Story by Australian Musician editor Greg Phillips
The music world is mourning the loss of acclaimed Australian Musician and producer Mark Moffatt, who died of pancreatic cancer on September 6th, 2024 at age 74 in Nashville, Tennessee.
The following was posted to Mark’s facebook page at the suggestion of his wife …
As much as Moffatt loved his music, his first love was his family. He is survived by his wife, Lindsey, step-daughter Dana and two granddaughters—the loves of his life—his son Geordie, and extended family in Australia.
Moffatt was one of the most experienced and respected producers to emerge from Australia. He was also an accomplished musician, engineer, writer and a Grammy nominee. Producing more tracks in the APRA Top 30 Songs of All Time than any other single producer, Moffatt produced an astonishing 15 ARIA Hall of Fame inductees.
A proud Australian, Moffatt chased his musical passions from his hometown of Maryborough to Brisbane, then hopped a boat to the UK to work on London’s famed Denmark Street for several years. When he found himself back in Brisbane in 1976, the stars aligned and Moffatt’s production of The Saints’ “I’m Stranded” kicked his burgeoning career into overdrive.
Production stints with EMI and TCS Studios in Melbourne led him to Sydney in 1980, where he became Festival Records’ in-house producer, working on some of the biggest names in Australian music for more than a decade.
Moffatt relocated to Nashville in 1996 and quickly became part of its prolific music scene, helping countless Aussie artists as a mentor, producer, studio musician, and all-around coach. A fresh-faced Aussie artist coming to Nashville could find no better cheerleader and teacher than Mark Moffatt.
Moffatt’s overriding focus for the past two decades has been to bridge the international divide on behalf of the Americana Music Association, serving as its Board President for three terms, and educating everyone in his musical orbit on the complexities and history of this storied genre of music. He was a founding board member of the Americana Music Foundation, served for ten years as APRA’s Nashville Ambassador, and was awarded the CMA Global Achievement Award for his remarkable international efforts.
On the very day of his passing, respected Australian scribe Jeff Jenkins published an article hailing Moffatt as “an unsung hero of Australian music.” From The Saints to Keith Urban to Tim Finn to Yothu Yindi and well beyond, Mark Moffatt has influenced the Aussie—and world—music sphere in innumerable ways, and done so with the quiet confidence that only he could bring.
At the time of his death, Moffatt was putting the finishing touches to a full album for KILO, a band he formed with Australian rock singer John “Swanee” Swan, for which they have already released several music videos and an EP.
In October 2023 Mark contacted Australian Musician in regard to having a chat to spread the word about his new Kilo Band project and to spotlight the vocal prowess of singer John Swan, who Mark has always claimed to be one of the best and most underrated voices in rock history.
Consequently, a zoom interview was arranged between myself, Mark Moffatt and John Swan. Due to some technical issues, John wasn’t able to join the meeting until our time limit had almost expired, so I caught up with John again at a later date and then decided to write up the interview rather than piece together a disjointed video presentation. You can read that article HERE
However, while waiting for John Swan to join the initial zoom, I managed to have a wonderful informal chat with Mark about his career, not intending to use that part of the video for the Kilo Band editorial piece. At the time I was unaware of Mark’s cancer prognosis, other than thinking he didn’t look well. In light of the passing of this great music man, I have decided with deep respect to edit up the original zoom footage and allow you to hear about Mark’s career journey and the creation of the Kilo Band project in his own words.
In a post to his Facebook page yesterday, John Swan wrote…
“Peace now. Feel like my life just changed. I wish I could give Lyndsey a huge cuddle … I’ll miss our long chats and most of all your friendship. I love you brother”
RIP Mark Moffatt. A celebration of his life is being planned. Further details to follow.