The Latest Breaking News from John Illsley

Dire Straits legend Mark Knopfler's daughter is engaged

Actress Issy Knopfler, the daughter of Dire Straits rocker Mark Knopfler, is engaged to actor Sam Buchanan.

BANG Premier · Oct 6

“I said, ‘You’ve got to be joking! You can’t put out a record about a trad band playing in a pub and expect it to sell!’": the story of the classic Dire Straits song that's often imitated, but rarely mastered

"It’s not to do with gear, it’s all to do with the way the brain sends signals to his fingers – that’s what makes Mark so special"

MusicRadar · Jun 9

"He thought that the band should be a democracy, and it was more like a brutal dictatorship": The tangled story of Dire Straits, the million-selling band who quit at the height of their fame

How Dire Straits went from the pubs of London to become one of the biggest bands of the 1980s

Louder · Jun 9

"Everybody was going 'Does anybody know how to work this thing?'": How Guy Fletcher and a classic ‘80s synth became Dire Straits’ secret weapon on Brothers In Arms, and helped to turn it into one of the biggest albums of the decade

“Without him there, we would have probably been completely lost"

MusicRadar · May 15, 2025

“He thought that the band should be a democracy, and it was more like a brutal dictatorship as far as he was concerned”: The tangled story of Dire Straits, the million-selling band who quit at the height of their fame

How Dire Straits went from the pubs of London to become one of the biggest bands of the 1980s

Louder · Apr 20, 2025

“Those Dire Straits songs walked away from me long ago. They belong to you now”: the life and times of Mark Knopfler, rock’s reluctant superstar

Ex-Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler on motorbike crashes, the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame and his complicated relationship with his old band

Louder · Feb 18, 2024

"The BBC said, We don’t want to play this song because there are too many words in it": Why Dire Straits had to break America before they were embraced in England

Dire Straits may have been the biggest English rock band of the '80s, but it took recognition in the US to kickstart their success in their homeland

Louder · Feb 6, 2024

Mark Knopfler auctioning guitar he played on Dire Straits song ‘Money For Nothing’

Grammy-winning artist says he has ‘more than enough’ instruments left over after collecting hundreds during his 50-year career

The Independent UK · Nov 21, 2023

"It’s not to do with gear, it’s all to do with the way the brain sends signals to his fingers – that’s what makes Mark so special": the story of the classic Dire Straits song that's often imitated, but rarely mastered

Producer Muff Winwood on a masterful Mark Knopfler track

MusicRadar · Aug 14, 2023

"We were living on next to nothing and weren't even able to pay the gas bill": The song that transformed Dire Straits' fortunes and set them on the path to global fame

Inspired by watching a hopeless jazz combo play in a deserted pub, Sultans Of Swing sent Dire Straits on a journey to superstardom

Louder · Feb 10, 2023