Mark Goffeney (May 22, 1969 – March 2, 2021) was an American musician from

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, known as "Big Toe" because, being born without arms, he played

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

with his feet. He was bassist and vocalist for the 'Big Toe' band and played the principal role on

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Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

-nominated commercial 'Feet'.

Early life

Goffeney's mother was British. Starting at age 4, Goffeney appeared on telethons for

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and Variety Club charities. He interviewed celebrities such as

Magic Johnson Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. Often regarded as the greatest point guard of all time, Johnson List of NBA players who have spent their entire career w ...

Henry Winkler Henry Franklin Winkler (born October 30, 1945) is an American actor, producer, director, and author. Widely known as Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli on the sitcom ''Happy Days'' (1974–1984), Winkler has distinguished himself as a character acto ...

and

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

. Initially cast to be the son of

David Hasselhoff David Michael Hasselhoff (born July 17, 1952), nicknamed "The Hoff", is an American actor, singer, and television personality. He has set a Guinness World Record as the most watched man on TV. Hasselhoff first gained recognition on the soap ...

's character on ''

The Young and the Restless ''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in the fictional Genoa City (named after the real-life Genoa City, Wiscon ...

'' but a corporate board decided a character with no arms would be too controversial so he was let go. He felt disheartened by this and decided to concentrate on music. He played

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

in his school band, but later his father brought home an old guitar (with four strings) that he had found at a garbage dump. Goffeney asked a guitar-playing neighborhood friend for instructions. With his friend's help, Goffeney developed his own technique, learning guitar and

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

. He would lay the guitar on the ground, supporting the neck with whatever he could get his feet on. He would strum with his left foot and make chords with his right. He started a heavy metal band in high school and stated that he acted like a "punk". He attended Grossmont Adult School and

Grossmont College Grossmont College is a public community college in El Cajon, California. Its name originated with the silent film actor and producer William J. Gross, who was enticed by Ed Fletcher to invest in the purchase of land, part of which was called Gro ...

Adult career

In 1992, he founded the band "Big Toe" with another guitarist, and by the end of the 1990s, had successfully completed his first CD, titled ''Big Toe'', sponsored by PSB Records and produced by Steve Dudas, the former producer for

Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of lead vocalist Steven Tyler, bassist Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton, drummer Joey Kramer, and guitarists Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry and B ...

. He was recognized for his work internationally and was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1999 for his principal role in the Fox Network commercial "Feet" that aired during the

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in 2000 and 2001. Goffeney performed on "Lippe blöfft" ( ARD TV in Germany) as an opening act for

LeAnn Rimes Margaret LeAnn Rimes Cibrian (born August 28, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. She originally rose to success as a country music artist at the age of 13 and has since crossed over into pop, contemporary Christian, and o ...

. The station forwarded over 100 emails received the day following the show from viewers wanting Goffeney's CD. To date, CDs have been mailed to fans in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. 'Big Toe' appeared on ''

The Next Great American Band ''The Next Great American Band'' is a reality television talent show. The show premiered on October 19, 2007 and aired on Fox at 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific times Friday nights. The show was taped at CBS Television City in Los Angeles on Wednesd ...

'' on

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and in '' StarTomorrow'', an online-only musical talent search premiered on

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and NBC.com on July 31, 2006, competing with 92 bands head-to-head competition on a weekly basis. 'Big Toe' made it to the semi-finals of the competition.'Guitarist with no arms faces reality TV' By Larry Knowles
, Vyuz San Diego, September 11, 2006 Goffeney was known for

busking Street performance or busking is the act of performing in public places for gratuity, gratuities. In many countries, the rewards are generally in the form of money but other gratuities such as food, drink or gifts may be given. Street performa ...

in Balboa Park and spots around San Diego.

''Big Toe'' album

In 1999, PSB Records signed the band to an album deal on the condition that Goffeney work with Steve Dudas (former producer for

Ozzy Osbourne John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and media personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead singer of the heavy metal music, heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which per ...

and

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...

) to refine the songs for the band's self-titled album. At an interview, Goffeney recalled him to be very professional and that at the time, Dudas let him know "in no uncertain terms" that he needed to listen to him. The album is a collection of Mark Goffeney's original songs. It was featured in the ''

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s "Best of the Best".

Personal life and death

He married AnnMarie Alburg in 1988 and had three children shortly after high school. They were divorced but reunited many years later after Mark raised the children on his own. On March 2, 2021, both Goffeney and his ex-wife AnnMarie were found dead in their home in

El Cajon El Cajon ( , ; Spanish: El Cajón, lit. 'the box') is a city in San Diego County, California, United States, east of downtown San Diego. The city takes its name from Rancho El Cajón, which was named for the box-like shape of the valley tha ...

. A spokesman for the

El Cajon Police Department The El Cajon Police Department (ECPD) is the primary law enforcement agency of El Cajon, California. It was founded in 1912. The current police chief is Michael Moulton, who took over for the retiring Chief Jeff Davis on Sept. 13, 2019. It is a ...

said there were no signs of foul play. Their daughter, Amanda Goffeney, posted on the official Big Toe website that the cause was an accidental

fentanyl Fentanyl is a highly potent synthetic piperidine opioid primarily used as an analgesic (pain medication). It is 30 to 50 times more Potency (pharmacology), potent than heroin and 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. Its primary Medici ...

overdose.

References

External links

Big Toe Rocks official websiteBig Toe
on

MySpace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

Mark Goffeney
on

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...