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And Finally Artist News
Mark Morrison abandons bid to become mayor of Leicester
By Andy Malt | Published on Wednesday 7 September 2022
Singer Mark Morrison has said that he is abandoning plans to run as the next mayor of Leicester adding that “it feels my home town doesn’t want my help”. Current mayor Peter Soulsby expressed surprise at the decision, though mainly because he didn’t realise that Morrison was running against him.
Morrison – who is best known for his 1996 single ‘Return Of The Mack’ – first expressed an interest in standing in the 2023 mayoral election back in 2020, following a dispute with Soulsby over the building of a recording studio.
The musician had opened up a temporary recording space in his home, offering free sessions to 100 young musicians, and saying that he hoped that the initiative would reduce knife crime and gang violence in Leicester. He then asked the local council to fund the building of a permanent studio in order to expand the project.
A Zoom meeting was organised to discuss the matter, but both Morrison and Soulsby later claimed that the other had failed to join the call. After this, the musician said that Soulsby – who has been mayor of the city since 2011 – “needs to come out of office” and that he could be the man to unseat him.
But, two years later, Morrison has said that he will no longer wants to be mayor of, or even live in Leicester, with plans to relocate to the US.
He tells the BBC: “I can no longer shrink myself to fit a place I’ve outgrown. My incentive that brought me home was the rising knife crime and gang violence in my home town, but it feels my home town doesn’t want my help. So maybe it’s best I stay away, but I will always support and pray for the youth of the city, and, unlike Peter, with my wallet not my mouth”.
Soulsby responded: “I didn’t actually know he still wanted to be mayor. I thought he’d given up on it some time ago. It never felt he was serious about it. He was serious about trying to get the council to pay to build him a new recording studio but I wasn’t prepared to do that as he never demonstrated it would help tackle knife crime in any way”.
While Morrison may have bowed out, Soulsby has been re-selected as Labour’s candidate in next May’s election. It remains to be seen if any other Leicester-based musicians will stand against him.
