When Marillion agreed, Woods and his fiancée, Michelle, "flew over to the April show in London, with Michelle not knowing anything about this," recalled Woods, an Internet access provider in Raleigh. Girlfriend over Marillion's public address system at a concert? He story actually begins in the spring of 1996, when Woods wrote to Kelly to ask a favor of the band: Would they let him propose to his Jeff Woods, a fan in Cary, N.C., gushed, "We're lucky to have him."īut this summer, the list suddenly evolved into something more than an online fan club when a combustible combination of music and e-mail forged a market-defying force that touched the lives of Kelly, Woods and Bittar in very different ways. "It's so cool that he's on the list," said Cesar Bittar, a teen-ager from Venezuela who's been alive only a few years longer than Marillion has been in existence. "There was never a way for bands before to have direct contact without being hassled."Īnd the fans are equally enthusiastic about his online presence. "It's such a good thing to be actively involved like that," Kelly said. Hear an excerpt of "80 Days" from Marillion's new album "The Strange Engine."Ĭredit: Requires RealPlayer 3.0 or later.Īs an active member of Freaks, a mailing list dedicated to discussing and dissecting Marillion's music, Kelly gets to press the flesh with fans virtually,Īnd without the ensuing weirdness that often accompanies physical contact.
It took a computer keyboard to make him something of a legend.
Online Fans and Band Transform Each Other By LISA NAPOLI hrough nine albums and a decade and a half of live performances, Mark Kelly has made his living playing keyboards for the British rock band Marillion.
Online Fans and Band Transform Each Other
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