Johnny Almond was born in Enfield, Middlesex, England. He played in Zoot Money's Big Roll Band and the Alan Price Set. Among others he worked as a session musician with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Chicken Shack and Fleetwood Mac. In 1969 he had founded Johnny Almond's Music Machine and had recorded two solo records "Patent Pending" and "Hollywood Blues". On "Patent Pending" Almond is accompanied by Geoff Condon, Alan White, Jimmy Crawford, Steve Hammond, Roger Sutton and Johnny Wiggins. On "Hollywood Blues" he jams with Curtis Amy, Hadley Caliman, Joe Harris, Charles Kynard, Ray Neapolitan, Joe Pass, Earl Palmer und Vi Redd. In the same year he joined John Mayall's with whom he toured and recorded The Turning Point and Empty Rooms. There he met Jon Mark with whom he decided to form Mark-Almond. Mark-Almond's first two albums, Mark-Almond and Mark-Almond II were recorded for Bob Krasnow's Blue Thumb label, and were noted for their embossed envelope-style album covers. For the first album, "The Ghetto" received many plaudits and from the second "One Way Sunday" was a hit for them in the United States and received radioairplay on album-oriented rock stations in Boston, Massachusetts in 1970. The group then recorded two albums for Columbia Records, Rising and the live album, Mark-Almond 73, by which time the group's members had grown to seven. "What Am I Living For" from Mark-Almond 73 gained the group the most U.S. radio airplay they would get, but nevertheless they disbanded later that year. Notable musicians, who have recorded or toured with Mark-Almond include drummer Dannie Richmond, drummer Billy Cobham, violinist Greg Bloch, keyboardist Tommy Eyre and bassist Roger Sutton. Eyre and Sutton later teamed in Riff Raff. A&M Records signed the duo in 1978 and released Other Peoples Rooms, but the record did not sell as well as earlier releases. Mark-Almond disbanded again in the mid 1980s, after releasing two decent albums, Tuesday in New York' and a live offering The Last & Live. In 1996 Mark-Almond reunited again for a CD release, Night Music, which featured keyboardist Mike Nock and others. Almond lived in the San Francisco Bay Area. He occasionally surprised local bar owners, arriving with his sax to jam, some of which was recorded, including a rendition of "Stormy Monday". He died on 18 November 2009 from cancer, aged 63 in Hayward, California, United States.
