I Am Winkle

Mark Minassian

Chester County, PA

I Am Winkle's given name is Mark Minassian. Born May of 1952 in Philadelphia, PA, he grew up in the Upper Darby/Lansdowne area that was the wellspring to musicians like Todd Rundgren and Joan Jett. For the first half of his life, he pursued a music career as a singer-songwriter, that led him to open for such varied acts as Livingston Taylor, Melanie, Tom Paxton, The Brecker Brothers, Hall and Oats, and George Thoroughgood and The Destroyers. While working as a studio musician at Veritable Recording Studio in Lansdowne, PA, he cut demos playing bass with William DeVaughn for his album "Give the Little Man a Great Big Hand", that was to follow up his 1974 hit record, "Be Thankful for What You Got". He also composed and recorded a movie score and many demos of his own material at the studio. He cut his first record in 1975 under the name Mark Ian on Sound Gems records for Frank Fioravanti who was the executive producer (along with Pal Rakes) of DeVaughn's hit single. It was produced by Douglas Fearn (of D.W. Fearn preamplifier fame) He performed it on the then-popular TV show "Steele Pier" hosted by Ed Husrt. Unfortunately, the song "Class of 65" (written by Pal Rakes and Frank Fioravanti) briefly received local airplay and never charted. Determined to pursue a career in music he continued to play and record locally as a solo artist and in various bands in the area. In 1983 he formed The Bomp Zone with co-founding member and bass player, John Roberts in a last effort to get a record contract. Now heading toward the age of 35 he decided if he was unable to accomplish his goal he would change course. In 1985, he decided to quit the music business and return to school to pursue a career in electronics and computer technology. After graduating from The Pennsylvania Institute of Technology he landed a job with a small technology company called Varitronics Inc. He worked there for 17 years moving to the position of Technical Applications Manager for the company before retiring at age 56. A few years later he moved from his hometown to a cottage in nearby Chester County, PA. For 30 years, he barely touched the guitar and sold off the majority of his instruments and equipment including his reissued 1968 Les Paul, his 1962 Stratocaster, and his 1965 Fender Super Reverb. However, he held onto his 1970 D-28 Martin and Shure SM57 microphone. In 2013 he resolved to start playing guitar and writing songs again. By 2014, after composing eight new songs and reworking two of his earlier originals, he began performing at open mic nights in some of the local venues nearby his home. He recently joined forces with his old friend D.W. Fearn to record his new material and created his own in-home studio which he also records with former sound man from The Bomp Zone, Leo "ears" Valentino. Since he had left music in slumber for so many years, he decided to call himself "I Am Winkle" after the famous Washington Irving story, "Rip Van Winkle".

Chrome | Firefox | Safari | Edge

Sorry! Something went wrong

Is your network connection unstable or browser outdated?

I need help