Free, 1pm to 7pm on 21 and 24 October: the White City singer whose 1975 single was the first lover's rock hit, told through her own outfits and belongings.

Louisa Mark grew up in Shepherd’s Bush and recorded the first lover’s rock hit at 15. A free exhibition about her life opens at the Bush Theatre on Uxbridge Road this week, for two days only.

Louisa Mark: Beyond the Music is in the theatre’s ground-floor script room on Wednesday 21 October and Saturday 24 October, from 1pm to 7pm. Entry is free. The council asks visitors to register in advance, though it is not required.

The details are from Hammersmith and Fulham Council’s announcement and its interview with her daughter, Simone Mark, who co-curated the display.

What is on show

The exhibition is built from her outfits and belongings. Most were kept by her mother, who came to Britain from Grenada at 19 as part of the Windrush generation and is now 91. The family lived for most of her life on the White City Estate.

Simone Mark told the council what she hopes visitors take away: “That my mother was really sophisticated, flamboyant and different. That’s reflected in her style. She was really confident, and a truly unique person.”

The show grew out of a phone call. Simone Mark rang the Mayor’s office and told them her mother’s story, and the Mayor, Councillor Sharon Holder, took it up. The council says it is also backing her family’s hope of a blue plaque for the singer.

Who Louisa Mark was

Lover’s rock is romantic reggae, and a style that was born in Black British London in the mid-1970s. Louisa Mark was one of the voices that started it. According to the council’s account:

  • she was the second daughter of Grenadian parents and went to Hammersmith County secondary school, which is now Phoenix Academy in White City
  • at 13 she was a guest vocalist on Dennis Bovell’s Sufferer Sounds system at the Metro club in Westbourne Park
  • her 1975 single Caught You in a Lie sold 10,000 copies in its week of release and is regarded as the first lover’s rock hit
  • the follow-up was a cover of the Beatles’ All My Loving, and later records included a version of Michael Jackson’s Even Though You’re Gone
  • she opened the way for singers including Carroll Thompson, Janet Kay and Deborahe Glasgow

She was known as the “Markswoman”. She died suddenly in October 2009, aged 49.

Louisa Mark singing into a hand-held microphone on stage, pointing out towards the audience
Louisa Mark performing. Photo: via Hammersmith & Fulham Council

Part of a longer series

The exhibition is part of Black History Month, and one of a series the council commissioned from Fulham Palace to recognise Black residents who helped shape the borough. Fulham Palace calls the programme Black History 365, and it runs for 18 months.

The council is still collecting stories for it. If you have memories of Black community life here in the 1960s, 70s or 80s, or a family history to share, it asks you to email heritage@lbhf.gov.uk.

What it means for you

  • When: Wednesday 21 October and Saturday 24 October, 1pm to 7pm both days. There are no other dates.
  • Where: the script room on the ground floor of the Bush Theatre, 7 Uxbridge Road, W12 8LJ, beside Shepherd’s Bush Green.
  • Cost: free. Registering in advance helps the organisers plan numbers.
  • Getting there on the Saturday: there are no District line trains in the borough on 24 October, and the Mildmay line is shut north of Shepherd’s Bush from 7.30pm. The Central and Hammersmith and City lines both stop at Shepherd’s Bush. Our roadworks and travel page has the full list.

For more to do this month, see what’s on in Fulham.

Sources