Łódź
Top: Freedom Square and Kościuszko monument Upper Middle: Manufaktura Centre, Poznański Palace Lower Middle: Piotrkowska Street, Łódź Film School Bottom: Panorama of Łódź at dusk
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Ex navicula navis (From a boat, a ship)
Łódź
Coordinates: 51°47′N 19°28′E / 51.783°N 19.467°E / 51.783; 19.467Coordinates: 51°47′N 19°28′E / 51.783°N 19.467°E / 51.783; 19.467
Country	Poland
Voivodeship	Łódź
County	city county
City Rights	1423
Government
• Mayor	Hanna Zdanowska
Area
• City	293.25 km2 (113.22 sq mi)
Highest elevation	278 m (912 ft)
Lowest elevation	162 m (531 ft)
Population (2009)
• City	742,387
• Density	2,500/km2 (6,600/sq mi)
• Metro	1,428,600
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	90-001 to 94–413
Area code(s)	+48 42
Car plates	EL
Website	http://www.uml.lodz.pl/

Izrael Poznanski's Palace

Alexander Nevsky Orthodox church

White Factory

Karol Scheibler's chapel, Old Evangelical – Augsburg Cemetery in Łódź, 2006

Łódź ([wut​͡ɕ] ( listen); Yiddish: לאדז', Lodzh) is the third-largest city in Poland. Located in the central part of the country, it had a population of 742,387 in December 2009. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is approximately 135 kilometres (84 mi) south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of canting: depicting a boat, it alludes to the city's name which translates literally as "boat".

History[link]

Agricultural Łódź[link]

Sigillum oppidi Lodzia 1577

Łódź first appears in the written record in a 1332 document giving the village of Łodzia to the bishops of Włocławek. In 1423 King Władysław Jagiełło granted city rights to the village of Łódź. From then until the 18th century the town remained a small settlement on a trade route between Masovia and Silesia. In the 16th century the town had fewer than 800 inhabitants, mostly working on the nearby grain farms.

With the second partition of Poland in 1793, Łódź became part of the Kingdom of Prussia's province of South Prussia, and was known in German as Lodsch. In 1798 the Prussians nationalised the town, and it lost its status as a town of the bishops of Kuyavia. In 1806 Łódź joined the Napoleonic Duchy of Warsaw and in 1810 it had 190 inhabitants. In the 1815 Congress of Vienna treaty it became part of Congress Poland, a client state of the Russian Empire.

Industrial growth[link]

A map of Oskara Flatta area of Łódź in 1853, (Polish edition)

In the 1815 treaty, it was planned to renew the dilapidated town and with the 1816 decree by the Czar a number of German immigrants received territory deeds for them to clear the land and to build factories and housing. In 1820 Stanisław Staszic aided in changing the small town into a modern industrial centre. The immigrants came to the Promised Land ( Ziemia obiecana, the city's nickname) from all over Europe. Mostly they arrived from Southern Germany, Silesia and Bohemia, but also from countries as far away as Portugal, England, France and Ireland. The first cotton mill opened in 1825, and 14 years later the first steam-powered factory in both Poland and Russia commenced operations. In 1839 the population was 80% Germans and German schools and churches were established.

A constant influx of workers, businessmen and craftsmen from all over Europe transformed Łódź into the main textile production centre of the Russian Empire. Three groups dominated the city's population and contributed the most to the city's development: Poles, Germans and Jews, who started to arrive since 1848. Many of the Łódź craftspeople were weavers from Silesia.

In 1850, Russia abolished the customs barrier between Congress Poland and Russia proper; industry in Łódź could now develop freely with a huge Russian market not far away. Soon the city became the second-largest city of Congress Poland. In 1865 the first railroad line opened (to Koluszki, branch line of the Warsaw-Vienna Railway), and soon the city had rail links with Warsaw and Białystok.

One of the most important industrialists of Łódź was Karl Wilhelm Scheibler.^[1] In 1852 he came to Łódź and with Julius Schwarz together started buying property and building several factories. Scheibler later bought out Schwarz's share and thus became sole owner of a large business. After he died in 1881 his widow and other members of the family decideZd to pay homage to his memories by erecting a chapel, intended as a mausoleum with family crypt, in the Lutheran part of the Łódź cemetery in ulica Ogrodowa (later known as The Old Cemetery).^[2]

In the 1823–1873, the city's population doubled every ten years. The years 1870–1890 marked the period of most intense industrial development in the city's history. Many of the industrialists were Jewish. Łódź soon became a major centre of the socialist movement. In 1892 a huge strike paralysed most of the factories.

By 1897, the share of the German population had dropped from 80 to 40%.^{[citation needed]} According to Russian census of 1897, out of the total population of 315,000, Jews constituted 99,000 (around 31% percent).^[3]

During the 1905 Revolution, in what became known as the June Days or Łódź insurrection, Tsarist police killed more than 300 workers.

Despite the air of impending crisis preceding World War I, the city grew constantly until 1914. By that year it had become one of the most densely-populated industrial cities in the world—13,280 inhabitants per square kilometre (34,400 /sq mi). A major battle was fought near the city in late 1914, and as a result the city came under German occupation after 6 December but with Polish independence restored in November 1918 the local population liberated the city and disarmed the German troops. In the aftermath of World War I, Łódź lost approximately 40% of its inhabitants, mostly owing to draft, diseases and because a huge part of the German population was forced to move to Germany.

In 1922, Łódź became the capital of the Łódź Voivodeship, but the period of rapid growth had ceased. The Great Depression of the 1930s and the Customs War with Germany closed western markets to Polish textiles while the Bolshevik Revolution (1917) and the Civil War in Russia (1918–1922) put an end to the most profitable trade with the East. The city became a scene of a series of huge workers' protests and riots in the interbellum. On 13 September 1925 a new airport, Lublinek Airport, started operations near the city of Łódź. In the interwar years Łódź continued to be a diverse city, with the 1931 Polish census showing that the total population of 604,470 included 315,622 (52.21%) Poles, 202,497 (33.49%) Jews and 86,351 (14.28%) Germans (determination based on the declaration of language used).

Also read Battle of Łódź (1939) Prelude.

World War II[link]

Concert hall in Łódź

During the Invasion of Poland the Polish forces of the Łódź Army of General Juliusz Rómmel defended Łódź against initial German attacks. However, the Wehrmacht captured the city on 8 September. Despite plans for the city to become a Polish exclave, attached to the General Government, the Nazi hierarchy respected the wishes of the local governor of Reichsgau Wartheland, Arthur Greiser, and of many of the ethnic Germans living in the city, and annexed it to the Reich in November 1939. The city received the new name of Litzmannstadt after the German general Karl Litzmann, who captured the city during World War I. Nevertheless, many Łódź Germans refused to sign Volksliste and become Volksdeutsche, instead being deported to the General Government.

Poniatowski's Park

Soon the Nazi authorities set up the Łódź Ghetto in the city and populated it with more than 200,000 Jews from the Łódź area.^[4] As Jews were deported from Litzmannstadt for extermination others were brought in. Due to the value of the goods that the ghetto population produced for the German military and various civilian contractors it was the last major ghetto to be "liquidated" (destroyed); approximately 900 people survived the liquidation of the ghetto in August 1944. Several concentration camps and death camps arose in the city's vicinity for the non-Jewish inhabitants of the regions, among them the infamous Radogoszcz prison and several minor camps for the Romani people and for Polish children.

By the end of World War II, Łódź had lost approximately 420,000 of its pre-war inhabitants: 300,000 Polish Jews and approximately 120,000 other Poles. In their place were thousands of new German residents, many of whom were Volksdeutsch who had been repatriated from Russia during the time of Hitler's alliance with the Soviet Union. In January 1945 most of the German population fled the city for fear of the Red Army. The city also suffered tremendous losses due to the German policy of requisition of all factories and machines and transporting them to Germany. Thus despite relatively small losses due to aerial bombardment and the fighting, Łódź had lost most of its infrastructure.

The Soviet Red Army entered the city on 18 January 1945. According to Marshal Katukov, whose forces participated in the operation, the Germans retreated so suddenly that they had no time to evacuate or destroy the Łódź factories, as they did in other cities.^[5] In time, Łódź became part of the People's Republic of Poland.

Sculpture of Artur Rubinstein on Piotrkowska Street, in Łódź, Poland, where Rubinstein once lived.

Prior to World War II, the Jewish population of Łódź numbered about 233,000, accounting for one-third of the city’s population. The community was wiped out in the Holocaust.^[6]

After 1945[link]

At the end of World War II, Łódź had fewer than 300,000 inhabitants. However the number began to grow as refugees from Warsaw and territories annexed by the Soviet Union immigrated. Until 1948 the city served as a de facto capital of Poland, since events during and after the Warsaw uprising had thoroughly destroyed Warsaw, and most of the government and country administration resided in Łódź. Some^[who?] planned moving the capital there permanently, however this idea did not gain popular support and in 1948 the reconstruction of Warsaw began. Under the Polish Communist regime many of the industrialist families lost their wealth when the authorities nationalised private companies. Once again the city became a major centre of industry. In mid-1981 Łódź became famous for its massive, 50,000 hunger demonstration of local mothers and their children (see: Summer 1981 hunger demonstrations in Poland).

After the period of economic transition during the 1990s, most enterprises were again privatised. In 2002 the city came to national attention due to the "Skin Hunters" scandal: doctors and paramedics in one of the city's hospitals were caught murdering patients and selling their details to funeral homes for them to contact the relatives.^[7] Four men have been convicted but others are still under investigation. A film was made of the events in 2003.^[8]

Historical population[link]

Fountain on Jan Henryk Dąbrowski Square

Łódź in literature and cinema[link]

Three major novels depict the development of industrial Łódź: Władysław Reymont's The Promised Land (1898), Joseph Roth's Hotel Savoy (1924) and Israel Joshua Singer's The Brothers Ashkenazi (1937). Roth's novel depicts the city on the eve of a workers' riot in 1919. Reymont's novel was made into a film by Andrzej Wajda in 1975: see The Promised Land. In the 1990 film Europa Europa, Solomon Perel's family flees pre-WWII Berlin and settles in Łódź. Scenes of David Lynch's 2006 film Inland Empire were shot in Łódź. Sections of Harry Turtledove's Worldwar alternate history series take place in Łódź.

Tourism[link]

Basilica Cathedral St Stanisław Kostka in Łódź

Piotrkowska Street

Sienkiewicza Street

Piotrkowska Street is the main artery and attraction stretching north to south for a little over five kilometres, making it (one of) the longest commercial streets in the world. A few of the building fronts have been renovated and date back to the 19th century.

Although Łódź does not have any hills nor any large body of water, one can still get close to nature in one of the city's many parks, most notably Łagiewniki (the largest city park in Europe). Łódź has one of the best museums of modern art in Poland, Muzeum Sztuki on Więckowskiego Street, which displays art by all important contemporary Polish artists. Despite insufficient exhibition space (many very impressive paintings and sculptures lie in storage in the basement), there are plans to move the museum to a larger space in the near future. There is also a branch of Muzeum Sztuki called MS² located in the area of Łódź largest mall "Manufaktura".

Another popular source of recreation is the Lunapark, an amusement park featuring about two dozen attractions including an 18 metre tall roller coaster and two dozen other rides and features, located near the city's zoo and its botanical gardens.

The largest 19th Century textile factory complex which was built by Izrael Poznanski has been turned into a shopping centre called "Manufaktura" which is an example of a modern business which operates in restored nineteenth century buildings.

Economy[link]

Liberty Square (Plac Wolności)

Planned motorway network around Łódź

Łódź and vicinities, LandSat-5, false colors, 2011-09-26

Before 1990, Łódź's economy focused on the textile industry, which in the nineteenth century had developed in the city owing to the favourable chemical composition of its water. Because of the growth in this industry, the city has sometimes been called the "Polish Manchester". As a result, Łódź grew from a population of 13,000 in 1840 to over 500,000 in 1913. By the time right before World War I Łódź had become one of the most densely populated industrial cities in the world, with 13,280 inhabitants per km². The textile industry declined dramatically in 1990 and 1991, and no major textile company survives in Łódź today. However, countless small companies still provide a significant output of textiles, mostly for export to Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union.

The city benefits from its central location in Poland. A number of firms have located their logistics centres in the vicinity. Two planned motorways, A1 spanning from the north to the south of Poland, and A2 going from the east to the west will intersect northeast of the city. When these motorways are completed around 2012, the advantages due to the city's central location should increase even further. Work has also begun on upgrading the railway connection with Warsaw, which reduces the 2 hour travel time to make the 137 km (85 mi) journey to 1.5 hours in 2009. In the next few years much of the track will be modified to handle trains moving at 160 km/h (99 mph), cutting the travel time to about 75 minutes.

Recent years has seen many foreign companies opening offices in Łódź. Indian IT company Infosys has one of its centres in Łódź. Despite the fact that Łódź is regarded to be the poorest among Polish cities with population over 500,000, the GDP per capita in Łódź was 123,9% of Poland's average (2008).

In January 2009 Dell announced that it will shift production from its plant in Limerick, Ireland to its plant in Łódź, largely because the labour costs in Poland are a fraction of those in Ireland.^[9] The city's investor friendly policies have attracted 980 foreign investors by January 2009.^[9] Foreign investment was one of the factors which decreased the unemployment rate in Łódź to 6.5 percent in December 2008, from 20 percent four years earlier.^[9]

Education[link]

Currently Łódź hosts three major state-owned universities and a number of smaller schools of higher education. The tertiary institutes with the most students in Łódź include:

• University of Łódź (Uniwersytet Łódzki)
• Technical University of Łódź (Politechnika Łódzka)
• Medical University of Łódź (Uniwersytet Medyczny w Łodzi)
• National Film School in Łódź (Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Filmowa, Telewizyjna i Teatralna w Łodzi)
• Academy of Music in Łódź (Akademia Muzyczna im. Grażyna i Kiejstuta Bacewiczów w Łodzi)
• Academy of Fine Arts and Design (Akademia Sztuk Pięknych im. Wł. Strzemińskiego w Łodzi)

National Film School in Łódź[link]

Piotrkowska Street

The Leon Schiller's National Higher School of Film, Television and Theatre in Łódź (Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Filmowa, Telewizyjna i Teatralna im. Leona Schillera w Łodzi) is the most notable academy for future actors, directors, photographers, camera operators and TV staff in Poland. It was founded on 8 March 1948 and was initially planned to be moved to Warsaw as soon as the city was rebuilt following the Warsaw Uprising. However, in the end the school remained in Łódź and today is one of the best-known institutions of higher education in that town.

At the end of the Second World War Łódź remained the only large Polish town besides Kraków which war had not destroyed. The creation of the National Film School gave the town a role of greater importance from a cultural viewpoint, which before the war had belonged exclusively to Warsaw and Kraków. Early students of the School include the directors Andrzej Munk, Andrzej Wajda, Kazimierz Karabasz (one of the founders of the so called Black Series of Polish Documentary) and Janusz Morgenstern, who at the end of the Fifties became famous as one of the founders of the Polish Film School of Cinematography.

Immediately after the war, Jerzy Bossak, Wanda Jakubowska, Stanisław Wohl, Antoni Bohdziewicz and Jerzy Toeplitz worked as the first teachers. The internationally renowned film director Roman Polański was among the many talented students who attended the School in the 1950s. Łódź's cinematic involvement and its Hollywood-style star walk on Piotrkowska Street have earned it the nickname "Holly-Łódź". The school is also associated with the Camerimage Film Festival, which occurs annually in late November and early December. Founded in Toruń in 1993, the festival was specifically organised to focus on the art of cinematography and is well-attended every year by world-renowned cinematographers, many of whom also participate in seminars, workshops, retrospectives and Q&A sessions. Because of both subject matter and attendee composition, it is considered a key event for industry exhibitors, who often make European debuts of their products here.

Politics[link]

Łódź constituency[link]

Technical University rector's office (formerly Reinhold Richter's residence, built 1904)

Members of Parliament (Sejm) elected from Łódź constituency:

• Wojciech Olejniczak, LiD
• Zdzisława Janowska, LiD
• Mirosław Drzewiecki, PO
• Iwona Śledzińska-Katarasińska, PO
• John Abraham Godson, PO
• Cezary Grabarczyk, PO
• Joanna Skrzydlewska, PO
• Piotr Krzywicki, PiS
• Jarosław Jagiełło, PiS

Members of Parliament (Senat) elected from Łódź constituency:

• Krzysztof Kwiatkowski, PO
• Maciej Grubski, PO

Mayor[link]

• Waldemar Bohdanowicz, Solidarity (November 1989 – 1990) – appointed by Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki.
• Grzegorz Palka (1990–1994)
• Marek Czekalski, Freedom Union (1994–1998)
• Tadeusz Matusiak, SLD (1998–2001)
• Krzysztof Panas, SLD (2001–2002)
• Krzysztof Jagiełło, SLD (2002)
• Jerzy Kropiwnicki, Christian-National Union (ZChN) (2002–2010)
• Tomasz Sadzyński, Platforma Obywatelska / Civic Platform (temporary in 2010)
• Hanna Zdanowska, Platforma Obywatelska / Civic Platform

International relations[link]

Twin towns – sister cities[link]

Łódź is twinned with:^[10]

Łódź belongs also to the Eurocities network.

Sports[link]

Atlas Arena in Łódź

• Widzew Łódź – men's football team (established in 1910), (Polish Champion 1981, 1982, 1996, 1997; Polish Cup winner: 1985; Polish SuperCup winner: 1996;T-Mobile Ekstraklasa
• ŁKS Łódź – men's football team (established in 1908), (Polish Champion 1958, 1998; Polish Cup winner 1957; T-Mobile Ekstaklasa
• ŁKS Lotto Łódź – women's basketball team, 6th place in Sharp Torell Basket Liga in 2003–2004 season
• KS Społem Łódź – leading youth road and track cycling team in Poland
• Budowlani Łódź- winner of Polish Rugby League in 1982/1983, 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2009/2010
• Torpedy Łódź – American football team made to the Final of the 2nd League play-offs in 2008
• BBRC Łódź – 3rd place in Polish Rugby7 League in 2009/2010
• Klub Żużlowy Orzeł Łódź – speedway team (established in present form in 2005)

Notable residents[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Other buildings[link]

• 

  Łódź City Hall, formerly Heinzel Palace

• 

  Old Town Square

• 

  European Institute, formerly Schweikert Palace

• 

  Andel's Hotel, near Manufaktura shopping mall

• 

  Music Academy, formerly Poznanski Palace

Buildings destroyed by the Nazi German occupation[link]

• 

  Great Synagogue (Łódź)

Bibliography[link]

• Ghettostadt: Łódź and the Making of a Nazi City, Gordon H Horwitz, Harvard University Press, 2009
• "A Stairwell in Lodz," Constance Cappel, 2004, Xlibris, (in English).
• "Lodz – The Last Ghetto in Poland," Michal Unger, Yad Vashem, 600 pages (in Hebrew)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Łódź

• Official website
• Public Transport Official Site
• City map of Łódź
• Historic images of Łódź
• Photo Gallery of Łódź
• Łódź Special Economic Zone
• Łódź-Lublinek Airport
• The Łódź Ghetto
• Lodz travel guide from Wikitravel
• Promo website of Lodz (RU)
• Łódź 2016 – Official site of candidate for European Capital of Culture
• – Unofficial site of links to site with inform about Lodz
• Youth Groups in the Łódź Ghetto – Online Exhibition from Yad Vashem

v t e Principal cities of Poland Warsaw Kraków Łódź Wrocław Poznań Gdańsk Szczecin Bydgoszcz Lublin Katowice Białystok Częstochowa Radom Kielce Toruń Olsztyn Rzeszów

v t e Counties of Łódź Voivodeship City counties Łódź (capital) Piotrków Trybunalski Skierniewice Land counties Bełchatów Brzeziny Kutno Łask Łęczyca Łódź East Łowicz Opoczno Pabianice Pajęczno Piotrków Poddębice Radomsko Rawa Sieradz Skierniewice Tomaszów Mazowiecki Wieluń Wieruszów Zduńska Wola Zgierz

v t e Łódź East County Urban-rural gminas Gmina Koluszki Gmina Rzgów Gmina Tuszyn Rural gminas Gmina Andrespol Gmina Brójce Gmina Nowosolna Seat (not part of the county) Łódź

vep:Lodz'

Mark Knopfler
Mark Knopfler, July 2006
Background information
Birth name	Mark Freuder Knopfler
Born	(1949-08-12) 12 August 1949 (age 62) Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
Origin	Newcastle upon Tyne, England
Genres	Rock Roots rock Celtic rock Country rock Blues-rock
Occupations	Musician, Songwriter, Record producer, Film score composer
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, resonator guitar
Years active	1965–present
Labels	Vertigo, Mercury, Warner
Associated acts	Dire Straits The Notting Hillbillies Chet Atkins Emmylou Harris Bob Dylan Eric Clapton Sonny Landreth
Website	MarkKnopfler.com
Notable instruments
Mark Knopfler Stratocaster Fender Telecaster Gibson Les Paul Pensa Custom MKII Steinberger GL-2

Mark Freuder Knopfler, OBE (born 12 August 1949) is a Scottish-born British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the British rock band Dire Straits, which he co-founded in 1977. After Dire Straits disbanded in 1995, Knopfler went on to record and produce six solo albums, including Golden Heart (1996), Sailing to Philadelphia (2000), and Get Lucky (2009). He has composed and produced film scores for eight films, including Local Hero (1983), Cal (1984), and The Princess Bride (1987).^[1] In addition to his work with Dire Straits and as a solo artist and composer, Knopfler has recorded and performed with many prominent musical artists, including Phil Lynott, Chet Atkins, The Chieftains, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Jools Holland, Sonny Landreth, and Van Morrison. He has produced albums for Tina Turner, Bob Dylan, and Randy Newman.

Knopfler is one of the most respected fingerstyle guitarists of the modern rock era, and was ranked 27th on Rolling Stone magazine's list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.^[2] Knopfler and Dire Straits have sold in excess of 120 million albums to date.^[3][4] A four-time Grammy Award winner, Knopfler is the recipient of the Edison Award and the Steiger Award, and holds three honorary doctorate degrees in music from universities in the United Kingdom.^[5][6]

Early life (1949–1976)[link]

Mark Freuder Knopfler was born on 12 August 1949 in Glasgow, Scotland, to an English mother and Hungarian Jewish father—an architect whose anti-fascist sympathies forced him to flee from his native Hungary.^[7] The family settled in Knopfler's mother's home town of Blyth, Northumberland in North East England when he was 7 years old. He and his younger brother David attended Gosforth Grammar School. Inspired by his uncle Kingsley's harmonica and boogie-woogie piano playing, he wanted to buy an expensive Fiesta Red Fender Stratocaster just like Hank Marvin's, but had to settle for a £50 twin-pick-up Höfner Super Solid.^[8] During the 1960s, he formed and joined schoolboy bands and listened to singers like Elvis Presley and guitarists Chet Atkins, Scotty Moore, B.B King, Django Reinhardt, Hank Marvin, and James Burton. At 16, he made a local TV appearance as part of a harmony duo, with his classmate Sue Hercombe.^[8]

In 1968, after studying journalism for a year at Harlow Technical College,^[8][9] Knopfler was hired as a junior reporter in Leeds for the Yorkshire Evening Post.^[10] Two years later, he decided to further his studies, and went on to graduate with a degree in English at the University of Leeds.^[11] In April 1970, while living in Leeds, Knopfler recorded a demo disk of an original song he'd written, "Summer's Coming My Way". The recording included Mark Knopfler (guitar and vocals), Steve Phillips (second guitar), Dave Johnson (bass), and Paul Granger (percussion). Johnson, Granger, and vocalist Mick Dewhirst played with Mark in the band Silverheels.

Upon graduation in 1973, Knopfler moved to London and joined a High Wycombe-based band called Brewers Droop, appearing on the album The Booze Brothers. One night while spending some time with friends, the only guitar available was an old acoustic with a badly warped neck that had been strung with extra-light strings to make it playable. Even so, he found it impossible to play unless he finger-picked it. He said in a later interview, "That was where I found my 'voice' on guitar." After a brief stint with Brewers Droop, Knopfler took a job as a lecturer at Loughton College in Essex—a position he held for three years. Throughout this time, he continued performing with local pub bands, including the Café Racers.^[12] He also formed a duo with long-time associate bluesman Steve Phillips called The Duolian String Pickers.

By the mid-1970s, Knopfler devoted much of his musical energies to his group, the Café Racers. His brother David moved to London, where he shared a flat with John Illsley—a guitarist who changed over to bass guitar. In April 1977, Mark gave up his flat in Buckhurst Hill and moved in with David and John. The three began playing music together, and soon Mark invited John to join the Café Racers.^[13]

Dire Straits (1977–1995)[link]

Dire Straits' first demos were done in three sessions during 1977, with Pick Withers as drummer, David Knopfler as rhythm guitarist and John Illsley on bass guitar. On 27 July 1977 they recorded the now famous demo tapes of five songs: "Wild West End", "Sultans of Swing", "Down To The Waterline", "Sacred Loving" (a David Knopfler song) and "Water of Love". In what was probably October they recorded "Southbound Again", "In The Gallery" and "Six Blade Knife" for BBC Radio London and, finally, on 9 November demo tapes were made of "Setting Me Up", "Eastbound Train" and "Real Girl". Many of these songs reflected Mark's experiences in Newcastle, Leeds and London, and were to be featured on their first album, the self-titled Dire Straits which was released in the following year: "Down To The Waterline" recalled images of life in Newcastle; "In The Gallery" is a tribute to a Leeds sculptor/artist named Harry Phillips, (father of Steve Phillips); and "Lions", "Wild West End" and "Eastbound Train" were all drawn from Mark's early days in the capital.

Mark Knopfler with Dire Straits, 1979

Initially on its release, Dire Straits received little fanfare in the UK, but when "Sultans of Swing" was released as a single it became a chart hit in The Netherlands and album sales took off across Europe and then in the United States and Canada, and finally the UK. The group's second album, Communiqué, produced by Jerry Wexler and Barry Beckett, followed in 1979, reaching number one in France while the first album was still at number three.

There were frequent personnel changes within Dire Straits after the release of their third album Making Movies, with Mark Knopfler increasingly becoming the driving force behind the group. Released in 1980, Making Movies marked a move towards more complex arrangements and production which continued for the remainder of the group's career. The album included many of Mark Knopfler's most personal compositions, most notably "Romeo and Juliet" and "Tunnel of Love". Love over Gold followed in 1982 and included the UK #2 hit "Private Investigations", "Telegraph Road", "Industrial Disease" and "It Never Rains" as well as the title track to that album.

With Love Over Gold still in the albums charts, the band released a four-song EP titled ExtendedancEPlay in early 1983. Featuring the hit single "Twisting By the Pool", this was the first output by the band that featured new drummer Terry Williams, (formerly of Rockpile), who had replaced Pick Withers in November 1982. A world tour followed later in 1983, and in March 1984 the double album Alchemy Live was released. Alchemy Live documented the recordings of two live shows in Hammersmith Odeon in London in July 1983, and reached number three in the UK Albums Chart.

During 1983 and 1984 Knopfler was involved with other projects as well, including writing and producing the music score to the film Local Hero which was a large success,^[14] and it was followed in 1984 by his scores for the films Cal and Comfort and Joy. Also during this time Knopfler produced Bob Dylan's Infidels album, as well as Aztec Camera and Willy DeVille; he also wrote Private Dancer for Tina Turner's comeback album of the same name.

Mark Knopfler with Dire Straits, Dublin, 1981

Dire Straits' biggest studio album by far was their fifth, Brothers in Arms, recorded at Air Studios Montserrat and released in May 1985. It became an international blockbuster which has now sold more than 30 million copies worldwide, and is the fourth best selling album in UK chart history.^[15][16] Brothers In Arms spawned several chart singles including the US # 1 hit "Money for Nothing", which was the first video ever to be played on MTV in Britain. It was also the first compact disc to sell a million copies and is largely credited for launching the CD format as it was also one of the first DDD^[17] CDs ever released. Other successful singles were "So Far Away", "Walk of Life", and the album's title track. The band's 1985–86 world tour of over 230^[8] shows was immensely successful.

After the Brothers in Arms tour Dire Straits ceased to work together for some time, Knopfler concentrating mainly on film soundtracks. Knopfler joined the charity ensemble Ferry Aid on "Let It Be" in the wake of the Zeebrugge ferry disaster. The song reached #1 on the UK singles chart in March 1987. Knopfler wrote the music score for the film The Princess Bride which was released at the end of 1987.

Mark Knopfler also took part in a comedy skit (featured on the French and Saunders Show) titled "The Easy Guitar Book Sketch" with comedian Rowland Rivron and fellow British musicians David Gilmour, Lemmy from Motorhead, Mark King from Level 42, and Gary Moore. Phil Taylor explained in an interview that Knopfler used Gilmour's guitar rig and managed to sound like himself when performing in the skit.^[18]

Dire Straits regrouped for the 11 June 1988 Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert at Wembley Stadium, in which they were the headline act, and were accompanied by Elton John and Eric Clapton,^[19] who by this time had developed a strong friendship with Knopfler. Shortly after this, drummer Terry Williams left the band. In September 1988 Mark Knopfler announced the official dissolution of Dire Straits, saying that he "needed a rest",^[20] and in October 1988, a "best of" album, Money for Nothing, was released and reached number one in the United Kingdom.^[21]

In 1989 Knopfler formed The Notting Hillbillies,^[8] a band at the other end of the commercial spectrum. It leaned heavily towards American roots music - folk, blues and country music. The band members included keyboardist Guy Fletcher, with Brendan Croker and Steve Phillips. For both the album and the tour Paul Franklin was added to the line-up on pedal steel. The Notting Hillbillies sole studio album, Missing...Presumed Having a Good Time was released in 1990, and Knopfler then toured with the Notting Hillbillies for the remainder of that year. He further emphasized his country music influences with his 1990s collaboration with Chet Atkins, Neck and Neck, which resulted in three Grammy awards. The Hillbillies toured the UK in early 1990 with a limited number of shows, it was strictly low key, packing out smaller venues, such as Newcastle University.

In 1990 Knopfler, John Illsley, and Alan Clark performed as Dire Straits at the Knebworth gig, joined by Eric Clapton, Ray Cooper, and guitarist Phil Palmer (who was at that time part of Eric Clapton's touring band), and in January the following year, Knopfler, John Illsley and manager Ed Bicknell decided to reform Dire Straits. Knopfler, Illsley, Alan Clark, and Guy Fletcher set about recording what turned out to be their final studio album accompanied by several part-time sidemen, including Phil Palmer, Paul Franklin, percussionist Danny Cummings and Toto drummer Jeff Porcaro.

The follow-up to Brothers In Arms was finally released in September 1991. On Every Street was nowhere near as popular as its predecessor, and met with a mixed critical reaction, with some reviewers regarding the album as an underwhelming comeback after a six year break. Nonetheless, the album sold well and reached #1 in the UK. A gruelling world tour to accompany the album followed, which lasted until the end of 1992. This was to be Dire Straits' final world tour; it was not as well received as the previous Brothers In Arms tour, and by this time Mark Knopfler had had enough of such massive operations. This drove the band into the ground, and ultimately led to the group's final dissolution in 1995.^[22]

Following the tour, Knopfler took some time off from the music business. In 1993, he received an honorary music doctorate from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.^[23] Two more Dire Straits albums were released, both live albums. On the Night, released in May 1993, documented Dire Straits' final world tour. In 1995, following the release of Live at the BBC, Mark Knopfler quietly dissolved Dire Straits and launched his career as a solo artist.

Since the break-up of Dire Straits, Knopfler has shown no interest in reforming the group. However, keyboardist Guy Fletcher has been associated with almost every piece of Knopfler's solo material to date, while Danny Cummings has also contributed frequently, including Knopfler's last three solo album releases All the Roadrunning (with Emmylou Harris), Kill to Get Crimson and Get Lucky. In October 2008 Knopfler declined a suggestion by John Illsley that the band should reform. Illsley said that a reunion would be "entirely up to Mark", however he also suggested that Knopfler was enjoying his continued success as a solo artist, saying that "He's doing incredibly well as a solo artist, so hats off to him. He's having a perfectly good time doing what he's doing".^[24] Knopfler meanwhile is quoted as saying "Oh, I don't know whether to start getting all that stuff back together again", and that the global fame that came his way in the 1980s "just got too big".^[24]

Solo career (1996–present)[link]

Mark Knopfler in Bilbao, 2001

Mark Knopfler's first solo album, Golden Heart, featuring the UK single "Darling Pretty", was released in March 1996. During the recording sessions for the album the main line-up of Knopfler's backing band, also known as "The 96ers," was formed, featuring Knopfler's old bandmate Guy Fletcher on keyboards, and has lasted much longer than any Dire Straits line-up.

Also in 1996, Mark Knopfler recorded guitar for Ted Christopher's Dunblane massacre tribute cover of Knocking on Heaven's Door

In 1997 Knopfler recorded the soundtrack for the movie Wag the Dog. During that same year Rolling Stone magazine listed "Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll", which included "Sultans of Swing", Dire Straits' first hit. 2000 saw the release of Knopfler's next solo album, Sailing to Philadelphia. This has been his most successful to date, possibly helped by the number of collaborators to the album like Van Morrison.

In 2002 Mark Knopfler gave four charity concerts with former Dire Straits members John Illsley, Chris White, Danny Cummings and Guy Fletcher, playing old material from the Dire Straits years. The concerts also featured The Notting Hillbillies with Brendan Croker and Steve Phillips. At these four concerts (three of the four were at the Shepherd's Bush, the fourth at Beaulieu on the south coast) they were joined by Jimmy Nail, who provided backing vocals for Knopfler's 2002 composition "Why Aye Man".

Also in 2002 Knopfler released his third solo album, The Ragpicker's Dream. However, in March 2003 he was involved in a motorbike crash in Grosvenor Road, Belgravia and suffered a broken collarbone, broken shoulder blade and seven broken ribs.^[25] The planned Ragpicker's Dream tour was subsequently cancelled, but Knopfler recovered and was able to return to the stage in 2004 for his fourth album, Shangri-La.

Shangri-La was recorded at the Shangri-La Studio in Malibu, California in 2004, where The Band made recordings years before for their documentary/movie, The Last Waltz. In the promo for "Shangri-La" on his official website he said that his current line-up of Glenn Worf (bass), Guy Fletcher (keyboards), Chad Cromwell (drums), Richard Bennett (guitar) and Matt Rollings (piano) "play Dire Straits songs better than Dire Straits did." The "Shangri-La" tour took Knopfler to countries such as India and the United Arab Emirates for the first time. In India, his concerts at Mumbai and Bangalore were very well received, with over 20,000 fans gathering at each concert to listen to a legend many thought would never visit their country.

Mark Knopfler in Hamburg, 2006

In November 2005 a compilation, The Best of Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler: Private Investigations was released, consisting of material from most of Dire Straits' studio albums and Knopfler's solo and soundtrack material. The album was made available in two editions, as a single CD (with a grey cover) and as a double CD (with the cover in blue), and was well-received. The only previously unreleased track on the album is "All the Roadrunning", a duet with country music singer Emmylou Harris, which was followed in 2006 by an album of duets of the same name.

Released in April 2006, All the Roadrunning reached #1 in Denmark and Switzerland, #2 in Norway and Sweden, #3 in Germany, Holland and Italy, #8 in Austria and UK, #9 in Spain, #17 in the United States (Billboard Top 200 Chart), #25 in Ireland and #41 in Australia. All the Roadrunning was nominated for "Best Folk Rock/Americana Album" at the 49th Grammy Awards (11 February 2007) but lost out to Bob Dylan's nomination for Modern Times.

Joined by Emmylou Harris, Knopfler supported All the Roadrunning with a limited – 15 gigs in Europe, 1 in Canada and 8 in the USA – but highly successful tour of Europe and N America. Selections from the duo's 28 June performance at the Gibson Amphitheatre, Universal City, California, were released as a DVD entitled Real Live Roadrunning on 14 November 2006. In addition to several of the compositions that Harris and Knopfler recorded together in the studio, Real Live Roadrunning features solo hits from both members of the duo, as well as three tracks from Knopfler's days with Dire Straits.

A charity event in 2007 went wrong. A Fender Stratocaster guitar signed by Knopfler, Clapton, Brian May, and Jimmy Page was to be auctioned for £20,000 to raise the money for a children's hospice, was lost when being shipped. It "vanished after being posted from London to Leicestershire, England". Parcelforce, the company responsible, agreed to pay US$30,000 for its loss.^[26]

Knopfler released his fifth solo studio-album Kill to Get Crimson on 14 September 2007 in Germany, 17 September in the UK and 18 September in the United States. During the autumn of 2007 he played a series of intimate 'showcases' in various European cities to promote the album. A tour of Europe and North America followed in 2008. Many older songs from the early solo days, such as Cannibals (from Golden Heart), were brought back to life. Cannibals opened up shows throughout Europe. Cannibals was received extremely well particularly in Ireland as it was released by an Irish Country Artist David Maguire in 2007. The new version of Cannibals that David Maguire and his Band released was the 7th most requested song on Irish radio that year.

Continuing a pattern of high productivity through his solo career, Knopfler began work on his next studio album, entitled Get Lucky, in September 2008 with long-time band mate Guy Fletcher, who again compiled a pictorial diary of the making of the album on his website.^[27] The album was released on September 14 the following year and Knopfler subsequently undertook an extensive tour across Europe and America. The album met with moderate success on the charts (much of it in Europe) reaching #1 only in Norway but peaking in the Top 5 in most major European countries (Germany, Italy, Holland). The album peaked at #2 on the Billboard European Album chart and at #5 on the Billboard Rock Album chart.^[28]

Knopfler's solo live performances can be characterized as relaxed—almost workmanlike. He uses very little stage production, other than some lighting effects to enhance the music's dynamics. He has been known to sip tea on stage during live performances. Richard Bennett, who has been playing with him on tour since 1996, has also joined in drinking tea with him on stage. On 31 July 2005, at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver, BC, the tea was replaced with whisky as a "last show of tour" sort of joke.^[29]

In February 2009, Knopfler gave an intimate solo concert at the Garrick Club in London. Knopfler had recently become a member of the exclusive gentlemen's club for men of letters.^[30]

In 2010, Knopfler appeared on the newest Thomas Dolby release, the EP Amerikana. Knopfler performed on the track "17 Hills".^[31]

In February 2011, Knopfler began work on his next solo album, once again working with Guy Fletcher. A release date is scheduled to be announced on Monday 28 May 2012.^[32] In July 2011, it was announced that Knopfler would take time out from recording this album in order to take part in a European tour with Bob Dylan during October and November.^[33]

In 2012, Knopfler covered a Bob Dylan song, "Restless Farewell", for an Amnesty International 50th Anniversary celebration record.^[34]

A new Mark Knopfler album, Privateering, is scheduled to be released on 3 September 2012. This will be Knopfler's first double album solo release and will contain 20 new songs.

Country music[link]

Mark Knopfler in Chicago with Emmylou Harris, 2006

In addition to his work in Dire Straits and solo, Mark Knopfler has made several contributions to country music. In 1988 he formed country-focused band The Notting Hillbillies,^[8] with Guy Fletcher, Brendan Croker and Steve Phillips. The Notting Hillbillies sole studio album, Missing...Presumed Having a Good Time was released in 1990 and featured the minor hit single "Your Own Sweet Way". Knopfler further emphasised his country music influences with his collaboration with Chet Atkins, Neck and Neck, which was also released in 1990. "Poor Boy Blues", taken from that collaboration, peaked at #92.

Knopfler's other contributions include writing and playing guitar on John Anderson's 1992 single "When It Comes to You" (from his album Seminole Wind). In 1993 Mary Chapin Carpenter also released a cover of the Dire Straits song "The Bug". Randy Travis released another of Knopfler's songs, "Are We In Trouble Now", in 1996. In that same year, Knopfler's solo single "Darling Pretty" reached a peak of #87.

Knopfler collaborated with George Jones on the 1994 "The Bradley Barn Sessions" album performing guitar duties on the classic J.P. Richardson composition White Lightnin'.

Knopfler is featured on Kris Kristofferson's album "The Austin Sessions", (on the track "Please Don't Tell Me How The Story Ends") released in 1999 by Atlantic Records.

In 2006 Knopfler and Emmylou Harris made a country album together titled All the Roadrunning. Knopfler also charted two singles on the Canadian country music singles chart.

Again in 2006, Knopfler contributed the song "Whoop De Doo" to Jimmy Buffett's "Gulf and Western" style album "Take the Weather with You".

Personal life[link]

Mark Knopfler has been married three times. His first marriage was to Kathy White, his long-time girlfriend from school days. They separated before Knopfler moved to London to join Brewers Droop in 1973.^[8] In November 1983, Knopfler married his second wife, Lourdes Salomone. Their marriage produced twin sons, Benji and Joseph (born 1987), both of whom are musically talented and aspiring musicians, according to Knopfler.^[19] His marriage to Salomone ended in 1993.^[22] On Valentine's Day 1997, Knopfler married his third and current wife, British actress and writer Kitty Aldridge on the Caribbean island of Barbados. They had been dating for three years.^[35] Their marriage so far has produced two daughters, Isabella (born 1998) and Katya Ruby Rose (born 2003). The family currently lives in Chelsea.^[8]