A singer/songwriter whose music recalls Dave Matthews and Darius Rucker, Mark Bennett was born in Ireland in 1972, but has enjoyed his greatest success in Europe. Bennett had been writing and singing songs for several years when he decided to spend a year in Germany in 1994. Bennett liked Germany enough to settle in Dortmund, and he began performing professionally in 1995. In time, Bennett assembled a band for his live shows, which featured Martin Bauer on bass, Gunter Kramer on guitar, and Volker "Flocki" Unseld on drums; additional musicians Marc Decker (pipes and whistles), Michael Poelchau (fiddle), and Ruth Bennett (vocals and percussion) often join Bennett's tours as guests. Bennett's recordings include Kiel Hauled, a collection of Irish folk tunes; a live album, The Difference; and Sitting with the Castaways, a set of original studio recordings.