Mark cunningham biography

Legendary Hawaiian lifeguard Mark Cunningham is arguably the best body surfer in the world.
Mark Cunningham received an MFA from the University of Virginia, and he lives now in central Missouri.
Mark's early career was focused on work as a bass guitarist, composer and producer.

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In 1974 as a senior in high school, Cunningham won the North Shore Bodysurfing and Paipo Contest at Pipeline and that started a 15-year domination of bodysurfing events in Hawaii and around the world.

Kelly Slater bodysurfed Mark Cunningham’s shoulders to victory, the first time he won the World Title in San Francisco. Cunningham is tall and was clearly visible down at the water’s edge when Kelly emerged victorious and it was Mark who lofted Kelly onto his shoulders and “chaired” him to the podium – high above all the photographers and autograph seekers and worshippers and idolators. A nice thing to do, but when word got out that Kelly hadn’t actually won the World Title, and would have to surf one more heat, someone suggested that before that heat, Mark put Kelly back on his shoulders and walk backward to the water in a ceremony to undo that what had been done.

Cunningham was game. He was up for whatever. He has been there for Kelly for many many years, and wasn’t against walking backward across 200 yards of sand with Kelly on his shoulders.

Kelly wasn’t too keen on

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Body Surfing, Interviews, PeopleSurf Simply Interviews – Mark Cunningham

Legendary Hawaiian lifeguard Mark Cunningham is arguably the best body surfer in the world. His flipper-like feet and supremely smooth style have set him at the forefront of the art since the 1970’s. Mark’s appearances in surf films Sprout, A Broke Down Melody and more recently, Come Hell or High Water, have etched his name into the unwritten body-surfers hall of fame. Recently, the expert swimmer sat down with me to impart some wisdom.

I love to joke that I was made in Hawaii, but I was born in Massachusetts. That’s where both my Mum and Dad were from. My father got stationed here in Hawaii after world war two. I was very fortunate to grow up in Honolulu. I started surfing where the slopes of Diamond Head meet the sands of Waikiki. I turned 60 this past summer, that was fun, and my father only lived to 59 so I’m stoked to be here. I have a lot of friends that aren’t here anymore. Life is good.

There’s a neat connection with surfing in Honolulu. I went to the same Punahou high s

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Mark Cunningham on Horslips: From Rocker to Writer

On November 4th 2013, when ‘Tall Tales: The Official Biography of Horslips’ was published by The O’Brien Press, an unlikely dream was fulfilled.

If you had somehow gone back in time to 1976, when I first fell in love with Horslips, and told my spotty, 13 year old self that I would one day be responsible for charting the extraordinary journey of this pioneering Irish band, I would have laughed you out of the door because, hey, I was an aspiring musician. But at the very start, I had every intention of becoming a writer.

In 1968, at the age of five, I formally announced to my parents that I wanted to be a journalist when I grew up and proceeded to write a letter to Michael Aspel, then a Daily Express columnist, seeking his advice on how this precocious, working class kid from London’s East End might attain such a lofty career. To my family’s surprise, Michael replied on an Express letterhead, recommending a couple of University degrees and wishing me good luck. The letter has long vanished but I have nev