When he published “Belong together” last February, Mark Ambor was unaware of what would happen from there in a short time thanks to his single. Last winter, the young singer-songwriter, born in 1997 and originally from New York Cityhad only to his credit a couple of EPs and his name, along with his music, had never reached the ears of millions of listeners. Even before its official release, thanks to a promotional video shared on his profile TikTok from the same musician, “Belong together” has conquered the users of the platform, going viral.
In a short time, thanks to the cheerfulness of the plucked strings of the guitar, the sunny atmosphere and the chorus that sticks in your head, the single .becomes a real hitboth on streaming platforms and on the radio. From New York, Mark Ambor thus began his conquest of the streaming charts – totaling over 700 million listens -, airplay and social, arriving to occupy the high rotation of the Italian frequencies for weeks.
For RockolAmbor has recorded a live video of “Belong together”, which later became the perfect calling card for his first studio album“Rockwood”, released last August:
Mark Ambor was already in college when he decided to let someone, namely his family, hear his voice for the first time. “I wrote my first song and about an hour and a half later I recorded it as a voice memo,” the Pleasantville, New York, native said in a statement, noting that he then sent the file to his parents. “A few hours later my mom texted me back and said, ‘Me and Dad really like it. Who’s the artist?’ I just laughed and said, ‘Mom, that’s me.’”
“Fever” is also the title of the first single which, in April 2019, Ambor decided to have someone other than his family listen to, anticipating the EP “Colorful”. A second EP, however defined by the artist as his debut work, entitled “Hello world”, then arrived in September 2022. At the end of his studies, when the world stopped due to Covid, in fact, Mark decided to give his musical career a real chance. After failed attempts to contact record executives and industry insiders, Ambor decided to go it alone, regularly uploading covers and fragments of original songs on TikTok.
“Today on TikTok you can really build deep relationships with fansbecause they see your whole story,” Mark explained: “They see how every step has brought you to where you are today. And there’s something really special about that.”
Inspired by Coldplay, Vance Joy, Lumineers and Zach BryanMark Ambor then began working on the songs that would make up his first studio album, spending a month at home recording as many demos as possible. “When I’m alone in my room, I’m the only judge. The vision of what I wanted this album to express, how I wanted people to feel when they listened to it, became clear,” he said: “When I let go of the need to be successful, I touched a vulnerability that I had never shown before. And it feels really good.”
After the singles “I hope it all works out” and “Good to be” last year, followed in 2024 by “Belong together”, on August 16 saw the light “Rockwood“, which in every aspect reflects the soul of the singer-songwriter, from the writing to the production, up to the title, which takes its name from a public park on the Hudson River, near his small hometown.
“Rockwood is a place where you go to watch the sunset, drink, smoke, go on a first date, or maybe have a picnic. When you’re there, it’s an escape. And everyone has a place like that, no matter where they grew up,” he said. “I want this album to be an escape for the people who listen to it. I want them to feel good listening to these songs, to feel understood. I want them to feel like they’re part of a community, part of something bigger than themselves. That’s how I fell in love with music, and I want to give other people that same feeling, in my own way.”
Fresh off his sold-out debut tour, the singer, producer and multi-instrumentalist will be engaged in a new long series of concerts that next year will see him come to Italy too. Mark Ambor is will exhibit at the Magazzini Generali in Milan on May 6, 2025.
