User:Qrankin

Mark Qura Rankin, born on July 17, 1973, was raised in South London where he lived for the first years of his life. Mark better known as Qura or "Q" is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, television and music composer and super-producer. Originally a keyboard player, his career commenced in 1989, when he began touring and playing professionally with Brian Powell, (Talking Loud) throughout Germany and Sweden. He continued as a key's player and in 1990 began touring with Jools Holland until 1992 when he returned to Sweden with Brian Powell. It was also in 1992 when Qura released five interludes for the album "Soul Stirring" the first gospel record of its kind on Island Records, thus becoming Qura's first major production credit.

In 1994, Qura came to the United States and worked as a session player with Columbia Records, collaborating with various artist, across multiple genres of music throughout the Nashville, Tennessee community. Simultaneously Qura began playing at the "Blue Bird Café" in Nashville, where he developed a folk-country song-writing style.

In late 1996, Qura returned to London to work with Ronnie Jordon (Polydor), who formed a jazz trio, where Qura would play the Hammond. In 1997, Qura signed a publishing deal with Universal Records and continued touring throughout various venues throughout Asia and Europe with the late Lynden David Hall (Island Records) while simultaneously playing at festivals to include the North Sea Jazz Festival and Montreal Jazz Festival in Switzerland with jazz greats such as Herbie Hancock and Ernest Ragland, guitar player for the original reggae foundation Studio One and Jhelisa Anderson.

In 2000, Qura played the key's for the international recording of the double platinum, live gospel album "Live in London" with Grammy Award-winning, Donnie McClurklin, the project was the first live gospel recording in London since Andre Crouch. The album went on to sell over 2.5 million copies and spurred the hit single "We Fall Down" which became the most requested song across American radio. Qura went on to play piano on Europe's hit music TV show, 'Top of the Pops" with artists such as Kylie Minogue, Gabriel, KC and JoJo, Alexander O'Neil, Mica Paris, Gwen Dicky (the original lead singer of Rolls Royce), Denise Williams, Candy Stanton, Kavanar, Andre & Sandra Crouch, Darren Hays, LaTricia McNeil and Alicia's Attic among others, until 2002 when he ceased touring and playing at live shows; shifting his focus to music production only.

Qura joined forces with Rick Mitra, founder of DBC Productions, where he co-produced a song on Andrew Lloyd Weber a pop-country project with Shougnah Daley entitled "When The Cedars Fell". He also co-produced a pop song called "Make it Right" with Christian Ingebrigsten (Universal Records) former lead singer of the UK boy band A1.

In 2004, he began working on a gospel compilation with David Palmer and P2 music entitled "Let There Be Light" which went on to win several awards for the video and single of the album of which Qura was the lead producer. Later that year, he returned to Los Angeles while adding television and film production to his credits and worked as a session player for "If You Don't Know Me By Now" with Babyface on the movie "Mr. 3000" starring Bernie Mac. In 2005, Qura produced "Pillow Talk", a track for the R & B Group N2U (Virgin).

In 2006, he achieved solid acceptance by the music industry when A&M Records elevated him to platinum selling producer status and ever since he has been quietly placing an indelible imprint on multi-genre music scenes, dubbing him the pseudonym "Quiet Giant". Qura who is represented by the Gorfaine Swartz Agency and signed to Notting Hill Music Group, has since has remained a star on the rise, thanks in part to the album and his co-production "Oh Mother" and "On Our Way" for Christina Aguilera and "First Time" with Fabolous and Rhianna for Fabolous'

2007 Album release entitled "From Nothing to Something" He has also worked with other musical greats to include Kelly Rowland, Lulu & Sting, Joe, KC & JoJo and Lovers and Friends to name a few.

Qura's musical influences expand across cultural lines, continues to be sought after by diverse superstars whose music similarly knows no boundaries, he has worked with Producer, Big Tank for artists like Chris Brown and Rhianna. He has also collaborated and composed scores for the hit cartoon series "The Boondocks", on the Cartoon Network, Disney's, Mr. 3000 and BET's "American Gangster" which scored number one in series premieres. The show also drew in 1.6 million viewers making it the number one telecast original series in BET's history.

While Qura attributes his accomplishments to his undeniable faith in God, he is surrounded by industry legends and duly pays homage to his long time mentor and advisor, the worlds most famous and prolific composer to ever grace the field of television, Grammy and Emmy award-winning, Mike Post. Over the last three decades, Mike Post has contributed to some of the most memorable themes in the medium's history, writing scores for programs such as Hill Street Blues, Magnum, P.I., L.A. Law, Law and Order, NYPD Blue, The Rockford Files and The Phil Donahue Show to name a few.

Qura boldly proclaims his work in television and music as his life's mission and ministry. His daily creed is "He can do nothing without God on his side". He takes great pride in his success at staying ahead of the game with his originality. Confident and humble, his goal is to captivate the listener's hearing and mind while expanding upon his musical palette. Qura Rankin remains a "Quiet Giant" and the industry's best kept secret.