- Born
- Birth nameBrian Robson Rankin
- Hank Marvin was the lead guitarist of The Shadows, the best-selling British rock 'n' roll act before The Beatles. Marvin and The Shadows had huge hits in the UK, including "Apache" and "Wonderful Land". As a guitarist, whose trademark was a clean, pure sound accentuated by a distinctive echo effect, Marvin is considered a huge influence on many big stars. His talents have been praised by the likes of Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Brian May, Mark Knopfler and Midge Ure.
Since his commercial peak in the early '60s, Marvin has also pursued a solo career and recorded many albums which have featured instrumental cover versions of other artists' hits. Songs Marvin has performed in his distinctive style include "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, "Against All Odds" by Phil Collins, "Every Breath You Take" by The Police and "Daydream" by The Lovin' Spoonful.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous
- SpouseCarole Naylor(1971 - present) (2 children)
- Metallic, echoed guitar picking producing a clean, pure sound
- 1954 Fender Stratocaster Guitar
- Voted the North East's best guitarist in Total Guitar Magazine's poll of the greatest 12 British guitarists.
- Was offered an OBE (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in the 2004 Queen's Birthday Honours List for services to music. Though honoured to be recommeded for the award, he decided not to accept it for "personal and private reasons". His bandmates from The Shadows, drummer Brian Bennett and rhythm guitarist Bruce Welch, both accepted their OBEs.
- Many guitarists, including Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath), Peter Green, Brian May (Queen), Dave Davies (The Kinks), Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits), Midge Ure, Andy Powell (Wishbone Ash), Peter Frampton, Steve Lukather (TOTO), Marty Wilde, Phil Manzanera (Roxy Music), Martin Taylor, Guthrie Govan, Steve Hackett (Genesis), Darrel Higham, Carl Verheyen (Supertramp), Steve Howe (Yes), Bill Nelson, John Jorgenson, Gordon Giltrap and Richard Hawley considered him an influence.
- Now lives in Australia.
- He was born in the Byker area of Newcastle Upon Tyne.
- There's a song called Boys of Summer, I think, Don Henley is it? Great track. Love the record but we kicked that around, it doesn't work as an instrumental. There's almost no tune. There's a chorus but there's no tune in the verse and you've got this guitar line in the intro and unless you copy that, there's nothing really there to work with.
- [on his 2014 album "Hank"] Most of them have got good tunes with one exception and that's Message in a Bottle. But a great guitar riff and a good chorus, so I could work with that. The tune itself, if you think about it, it's not really a great...it's a kind of...what would you call it? It's not exactly monotone in the tune but it's not a good melody in the sense of say Daydream or California Girls. Sorry Sting.
- Cliff [Cliff Richard] made Move It, which is a classic rock'n'roll record, in the summer of 1958 - Bruce and I were turning 17 and Cliff was turning 18. Before that there were pretty gruesome attempts at rock'n'roll in Britain, mainly variety acts and cheeky chappies impersonating Americans.
- [on the music press] It does seem to begin with The Beatles and the Stones [The Rolling Stones]. They seem unaware that that we had an international career, and had a massive influence everywhere in the world except for the USA.
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