With two highly-praised CDs and several prestigious songwriting awards, Boston area singer-songwriter Mark Stepakoff enjoys a growing reputation as one of the area's sharpest songwriting talents. Over the last few years Mark was selected as a finalist in the USA Songwriting Contest, 1st Place Winner in the Great American Song Contest, 1st Place Winner in American Songwriter Magazine's lyric contest, finalist in the Plowshares Songwriting Contest , runner-up in WUMB's Mockingbird Songwriting Contest, and alternate finalist in the Great Waters Songwriting Contest. On separate occasions he has also taken 1st Runner-Up and Honorable Mention in the American Songwriter Contest, and has twice received Honors Awards in the Great American Song Contest.
Mark's debut album, Amateur Hour, was released in 2002 and hit the top 30 on the national folk airplay charts, causing longtime Boston indi-music bible The Noise to name him "Boston's biggest songwriting secret" and to select him as one of the city's "top 10 most unknown or under-known acts". Mark's second album, There Goes The Neighborhood, on which he is backed by such highly regarded musicians as Duke Levine, Mark Erelli and Jake Armerding, hit number 21 on the national "Folk-DJ" chart and was selected by Performing Songwriter magazine as one of its top 10 recommended DIY releases..
Mark is probably best known in the Boston area for his humorous material. He has received airplay on Dr. Demento's nationally syndicated radio program, and There Goes The Neighborhood features Mark's wry takes on subjects as diverse as barbecue sauce, General Gao's chicken, and actress Amanda Peet. But Mark's records have real depth and variety. His moving ballad about Boston's 1972 Hotel Vendome fire led to an invitation for him to perform the song at a memorial service for the firefighters who perished in the fire, and his latest CD includes a soulful tribute to blues great Mighty Sam McClain that WBOS DJ Holly Harris calls "amazing".
Mark performs frequently in the Boston area, and has opened for such local luminaries as Bill Morrissey, Don White, Kevin So, Geoff Bartley and the James Montgomery Band. Among the venues where Mark has headlined or featured are Club Passim, the Nameless Coffeehouse, the Burren, the Abbey Lounge, the Center for Arts in Natick, the Amazing Things Arts Center, and Nashville's Bluebird Cafe.