Mark Wirtz (born September 3, 1943 in Strasbourg, France) is an Alsatian pop music record producer, composer, singer, musician, author, and comedian. As a producer, Wirtz's most famous output is from the mid to late 1960s, when he worked at Abbey Road Studios with Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick, under contract to EMI. Wirtz is chiefly known for the never-completed A Teenage Opera concept album. Another track by Wirtz, the 1966 "A Touch of Velvet, A Sting of Brass" under the name Mood Mosaic, with The Ladybirds as backing singers, became well known in Germany as the theme tune for the Radio Bremen show Musikladen. (More from Wikipedia)
Tomorrow – back when they were called the In Crowd – also had a part in an early rock opera that was actually called A Teenage Opera; the project was spearheaded by Mark Wirtz, who had had the idea as early as January 1966. After writing the lyrics for the song, Keith West released a single from the rock opera called "Excerpt from A Teenage Opera (Grocer Jack)" in late July 1967 – he also performed on a second song called "Sam" – and “Grocer Jack” became an instant hit in the U.K. during what is known as “the Summer of Love”. Keith West then mounted a modest solo career based on this hit.
(July 2013)
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Also present at the Think Pink sessions was John (Junior) Wood on bass; Wood had been a member of one of the earliest British psychedelic bands, Tomorrow, along with Twink, future Yes guitarist Steve Howe, and Keith West, who appeared in the early rock opera masterminded by Mark Wirtz called A Teenage Opera. West's single "Excerpt from A Teenage Opera (Grocer Jack)" was an instant hit when it was released in July 1967 and became part of the soundtrack of the Summer of Love.
(March 2014/1)
