Mark Willms

Mark was lifting songs off the radio and playing them on the piano at age 4.   He won his first performance trophy at age 6, and  still practices to this day.  

In 1981 he got an Honours Music degree at WLU in Waterloo, and went on to play with local bands Verticle, Room Of Fools, Targit, Kashmir, Big Monkey Do and several other projects.

His older brother, David, used to sneak him into bars when he was just 14 to 16 years of age (back in the 70s), and eventually they would jam every Wednesday night at his place.   We opened up, and played with, our friend (at the time) and soon to be legend, a young Jeff Healey, at the local Universities.   

From 1985 to 1988 Mark worked as a computer programmer at Mutual Life Insurance Co, Waterloo, while he performed many weekends with his original music projects, like the Jazz Units.

Then….  …in 1988 he joined the HOUSE BAND at the world's longest and largest bar, Lulu's Roadhouse in Kitchener.   Here he performed two high energy rock and roll sets per night, 4 nights per week, 50 weeks of the year, for 3 to 4 thousand people nearly every night!   He opened for greats like the Doobie Brothers, Foreigner, The Guess Who, Gino Vanelli, the Mommas and the Poppas, America and many many more.   The final gig at Lulus for Mark was Halloween 1999, a glorious and exciting time.

in 1999 Mark did 70 shows on keyboards around the world with Chinese superstar Jacky Cheung, while living in Hong Kong.

Early 2000s:   

The Lulus Band worked mostly weekends anywhere between Kitchener and Port Elgin, Ontario, providing an evening of great dance music.

Worked as a jazz artist for the Park Hyatt Corp 4 to 6 months at a time, in Hong Kong, Tokyo, including the Burj Al Arab in Dubai, UAE (mostly during with Winter months).

Toured the world for 4 years as ‘Benny’ in the award winning Abba tribute ‘Bjorn Again’.

Toured North America and Ontario with Canadian country music legends George Fox, Jason McCoy, John Landry, Diane Chase and many others.

In November 2002, while providing nightly entertainment at the Park Hyatt in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan, Mark was approached by Sophia Coppola to appear in her movie “Lost In Translation” starring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson.   His playing is highlighted throughout the film leading up to his pivotal scene near the end.

Into the 2010s:

Mark releases his CD ‘Release’ and plays shows to support this ongoing project.

The Lulus Band continued to entertain all across Ontario, Canada!

Now to 2020s:

The pandemic shut things down so he performed 70 shows on Facebook as “The Mark and Suie Variety Show” with his late wife Susan Sinclair.

When things returned, the Lulus Band continued to play great shows like our 30 year run at the Queen's Hotel in Port Elgin, Ontario.

The Walters Music Venue, Bright, Ontario, is an amazing theatre in a barn where Mark performs an opening set for nearly every show they have throughout the season.   This world class stage is worth checking out for live entertainment!   He started here in 2023 and continues into the 2026 season ready for the amazing audiences.

All the while, Mark worked at and continues to work at bars, restaurants and private events too numerous to mention.