DIESEL

Mark Denis Lizotte, (born 31 May 1966, Fall River, Massachusetts, United States). In August 1991, as Johnny Diesel, his solo career was launched with the single "Love Junk", which peaked in the top 20. Diesel toured Australia with Jimmy Barnes during the second half of the year. He had signed with EMI Music Australia and his second single, "Come to Me", was released in November under the epithet Diesel—subsequent releases saw him billed as Diesel until 1998—which reached #8 on the singles charts. November also saw the release of Barnes' next album, 'Soul Deep', with Diesel on guitar and also duetting on the Sam Cooke cover "Bring It On Home to Me".

 Diesel left his management team of Eccles and John Woodruff. He undertook his solo Rock 'n' Soul Tour, early in 1992, with Yak Sherrit on drums, Leslie Barlow on backing vocals, Matthew Branton on bass guitar, Jim Hilbun on rhythm guitar (ex-The Angels) and Roger Mason on keyboards (ex-Models). His next release, "Tip of My Tongue", appeared in February 1992, reaching #4 and becoming his highest charting single. It was followed a month later by his debut solo album, 'Hepfidelity', produced by Don Gehman and Manning, recorded in Los Angeles and Memphis. The album peaked at #1 on the ARIA charts and went on to sell more than 200,000 copies. A further two singles were issued, "Man Alive", in May, which reached the top 20, and "One More Time" in August, which did not enter the top 50.

Diesel won ARIA awards for 'Best Album' and 'Best Male Artist' in 1993 from four nominations. 'The Lobbyist' was a mix of new songs, re-workings of some 'Hepfidelity' tracks and a couple of covers. Released in August 1993, it also hit #1 on the Australian charts, and Diesel won an ARIA award for 'Best Male Artist' again, in 1994. The album spawned three singles: "Miss Your Water" in July peaked at #12, but neither "Masterplan" in October nor "I've Been Loving You Too Long" in January 1994 reached the top 40. In May 1994, the 'Still Got a Long Way to Go' four song EP was released credited to Jimmy Barnes With Diesel, the title track being lifted from Barnes' June album 'Flesh and Wood'.

This made #57 on the Australian charts, just outside the Top 50. Diesel's next album, 'Solid State Rhyme', appeared in November and featured the singles "All Come Together" (top 20), "Fifteen Feet of Snow" (top 30) and "Get it On". 'Solid State Rhyme' was co-produced by Diesel and Craig Porteils—it was another commercial success, peaking at #10. He won the ARIA award for 'Best Male Artist' in 1995—for the third consecutive time. Early in 1996, Diesel recorded the album 'Short Cool Ones' with Melbourne blues musician Chris Wilson as Wilson Diesel, released in February. The project also featured drummer Angus Diggs, bass player Dean Addison and Bob Woolf on keyboards. Diesel supplied guitar, backing vocals and production skills on Richard Clapton's Angeltown, released in May.

Following record production, guitar, backing vocals and song writing work on Vika and Linda's 'Princess Tabu' album, released in October, Diesel went on hiatus. A greatest hits compilation 'Rewind – The Best Of' also appeared in October. By year's end, he had moved to New York City, with his young family. To this point in his career, Diesel has sold over 800,000 records in Australia and won nine awards. In June 1998, Diesel signed with Mammoth Records under his birth name, Mark Lizotte. He returned briefly to Australia in November to perform at the Mushroom 25 Live concert alongside Wilson, Barnes and Vika and Linda. He made a comeback to the Australian charts with his September 1999 album, 'Soul Lost Companion', which reached the top 20 and spawned the singles, "Dig" (top 20) and "Satellite".

He returned to live in Australia in 2002, and released his next album 'Hear', under the Diesel moniker, in October. In March 2004 Diesel filmed is performance at Sydney's Metro Theatre and released his first DVD titled The First Fifteen '89–'04 Live. It went on to reach gold status. On 10 October 2004, Andrew Denton interviewed Barnes on the ABC TV program Enough Rope, Diesel then performed with Barnes and his children, Eliza Jane, Jackie and Elly May. Around the same time, Diesel released 'Singled Out'. An entirely acoustic overview of his career, it earned an ARIA nomination. Over the same period, he also worked with Barnes on his 'Double Happiness', including a duet on the track "Got You as a Friend" and providing musical backing including guitar, drums, bass guitar, percussion and keyboards on various tracks.

In 2006, Diesel released 'Coathanger Antennae', an album recorded in two months. Of it, he said "We approached it like the Stones or The Beatles used to do where we'd just put down a few takes live and then picked the ones that we all felt good about", emphasising the focus on live recording rather than studio polishing. Diesel made guest appearances on the Australian leg of Dweezil Zappa's 2009 Zappa Plays Zappa Tour, playing guitar and vocals after Ray White's departure from Zappa's group. The year 2008 saw the release of the studio album "Days Like These". 3 July 2009 saw the release of "Project Blues Saturday Suffering Fools" – a blues album featuring a horn section made up of ex-Injector Bernie Bremond and family members Hank (Father) and brothers Michael and Brian Lizotte.

1 July 2011 saw the release of "Under the Influence" – a collection of Diesel's favourite and influential guitar music featuring tracks by Jimi Hendrix, Link Wray, Albert King, Neil Young and The Sonics. "I was doing these shows called 'Under the Influence' just for fun" says Diesel. "One night it would be Jimi Hendrix or Al Green and then another night I'd do the three Kings (Albert, Freddie and B.B)" he adds. "I thought it would be good to make a record like that." A "hand-picked" retrospective album spanning 20 years of recordings titled 'You Get There from Here' was released on 1 June 2012.

Diesel made his scoring debut in 2012 with six-part series Bikies Wars: Brothers in Arms, contributing the theme track "Highway Mind" and over 140 original score pieces. The first episode aired on Tuesday 15 May 2012. Diesel's real name Mark Lizotte is listed in the credits. Diesel's eleventh album 'Let It Fly' was released on 9 August 2013. "It's all of my life's work so far brought to fruition, in many ways. It's pretty encompassing," he said. "There's a lot of stuff I've never tried before either – like, there are folk elements that are quite different for me ... I guess when you start using mandolin and fiddle, it’s gonna happen!" In 2016, Diesel commenced the "Pieces of Americana" tour and released 'Americana' on July 1, which debuted at #15 on the ARIA chart. In 2018, Diesel celebrated 30 years in the industry with the release of a 30-track compilation album, '30: The Greatest Hits' as well as national tour titled Give Me Saturday Night.

In mid-2019 Diesel announced the release of a 'Sunset Suburbia' trilogy. It consisted of two EPs, leading to a studio album in 2020. Two singles lifted from the two EPs were released in 2019, and the album was released in August 2020.In May 2021, Diesel released "Six Steel Strings", the lead single from his album, 'Alone with Blues', released on 16 July 2021. The album peaked at #20 on the ARIA chart. During 2022 he presented a 12-part TV documentary series Days Like  These With Diesel with each episode describing a pivotal concert by Australian artists: Jet, Baby Animals, Hunters & Collectors, the Angels, Diesel, Rose Tattoo, Jimmy Barnes, Eurogliders, Archie Roach, Icehouse, Troy Cassar-Daley and Cold Chisel.

SINGLES

Don't Need Love

Johnny Diesel & The Injectors

7 NOV '88

#10

Soul Revival

Johnny Diesel & The Injectors

13 FEB '89

#9

Cry in Shame

Johnny Diesel & The Injectors

24 APR '89

#10

Lookin' for Love

Johnny Diesel & The Injectors

24 JUL '89

#28

Since I Fell for You

Johnny Diesel & The Injectors

6 NOV '89

#83

Please Send Me Someone to Love

Johnny Diesel & The Injectors

14 JAN '90

#11

Love Junk

16 JUN '91

#19

Come to Me

17 NOV '91

#8

Tip of My Tongue

9 FEB '92

#4

Man Alive

24 MAY '92

#20

One More Time

23 AUG '92

#59

Never Miss Your Water

11 JUL '93

#12

Masterplan

19 SEP '93

#42

I've Been Loving You Too Long

12 DEC '93

#41

Still Got a Long Way to Go

Jimmy Barnes with Diesel

22 MAY '94

#57

All Come Together

30 OCT '94

#17

15 Feet of Snow

19 FEB '95

#29

Get it On

18 JUN '95

#75

Dig

30 AUG '99

#18

Crazytown

29 MAY '06

#39

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_%28musician%29

http://top100singles.blogspot.com.au/