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Mick Karn (born 24 July 1958) is an English
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
 multi-instrumentalist musician
Musician

A musician is a person who plays or writes music. Musicians can be classified by their roles in creating or performing music:* An instrumentalist plays a musical instrument....
 and songwriter, most noted as the bassist
Bassist

A bass player is a musician who plays a double bass, bass guitar, or another low-pitched instrument, such as keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as tuba or sousaphone....
 for the art rock
Art rock

Art rock is a term describing a subgenre of rock music that tends to have "experimental music or avant garde music influences" and emphasizes "novel sonic texture."...
 band Japan
Japan (band)

Japan were a United Kingdom pop/rock group, formed in 1974 in Lewisham, southeast London. The band achieved success in the late 1970s/early 1980s, when they were often associated with the burgeoning New Romantic fashion movement ....
, from 1974 to 1982.

Karn was born Anthony Michaelides in Nicosia
Nicosia

Nicosia, known locally as Lefkosia , is the capital and largest city of Cyprus. It is located at . Located on the River Pedieos and situated almost in the centre of the island, it is the seat of government as well as the main business centre....
, Cyprus
Cyprus

Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is an island country situated in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, east of Greece, west of Lebanon, Syria, and Israel, south of Turkey and north of Egypt....
, before emigrating to London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
, England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
, at the age of 3. He has worked with such noted and diverse artists as Gary Numan
Gary Numan

Gary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of commercial electronic music and has been described as the "King of synthpop." Numan is widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars "....
, Kate Bush
Kate Bush

Kate Bush is an England singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Her eclectic musical style and Idiosyncrasy lyrics have made her one of England's most successful solo female performers of the past 30 years having sold over 20,000,000 records worldwide....
, Midge Ure
Midge Ure

Midge Ure Order of the British Empire is a guitarist, singer, Keyboard instrument, and songwriter. He had particular success in the 1970s and 1980s in a number of bands, including Slik, Thin Lizzy, The Rich Kids, Visage and most notably as frontman of the band Ultravox....
, and Joan Armatrading
Joan Armatrading

Joan Anita Barbara Armatrading, Order of the British Empire, is a United Kingdom singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Armatrading is a three-time Grammy Award-nominee ....
. After Japan broke up, he formed Dali's Car
Dali's Car

Dalis Car was a musical ensemble formed in 1984 by Peter John Murphy , Mick Karn and Paul Vincent Lawford . The band was formed shortly after Murphy and Karn left their former bands ....
 with Peter Murphy of the gothic post-punk group Bauhaus
Bauhaus (band)

Bauhaus were an England Rock music band formed in Northampton in 1978. The group consisted of Peter Murphy , Daniel Ash , Kevin Haskins and David J ....
, which recorded one album in 1984.






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Mick Karn (born 24 July 1958) is an English
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
 multi-instrumentalist musician
Musician

A musician is a person who plays or writes music. Musicians can be classified by their roles in creating or performing music:* An instrumentalist plays a musical instrument....
 and songwriter, most noted as the bassist
Bassist

A bass player is a musician who plays a double bass, bass guitar, or another low-pitched instrument, such as keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as tuba or sousaphone....
 for the art rock
Art rock

Art rock is a term describing a subgenre of rock music that tends to have "experimental music or avant garde music influences" and emphasizes "novel sonic texture."...
 band Japan
Japan (band)

Japan were a United Kingdom pop/rock group, formed in 1974 in Lewisham, southeast London. The band achieved success in the late 1970s/early 1980s, when they were often associated with the burgeoning New Romantic fashion movement ....
, from 1974 to 1982.

Karn was born Anthony Michaelides in Nicosia
Nicosia

Nicosia, known locally as Lefkosia , is the capital and largest city of Cyprus. It is located at . Located on the River Pedieos and situated almost in the centre of the island, it is the seat of government as well as the main business centre....
, Cyprus
Cyprus

Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is an island country situated in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, east of Greece, west of Lebanon, Syria, and Israel, south of Turkey and north of Egypt....
, before emigrating to London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
, England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
, at the age of 3. He has worked with such noted and diverse artists as Gary Numan
Gary Numan

Gary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of commercial electronic music and has been described as the "King of synthpop." Numan is widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars "....
, Kate Bush
Kate Bush

Kate Bush is an England singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Her eclectic musical style and Idiosyncrasy lyrics have made her one of England's most successful solo female performers of the past 30 years having sold over 20,000,000 records worldwide....
, Midge Ure
Midge Ure

Midge Ure Order of the British Empire is a guitarist, singer, Keyboard instrument, and songwriter. He had particular success in the 1970s and 1980s in a number of bands, including Slik, Thin Lizzy, The Rich Kids, Visage and most notably as frontman of the band Ultravox....
, and Joan Armatrading
Joan Armatrading

Joan Anita Barbara Armatrading, Order of the British Empire, is a United Kingdom singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Armatrading is a three-time Grammy Award-nominee ....
. After Japan broke up, he formed Dali's Car
Dali's Car

Dalis Car was a musical ensemble formed in 1984 by Peter John Murphy , Mick Karn and Paul Vincent Lawford . The band was formed shortly after Murphy and Karn left their former bands ....
 with Peter Murphy of the gothic post-punk group Bauhaus
Bauhaus (band)

Bauhaus were an England Rock music band formed in Northampton in 1978. The group consisted of Peter Murphy , Daniel Ash , Kevin Haskins and David J ....
, which recorded one album in 1984. In the 1990s he worked with artist David Torn
David Torn

David Torn is an American composer and guitarist known for the organic blending/manipulation of electronic and acoustic instruments and performance techniques that have an atmospheric or Texture quality and effect, along with a particular harmonic richness....
 and a number of Japanese musicians, including the band NiNa
NiNa

are a six-piece group formed in 1999 containing Kate Pierson , bassist Mick Karn , vocalist Yuki Isoya , Takemi Shima and Masahide Sakuma, Japanese musicians from the Plastics, and Steven Wolf, the session drummer....
. Since then he has worked as a solo artist and as a photographer.

Karn's use of the fretless bass guitar
Bass guitar

The electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum.The bass guitar is similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar, but with a larger body, a longer neck and Scale length, and usually four strings tuned to the same pitches as those of the double bass, whic...
, an unusual instrument in modern popular music, produces a distinctive sound and playing style, which makes his playing immediately recognizable.

Karn played an aluminum-neck Travis Bean
Travis Bean

Travis Bean is an United States luthier and machinist from California.In 1974, he partnered with Marc McElwee and Gary Kramer to start Travis Bean Guitars, which made high-end electric guitars and basses featuring machined aluminum necks, an unusual design that provided incredible clarity and sustain....
 bass on all Japan albums up to Gentlemen Take Polaroids
Gentlemen Take Polaroids

Gentlemen Take Polaroids is the fourth studio album by the British band Japan . Released in 1980, it was the band's first album for the Virgin label....
. In 1981 he moved to the renowned Wal
Wal (bass)

Wal is a brand of Bass guitar manufactured by Electric Wood Ltd. in High Wycombe, England. It was started in 1974 by electronics expert Ian Waller and luthier Pete Stevens....
 basses, purchasing two Mark I instruments, one with rare African tulipwood facings, the other a cherry solidbody. Karn recorded Japan
Japan (band)

Japan were a United Kingdom pop/rock group, formed in 1974 in Lewisham, southeast London. The band achieved success in the late 1970s/early 1980s, when they were often associated with the burgeoning New Romantic fashion movement ....
's last studio album Tin Drum
Tin Drum

Tin Drum is the fifth and final studio album produced by the British band Japan . Released in the U.K. in late-November 1981, the album continued their now developed use of electronic elements coupled with traditional instrumentation, but leans far more towards far-eastern influences than any of their previous albums....
 with the Wal and has continued to use them, and now also plays the headless Klein 'K Bass.'

Discography

  • Titles (Virgin, 1982)
  • Dreams of Reason Produce Monsters (Virgin, 1987)
  • Bestial Cluster (CMP, 1993)
  • The Tooth Mother (CMP, 1995)
  • Liquid Glass (with Yoshihiro Hanno) (Medium, 1998)
  • Each Eye a Path (Medium, 2001)
  • Each Path a Remix (Medium, 2003)
  • More Better Different (Invisible Hands Music, 2004)
  • Love's Glove EP (MK, 2005)
  • Three Part Species (MK, 2006)
  • Selected (MK, 2007)


External links