Mark Veldevere is a session guitarist from the Salt Lake City area. He has performed and is still performing with several groups in the area. He was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, but grew up anywhere and everywhere. He spent the majority of his life in Boise, Idaho, where he taught himself the guitar at the age of ten. After serving in the France Bordeaux Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he attended Ricks College and then went on to finish his studies at Brigham Young University.
It was at BYU that he performed as a guitarist with the BYU Young Ambassadors. He toured with the Young Ambassadors throughout the southern United States, Morocco, and Tunisia. He recently returned from an over seas tour with Clog America, a bluegrass music and dance troupe, touring the Netherlands, Belgium, and France.
He just had the privilege of performing at the Pearl Awards in front of 3,000 people and also performing with Enoch Train and the Mormon Youth Symphony at the historic Tabernacle on Temple Square in front of 10,000 people both of which were televised. He also served two years as the Department Chair of Guitar Studies for the Crescent School of Music.
He has performed with Enoch Train, Jesse Thurgood, Randy Thorderson, Kim Brakken, Clive Romney, Dave Edwards, Doug Walker, and various others. He also regularly performs and teaches master classes at various colleges, universities, high schools, and middle schools for their guitar departments. He studied for several years under session and jazz guitar great Rich Dixon and has been mentored by session great Michael Dowdle for close to twenty years.
His influences include Michael Dowdle, Rich Dixon, Steve Lukather, Larry Carlton, Chet Atkins, Dan Huff, Eddie VanHalen, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Lee Ritenour, Tommy Emmanuel, Wes Montgomery, Scott Henderson, George Benson, Eric Johnson, George Lynch, Jeff Pevar, Paul Yandell, Lawrence Juber, Ed Gerhard, Grant Geissman, Russ Freeman, Brent Mason, Greg Howe, Pat Metheny, Brian Hughes, Tony Rice, the Hellecasters, Norman Brown, Paul Jackson, Jr., Ricky Skaggs, Chuck Loeb, Robben Ford, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Carl Verheyen, Paul Gilbert, Yngwie Malmsteen, and many others. His style includes rock, country, bluegrass, jazz, fingerstyle, Latin, and funk.
He is currently writing and recording material for his first commercial jazz CD which will be entitled “Turning Point.” He strongly endorses Melancon electric guitars.