEETHER, THE KEEP, WHITE TIGER

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ROCKSTORY

"(KISS - MARK ST. JOHN)"

"“Mark Leslie Norton AKA Mark St. John, was born February 7, 1956. Prior to joining Kiss in 1984, St. John worked as a teacher and played guitar in a Southern California cover band called Front Page. Guitar maker Grover Jackson helped St. John get in touch with Paul Stanley in early 1984. He was selected as Kiss' new lead guitarist after an audition, and he subsequently signed a five-year contract with the band, replacing Vinnie Vincent. During the mid-1984 recording sessions for Animalize, St. John clashed with his new band-mates frequently. Drummer Eric Carr said later that "as soon as he joined the band we knew that there was a problem", even before he had played his first live show with Kiss. The guitarist was "over-qualified" according to Carr, and his talent caused him to behave arrogantly in the studio. Stanley said , they had tremendous difficulty writing and recording guitar solos for Animalize, with St. John often being unable to play the same thing twice if a second take was required. Kiss issued a press release stating that St. John had developed severe reactive arthritis and was unable to play guitar. Bruce Kulick would serve as his temporary replacement for the opening European leg of the Animalize World Tour. St. John rejoined Kiss shortly after the band returned to America. St. John made his live debut with Kiss on November 27, 1984, in Baltimore, Maryland. Kulick played the first five songs of the show, with St. John later taking the stage to play five songs, with Kulick then returning to finish the show. The following day, St. John played his first full show with the band on November 28, 1984, in Poughkeepsie, New York. This show was later released as a KISS: Off the Soundboard live album in April 2023. Finally, on November 29, 1984, St. John played his final full concert with Kiss, in Binghamton, New York. Following these shows, it quickly became apparent that Kulick was a more natural fit for Kiss than was St. John. As a result, he was let go on December 7, 1984, after a Kiss concert in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Kulick was announced as Kiss' new permanent lead guitarist the next day. St. John later confessed that his medical condition had been a cover story, saying "The arthritis thing was really a cover up for the other reasons, you know what I'm trying to say?" St. John is the only member of Kiss not to appear on any album front cover, as the Animalize cover features only a tapestry of animal prints. However, he is posing with the rest of the band on the album's back cover. He was also the first member not to adopt a character but has been likened to "THE SPECTER" persona by fans. In January 1985 St. John teamed up with vocalist David Donato and drummer Barry Brandt of Angel and soon formed White Tiger. They had written most of the material for the album by mid-1985. The band also included St. John's younger brother, Michael, on bass, but was completed with the addition of Brian James Fox on drums. While the independent release did well on that level selling some 50,000 copies. The band split while working on demos for a second album in 1988. St. John teamed up with Jeff Scott Soto in 1988 to make a demo and also did some session work performing lead guitar on "Livin' for My Lord" on Ken Tamplin's 1990 album, Axe to Grind. St. John made a demo in 1990 with fellow former Kiss member Peter Criss. This band, known as the Keep, became what was essentially White Tiger, with Criss replacing Brian Fox on drums, and David Donato replacing original vocalist David MacDonald. When the band started shopping their demo around the response was universally negative. By early 1991 St. John's need to get on with making a living, led to friction between Criss and him, and he left the band (which eventually became Criss). He was in a short-lived band with Phil Naro called the Mark St. John Project that released a limited edition EP in 1999, and he also made an appearance at a Kiss expo in New Jersey. He later released an all-instrumental CD in 2003 called Magic Bullet Theory, which would be his final recorded material released in his lifetime. In later years, St. John did not make many public appearances. Beginning on September 14, 2006, St. John was incarcerated for several days at Theo Lacy Jail in Orange County, California, after being charged with possession of unspecified drug paraphernalia, attempted destruction of evidence, and resisting arrest. A guard allegedly conspired with a group of inmates to have St. John assaulted for steeling crackers from another inmate, and subsequently St. John was brutally beaten and stabbed with pencils by a group of up to 20 inmates. His girlfriend, who said he was unrecognizable after the vicious beating, believed the incident was directly responsible for his untimely death several months later. A couple of days before the beating, St. John told her that he had "snitched" on a drug dealer several years earlier, and he believed he was certain to be attacked if this became known by the other inmates. For the next several months after leaving Theo Lacy Jail, St. John suffered severe headaches and body aches and many times he refused to see a doctor due to having no medical insurance, and thus his health deteriorated. St. John died on April 5, 2007, due to what the coroner described as a brain hemorrhage brought on by an accidental overdose of methamphetamine. "