Mark Knopfler: "Sultans of Swing" and the Birth of Dire Straits

Good things usually dont happen to you while youre helping your friends move their furniture on a Sunday. Youre more likely to throw your back out than land a major record contract but, strangely enough, thats exactly what happened to Mark Knopfler and his band Dire Straits on July 31, 1977.

That year, Knopfler and the original Dire Straits members (his brother David on guitar, John Illsley on bass, and Pick Withers on drums) had recorded a five-track demo tape for about $200 at Pathway Studios in North London. They distributed copies of the tape around town, and Illsley took one to BBC Radio London disc jockey Charlie Gillett for his opinion. Gillett had a very popular Sunday program called Honky Tonk which featured alternative music (in this case, alternative to the disco and punk rock scenes that were enveloping the U.K. and the world at the time) and he was so impressed with one of the tracks, called Sultans of Swing, that he decided to play it on the air that fateful summer Sunday in 1977.

Knopfler and his friends usually listened to Gillett, but that Sunday they were busy helping a friend move house and they missed the show. Even if they had heard the demo being played over the London airwaves that night, its doubtful they would have believed what was happening all around town

In the liner notes to the 1995 CD Dire Straits: Live at the BBC, Charlie Gillett writes: The phones went on ringing for a week. Among the callers were several A&R men who wanted to know who that band was, you know, that one which sounded so American. But although several personally loved the groups sound, most couldnt convince themselves or their superiors that the rest of the world would agree. Ultimately, Phonogram signed Dire Straits under the Vertigo label, and their self-titled album would be recorded seven months later. It eventually hit the U.S. Billboard charts and climbed its way to the #2 spot, with Sultans of Swing capturing the hearts of millions worldwide. The album is dedicated simply: To Charlie Gillett.

To this day, long after the breakup of Dire Straits, it remains Knopflers signature song.

Mark Knopfler is a singer, songwriter and guitar player touring in 2006 with Emmylou Harris to promote their new album All the Roadrunning. For Mark Knopfler news, biography, photographs, and tour information visit the site: http://www.knopfler.info

Author:: Susan Dagostino
Keywords:: Mark Knopfler, Dire Straits, Sultans of Swing, BBC, London, 1977, Charlie Gillett
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