Mark Yurkovic

Mark is a songwriter and musician performing under the name Shecky with a sound that resonates with fans of The Beatles, XTC and Jellyfish.

Growing up in Pennsylvania, Mark began playing piano at the age of five. As a child he would spend hours cornered away with a record player and a box of 45's. He went on to attend Berklee College of Music just as synthesizers were exploding on the music scene. He graduated in 1987 in the first class of students to earn a music product and engineering degree.

With fellow Berklee College of Music graduates in Boston, Mark formed the band Signs of Life, playing club and college shows up and down the East Coast. The group metamorphosed into Shecky and The Pimp Monkeys, touring the country and releasing two albums, with Mark helming the keyboard. Mark attributes the band's unusual name to the fact that The Pimp Monkeys all play in various other Boston bands, giving him the impression that he’s “pimping them out.” The band has released several albums, including “Yummy,” “Itchy,” and “Wiggy.”

The album “Pinchy” introduced a major change for the band in the form of modular synths. Mark subtitled it “Back on Dry Land,” a nod to him being several years sober. And the band has a next album in the works with “Cranky,” a title Mark believes fits the present vibe of most Americans.

As the music scene in Boston evolved in recent decades, the band has transitioned from playing clubs to live "barn" shows that offer guests a totally intimate show.

Mark attributes the lapse of time in between the release of Shecky and The Pimp Monkeys albums to the band being fanatical about sonics and recording details. He draws from his life experiences as a songwriter, including the birth of his twin sons, one of whom plays drums for Shecky.