Kozelek was born and raised in
Massillon, Ohio. In his teenage years, he led a band named God Forbid. Upon relocating to
Atlanta, Georgia, he met drummer Anthony Koutsos. After the pair moved once again to
San Francisco,
California,
Red House Painters formed with the addition of guitarist Gorden Mack and bassist Jerry Vessel. From 1992 to 1996, Red House Painters released a series of acclaimed albums, showcasing Kozelek's intense, highly autobiographical songs. However, Kozelek's parting with the record label
4AD, followed by a major label merger which left Red House Painters' 1998 album
Old Ramon on the shelf, proved highly frustrating and stifled the group's momentum. In 2000, he released the solo EP ''
Rock 'n' Roll Singer'', which featured three original songs as well as covers of
John Denver's "Around and Around" and three
AC/DC songs ("Rock 'n' Roll Singer," "Bad Boy Boogie," and "You Ain't Got a Hold on Me"). Two of the AC/DC cover versions on ''Rock 'n' Roll Singer'' were radical re-arrangements of the originals which removed the
Bon Scott-penned lyrics from their hard rock context and placed them into gentle, acoustic "folk ballad" settings. Kozelek expanded on this idea in 2001, releasing a full-length album composed solely of AC/DC covers titled ''
What's Next to the Moon''. Sun Kil Moon debuted with
Ghosts of the Great Highway in 2003, and also features former RHP members Jerry Vessel and Anthony Koutsos as well as new collaborators Geoff Stanfield (formerly of
Black Lab) and Tim Mooney of
American Music Club. Their follow-up effort appeared in 2005 on Kozelek's newly formed label,
Caldo Verde Records. Titled
Tiny Cities, the album is made up entirely of covers of songs by
Modest Mouse. Once again, Kozelek's cover versions varied greatly from the originals. In a February 2014 interview with Seattle's
The Stranger, Kozelek commented that he's "never heard from Modest Mouse" as to what they think of the record. In 2006, Kozelek was invited by Toronto
indie rock label
Paper Bag Records to exclusively contribute to their
See You on the Moon! Songs for Kids of All Ages compilation with his original song "Leo and Luna." Then in November 2006, Kozelek released a live album titled
Little Drummer Boy Live. Kozelek returned in 2008 with the release of Sun Kil Moon's third album
April. The album features 11 brand new recordings, including guest vocal contributions by
Ben Gibbard, Will Oldham and Eric Pollard. The release of the new album also brought the re-issue of
Nights of Passed Over, a 256-page, hard-cover book of all the lyrics to Kozelek's solo songs, Red House Painters' songs, and Sun Kil Moon's songs. It also features setlists, handwritten lyrics, and a preface by Kozelek himself. The original edition of this book was released in 2002 in
Portugal, and featured all the lyrics up to that point, printed in both English and Portuguese. The updated edition spans to his current Sun Kil Moon days, and the book also includes a 12-track bonus CD titled
Nights LP, featuring live and rare versions of songs dated 1996 to 2007. The edition is sold exclusively on his label's website and is limited to 2,500 copies. On December 9, 2008, Kozelek and Caldo Verde Records issued
The Finally LP, a CD collection of 10 unreleased tracks, including covers of songs by
Stephen Sondheim,
Will Oldham,
Hüsker Dü, and
Low among others, as well as two previously unreleased instrumentals. Two newly recorded live albums,
Find Me, Ruben Olivares: Live in Spain and
Lost Verses Live, followed in spring 2009. On April 23, 2010, the release of Sun Kil Moon's fourth album,
Admiral Fell Promises, was announced. The album was released on July 13, 2010. A documentary film titled
Mark Kozelek: On Tour was released via Caldo Verde Records on August 16, 2011. The movie was filmed during portions Mark Kozelek's European/North American tours of 2010 and early 2011. Sun Kil Moon's fifth album,
Among the Leaves, was released on Caldo Verde Records on May 29, 2012. Kozelek also contributed as a vocalist and bass player to
Desertshore, a group featuring
Red House Painters guitarist Phil Carney, classically trained pianist Chris Connolly, and more recently Sun Kil Moon drummer Mike Stevens. In 2014, Sun Kil Moon released
Benji to wide acclaim, garnering a score of 85 from the critical rating aggregate website,
Metacritic.
No Ripcord calls it Kozelek's "most intimate work yet" and
Kitty Empire of
Observer added, it "might well be this difficult artist's most direct work." Soundblab rated it the best album of 2014, stating "When I remember 2014 in music, there will be Sun Kil Moon's
Benji and there will be everything else." Several publications praised Kozelek's songwriting skills and highlighted
Benji as his best work to date. Sun Kil Moon's sixth album of original material,
Universal Themes, was released on June 2, 2015. The album again featured drummer
Steve Shelley, who previously played drums on
Benji and then released an album in 2017
Common as Light and Love Are Red Valleys of Blood. Kozelek toured Europe, the United States, and South America in support of the album in 2017 and 2018. On May 11, 2018, Kozelek released an eponymously titled
double CD album, which "was recorded in San Francisco hotels and studios between May 2017 and January 2018." ==Acting==