Mark Robert Boals is an American heavy metal singer and occasional bassist, renowned for his powerful vocals with

Yngwie Malmsteen Yngwie Johan Malmsteen (; born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck, on 30 June 1963) is a Swedish-American guitarist. He first became known in the 1980s for his neoclassical metal, neoclassical playing style in heavy metal music, heavy metal, and has ...

. Boals is also an occasional singer-songwriter and bassist for the band

Foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

, who is produced by

Linkin Park Linkin Park is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Agoura Hills, California, in 1996. The band's current lineup consists of vocalist/rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, DJ/turntablist Joe Hahn, bass ...

Colin Brittain Colin Cunningham (born December 29, 1986), known professionally as Colin "Doc" Brittain, is an American songwriter, producer, and musician signed to Warner Chappell Music. In September 2024, he joined Linkin Park and has been the band's new drum ...

. Boals' first album with Malmsteen, 1986's ''

Trilogy A trilogy is a set of three distinct works that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games. Three-part works that are considered components of ...

'', achieved platinum status in the US and sold several million copies worldwide. As a young child, he learned to play the piano and bass guitar. Although Boals has never had any vocal lessons or training, as a teenager he gained experience as a vocalist in local groups. Boals is the founder and vocalist for the band

Ring of Fire The Ring of Fire (also known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Rim of Fire, the Girdle of Fire or the Circum-Pacific belt) is a tectonic belt of volcanoes and earthquakes. It is about long and up to about wide, and surrounds most of the Pa ...

, and had a brief stint as the bassist for

Dokken Dokken is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1978. It split up in 1989 and reformed four years later. The band has had several hit singles which charted on the Billboard Hot 100, such as " Alone Again", " In My Dreams", and ...

Career

In 1982, Boals joined

Savoy Brown Savoy Brown (originally Savoy Brown Blues Band) were a British blues rock band formed in Battersea, southwest London, in 1965. Part of the late 1960s blues rock movement, Savoy Brown primarily achieved success in the United States, where they p ...

and toured around Canada and the U.S. through 1983. Although several songs were written for a proposed new album, the record never materialized due to mainman

Kim Simmonds Kim Maiden Simmonds (5 December 1947 – 13 December 2022) was a Welsh musician. He was the founder, guitarist, primary songwriter and sole constant member of the blues rock band Savoy Brown, which he formed in 1965. Simmonds had led Savoy Br ...

running into legal problems at the time. During these years Boals also performed with his band Lazer. While with Savoy Brown, Boals met

Ted Nugent Theodore Anthony Nugent (; born December 13, 1948) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and political activist. He goes by several nicknames, including Uncle Ted, the Nuge, and Motor City Madman. Nugent initially gained fame as the le ...

and joined his band as bassist in 1984 touring throughout the U.S. and opening up for

Judas Priest Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Judas Priest have also been referred to as one of the p ...

in Europe. Deciding to focus on singing and being a frontman, Boals moved to California in 1985. He joined

's Rising Force and performed on the ''

'' album. Boals' first show with Malmsteen was at

Day on the Green Day on the Green was a recurring concert in Oakland, California, presented by promoter Bill Graham and his company Bill Graham Presents. Held at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, these events began in 1973 and continued into the early 1990 ...

in San Francisco, CA in front of 80,000 fans. After leaving Yngwie in 1986, he gave up music for a time, trying to find himself in cinematography and working for Warner Brothers. In this period he recorded, with

Mike Slamer Michael Chetwynd Slamer ( ; born 8 July 1954) is a British guitarist. Biography Slamer started his career playing in the UK prog-rock band City Boy. Since then, he has worked as a staff composer for various movies and TV series, has been a s ...

, a soundtrack for the film White Water Summer (1987); he also appeared on Maestro Alex Gregory's "Paganini's Last Stand" (

Priority Records Priority Records is an American distribution company and record label known for artists including N.W.A, Ice Cube, MC Ren, Eazy-E, Master P, Snoop Dogg, Mos Def, Silkk the Shocker, Jay-Z, Paris, Mack 10, 504 Boyz, Brotha Lynch Hung, ...

) in 1992. Boals' next venture was Billionaires Boys Club, a short lived supergroup featuring former Accept guitarist

Jörg Fischer Jörg Fischer (born 4 July 1957) is a German guitar player, primarily known for his work with the German band Accept. He joined the band at the end of the recording sessions for their self-titled debut and played on the albums ''I'm a Rebel'' an ...

, future

HammerFall HammerFall is a Swedish power metal band from Gothenburg. The band was formed in 1993 by ex- Ceremonial Oath guitarist Oscar Dronjak. They have released thirteen studio albums. History Early days (1993–1996) HammerFall was formed when g ...

bassist

Magnus Rosén Klas Magnus Rosén (born 1963 in Gothenburg) is a Swedish musician. He was the bassist of Swedish band HammerFall from 1997 to 2007. Magnus Rosén started to play bass when he was 15 years old. after playing bass for three years he went on hi ...

, and former Yngwie Malmsteen bandmate, drummer Anders Johansson. The group's sole album, ''Something Wicked Comes'', was released on

Polydor Records Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in ...

in 1993. Then in 1996, Yngwie Malmsteen called Boals and asked if he wanted to perform on several songs on the cover album ''

Inspiration Inspiration, inspire, INSPIRE, or inspired commonly refers to: * Artistic inspiration, sudden creativity in artistic production * Biblical inspiration, a Christian doctrine on the origin of the Bible * Inhalation, breathing in Inspiration and rel ...

''. Boals accepted, and resumed his role as vocalist with Yngwie Malmsteen for the album ''

Alchemy Alchemy (from the Arabic word , ) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe. In its Western form, alchemy is first ...

''. The band subsequently went on tour. In March 2000, Boals won the No.1 Vocalist Prize in the Japanese music magazines ''

Burrn! is a monthly Japanese magazine for fans of heavy metal music, published since September 1984. It is the major publication on heavy metal music in the country. As of 2013, it is published by Shinko Music Entertainment in Tokyo Tokyo, off ...

'' and ''Young Guitar''. At the end of that year, on the same day, his second solo CD, entitled

Ring Of Fire The Ring of Fire (also known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Rim of Fire, the Girdle of Fire or the Circum-Pacific belt) is a tectonic belt of volcanoes and earthquakes. It is about long and up to about wide, and surrounds most of the Pa ...

and Yngwie Malmsteen's '' War To End All Wars'', with Boals on vocals, were released. However, after many years of musical magic and friendship, the team of Malmsteen and Boals had decided to move in different directions, and Boals formed a new band, Ring of Fire, named after his solo album. At the beginning of this year, Ring of Fire recorded their subsequent debut ''The Oracle'' album at the George Bellas Studios in Chicago. Alongside Boals were George Bellas,

Vitalij Kuprij Vitalij Kuprij (July 7, 1974 – February 20, 2024) was a Ukrainian-American pianist, composer and music teacher. He was a keyboardist for Ring of Fire and Trans-Siberian Orchestra. He resided in Reading, Pennsylvania. Early life Vitalij began p ...

Virgil Donati Virgil Donati (born 22 October 1958) is an Australian drummer, composer and producer. He holds the drum sticks in the traditional style and is also proficient at the keyboard. Donati formed Planet X with Derek Sherinian and was the band's pri ...

and

Philip Bynoe Philip Earl Bynoe is an American musician best known for his work with Steve Vai. He has been the bass player of Vai's touring band since 2012, a role he previously held from 1996 to 2000. He has also played on four of Vai's studio albums. Other ...

. In addition Boals has participated in two exciting projects of

Lion Music Lion Music is a production company and record label founded in 1989 by composer and artist Lars Eric Mattsson. History Lion Music was founded in 1989 by Lars Eric Mattsson as a production company to handle production and licensing for his recor ...

in Finland. He appears on the

Jason Becker Jason Eli Becker (born July 22, 1969) is an American composer and former guitarist. At the age of 16, he became part of the Shrapnel Records-produced duo Cacophony with his friend Marty Friedman, and they released two albums, '' Speed Metal Sy ...

tribute "Warmth in the Wilderness", singing a version of David Lee Roth's "Hammerhead Shark" with Lars Eric Mattsson. Speaking about Mattsson, in 2005 he also recorded an album ''War'' with Boals lead singing on track "Deep In The Shadows". As Malmsteen urgently needed a singer for his current tour, Boals has toured again with him in Europe, but only as guest vocalist. Also Boals is featured on vocals on two songs, "Into The Light" and "I Will Always Be There", for the Empire CD ''Hypnotica'' (2001). Another cool project where Boals took part in, was "Genius Rock Opera" Trilogy by Daniele Liverani. There he was recording as the main character (Genius) on Episode 1: A human into dreams' world (2002) and Episode 2: In search of the little prince (2004). But he refused to sing on the last Episode because of personal reasons and was replaced by D. C. Cooper. In 2004 Boals recorded two songs for young Japanese guitarist named Takayoshi Ohmura. Ohmura's debut album, entitled "Nowhere To Go", features additional guest appearances by

Doogie White Douglas "Doogie" White (born 7 March 1960) is a Scottish rock vocalist who currently sings for La Paz. He has also notably sung for Rainbow (rock band), Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, Michael Schenker, Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force, Praying Ma ...

(

, Cornerstone, ex-

Rainbow A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...

) and

Richie Kotzen Richard Dale Kotzen Jr. (born February 3, 1970) is an American rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter. As a solo artist, Kotzen has a back catalogue of more than 20 album releases. He was signed to California-based Shrapnel Records from 1988 to ...

(ex- Mr. Big,

Poison A poison is any chemical substance that is harmful or lethal to living organisms. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figurati ...

). Commented Boals:

After I was asked by the representatives of Ohmura, I listened to his demo. I thought his music was good and he has a talent to play guitar, and I thought it'd be great to support this young Japanese musician. I also thought it would be great to share the vocals with the other singers, Richie Kotzen and Doogie White, so I recorded two songs here in L.A. and sent them to Japan.

Boals has also performed with

Lana Lane Lana Lane is an American rock singer. She sings lead in her eponymous band, and has sung backing vocals for the band Rocket Scientists and guest sung on Ayreon and Erik Norlander albums. She is married to music producer Erik Norlander, who co- ...

, Indigo Dying, Empire and Chris Brooks. 2000s years Boals recorded 3 solo albums as well as three studio albums and one live DVD with his own band, Ring Of Fire. The project album called ''The Codex'' Boals recorded with Magnus Karlsson in 2007. The album project marks the return to recording after a 3 years hiatus for Boals. In 2007 Boals started looking for a serious, permanent band situation and

Royal Hunt Royal Hunt is a Danish progressive metal band. The band was founded in 1989 by keyboardist André Andersen in order to combine basic values of classic rock with progressive, current musical elements. The name originated from a painting seen in ...

became a perfect opportunity for a singer to exploit and expand his vocal abilities. In 2008 Boals appeared on his first Royal Hunt album ''Collision Course... Paradox 2''. Boals also appeared on Uli Jon Roth's album titled ''Under A Dark Sky'' on which he shared vocal duties with Liz Vandall. The band with Boals toured the world from July – December 2008. In 2009, he also worked with such bands like Vindictiv and

Wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, includin ...

, and completed work on the latest Royal Hunt album ''X'' which was released in January 2010. Mark is also currently handling vocal duties in the band Seven The Hardway featuring guitarist

Tony MacAlpine Tony MacAlpine (born August 29, 1960) is an American musician and composer. In a career spanning four decades, he has released twelve studio albums. MacAlpine is best known as an instrumental rock and heavy metal solo guitarist, although he has ...

which released a self-titled album in August 2010. Mark Boals with Royal Hunt in 2008

A press release dated June 19, 2011, announced that Boals would be recording vocals for the Wagnerian opera metal project Lyraka. In 2012, he sang lead vocals for Joshua Perahia's band and their album, "Resurrection". Since 2013, he performed with Dio Disciples, replacing former Judas Priest singer

Tim "Ripper" Owens Timothy S. "Ripper" Owens (born September 13, 1967) is an American heavy metal singer who currently performs with KK's Priest, Spirits of Fire, the Three Tremors and "The Tim Ripper Monster Energy Big Band". He first gained attention as the ...

. After singing backing vocals on Dokken's 2012 album '' Broken Bones'' and performing acoustic shows with

Don Dokken Donald Maynard Dokken (born June 29, 1953) is an American musician, best known as the lead singer and founder of glam metal band Dokken. He is known for his vibrato-laden, melodic vocal style which has made him an influential figure in American ...

for the past couple of years, Boals was announced as the new full-time

bass player in November 2014 replacing

Sean McNabb Sean McNabb (born September 24, 1965) is an American actor and bassist. While still on tour with rock bands, he is also acting and writing, composing, and singing music for TV and film. In 2015, he released his first solo music as a lead singer, ...

. Boals also appears on an EP project from the band Metal Hell called Decadence, which includes Mark Zonder fro
Fates Warning
2014 he started performing in the Las Vegas show, "Raiding the Rock Vault", as lead vocalists, and also plays guitar and bass. 2019 Boals started performing with other Las Vegas show called "Tenors of Rock". Boals is also an occasional singer-songwriter and bassist for the band

, who is produced by

drummer

Discography

;Solo albums *''

Ignition Ignition may refer to: Science and technology * Firelighting, the human act of creating a fire for warmth, cooking and other uses * Combustion, an exothermic chemical reaction between a fuel and an oxidant * Fusion ignition, the point at which a ...

'' (1998) *''

'' (2000) *''Edge of the World'' (2002) *''All The Best!'' (2020) ;Yngwie J. Malmsteen *''

'' (1986) *''

'' (1996) *''

'' (1999) *'' War to End All Wars'' (2000) ;Foundry * ''Single – THUNDER ROLLS'' (2019) * ''Single – INTOXICATE'' (2019) * ''Single – NOT THIS TIME'' (2019) * ''Single – ANOTHER WAY'' (2021) * ''Single – LET YOU GO'' (2021) * ''Single – WAITING FOR YOU'' (2021) ;Shining Black ft. Mark Boals/Olaf Thorsen * ''Shining Black'' (2020) * ''Postcards From The End Of The World'' (2022) ;Renaissance Rock Orchestra *''A Song of Hope'' (2021) ;Maestro Alex Gregory *''Paganini's Last Stand'' (1992) ;Billionaires Boys Club *''Something Wicked Comes'' (1993) ;Thread *''Thread'' (1996)Thread
/ref> ;Lana Lane *''Project Shangri-La'' (2002) ;Erik Norlander *''Music Machine'' (2003) ;Ring of Fire *''The Oracle'' (2001) *''Burning Live in Tokyo'' – live album (2002) *''Dreamtower'' (2003) *''Lapse of Reality'' (2004) *''Battle of Leningrad'' (2014) *''Gravity'' (2022) ;Empire *''Hypnotica'' (2001) ;Genius: A Rock Opera *''Part 1: A Human into Dreams' World'' (2002) *''Part 2: In Search of the Little Prince'' (2004) ; Takayoshi Ohmura *''Nowhere to Go'' (2004) ;Lars Eric Mattsson *''War'' (2005) ;Indigo Dying *''Indigo Dying'' (2007) ;The Codex *''The Codex'' (2007) ;Royal Hunt *'' Collision Course... Paradox 2'' (2008) *'' X'' (2010) *''Royal Hunt – Dystopia (2020)'' *''Royal Hunt – Dystopia Part 2 (2022)'' ;Uli Jon Roth *'' Under A Dark Sky (Sky of Avalon)'' (2008) ;Adrian Galysh *''Tone Poet'' (2013) ;Vindictiv *''Ground Zero'' (2009) *''World Of Fear'' (2015) ;Wolf *'' Ravenous'' (2009, backing vocals on one song) ;Seven the Hardway *''Seven The Hardway'' (2010) ;Jayce Landberg *''Good Sleepless Night'' (2010, ''Track 8)'' ;Iron Mask *''

Black as Death ''Black as Death'' is the fourth studio album by Belgian power metal band Iron Mask, released on December 16, 2011 by AFM Records. All songs were composed by Dushan Petrossi. The album marks another change in band-lineup, comprising ex-Yngwie M ...

'' (2011) *''

Fifth Son of Winterdoom ''Fifth Son of Winterdoom'' is the fifth studio album by Belgian power metal band Iron Mask, that was released on November 8, 2013 by AFM Records. All songs were composed by Dushan Petrossi. ''LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternati ...

'' (2013) ;Holy Force * ''Holy Force'' (2011) ;Bogusław Balcerak's Crylord *''Blood of the Prophets'' (2011) ''(tracks 4, 6, 11, 12)'' *''Gates of Valhalla (2014) (tracks 3, 9)'' ;Kuni *''Rock'' (2011) ;Lyraka *''Lyraka Volume 2'' (2012) ;Joshua Perahia *''Resurrection'' (2012) ;Magnus Karlsson *''

Free Fall In classical mechanics, free fall is any motion of a physical object, body where gravity is the only force acting upon it. A freely falling object may not necessarily be falling down in the vertical direction. If the common definition of the word ...

'' (2013, one song) ;RavenBlack Project * ''Breaking Through the Mist'' (2013) ;Thunder Rising * ''Thunder Rising'' (2013) ;Marius Danielsen * ''Legend of Valley Doom'' (2013) ;Dramatica * ''Fall of Tyranny'' (2016) ;Vivaldi Metal Project * ''The Four Seasons'' (2016) ;Ark Storm * ''Voyage of the rage'' (2018) ;Tribute albums *'' Dragon Attack: A Tribute to Queen'' (1997) *''We Will Rock You: A Tribute to

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

'' (2000) *''Warmth in the Wilderness: A Tribute To

'' (2001) *''24/7/365: A Tribute To

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

'' (2007) ;Soundtracks *''"Restless heart"'' from the film " White Water Summer" (1987) Soundtrack recorded with Mike Slamer.

References

External links

*
Foundry Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boals, Mark 1958 births Living people Musicians from Youngstown, Ohio American heavy metal singers American rock bass guitarists American heavy metal bass guitarists American male bass guitarists American male singers Guitarists from Ohio 20th-century American bass guitarists 20th-century American pianists Royal Hunt members Labyrinth (band) members Iron Mask (band) members Joshua (band) members American male pianists 21st-century American pianists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians Yngwie J. Malmsteen's Rising Force members