photo by Steven Gardner

Mark Benson was introduced to music playing drums and piano at age eight. 

At age 17 he started playing guitar and became fascinated by the different sounds that different guitars made and started servicing, repairing and building guitars which he learned how to do at Lay's guitar Repair in Akron, Ohio. 

He made guitars for Eddie Van Halen and Jackson Browne and sold vintage guitars to The Rolling Stones, The Who, Bad Company, Hall and Oates, Ted Nugent, ZZ Top, The Eagles, Alvin Lee, Joe Walsh, The Allman Brothers, The Cars, David Lindley, Cheap Trick, and the Doobie Brothers. 

Mark played guitar in the local Ohio bands Ashes, Raintree, Coconut, Mr. French and Bock (with 1964 co-founder, Gary Grimes). 

In 1984 Mark and Gary, started “1964 The Tribute”. 

"We had no idea when we first started this band, that it would lead to us performing at so many of the venues The Beatles played, like Carnegie Hall, Red Rocks Amphitheater, The Deauville Hotel, Shea Stadium, and The Cavern in Liverpool, England." 

He currently produces all aspects of the show and produced the “1964” CDs, “All You Need Is Live”,“Nine Hours In November”, “Bootleg Vol. 1” and "30/50 Celebration". 

Mark says, “'1964' shows the audience what it was like to attend a Beatles concert in the early sixties and generates the same feeling of happiness that is still generated by the music of The Beatles. We get so much of this positive energy back from our audiences, it reassures us that for now, we are where we are supposed to be”.