Mark Bedford nicknamed 'Bedders', is a bass guitarist

Bassist

A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...

 and former member of the band Madness

Madness (band)

In 1979, the band recorded the Lee Thompson composition "The Prince". The song, like the band's name, paid homage to their idol, Prince Buster. The song was released through 2 Tone Records, the label of The Specials founder Jerry Dammers. The song was a surprise hit, peaking in the UK music charts...

.

Bedford attended William Ellis School in Kentish Town

Kentish Town

Kentish Town is an area of north west London, England in the London Borough of Camden.-History:The most widely accepted explanation of the name of Kentish Town is that it derived from 'Ken-ditch' meaning the 'bed of a waterway'...

 and met members of the North London Invaders when they played a gig there. He was asked along to a band rehearsal and found that the lads could play quite well. Bedford was friends with Gary Dovey who was playing drums with the band, but after a scuffle with sax

Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...

  player Lee Thompson

Lee Jay Thompson

Lee Jay Thompson , nicknamed Kix or El Thommo, is an English musician, best known as the saxophonist and songwriter of the second wave ska band, Madness....

, Dovey left the band. Bedford knew a drummer, and Daniel Woodgate

Daniel Woodgate

Dan Woodgate is the drummer of the band, Madness. More commonly known by his nickname Woody, he joined the band after being introduced at a rehearsal by bass player Mark Bedford. Woodgate is one of the less regular songwriters in the group, but is credited as co-writer on the hits 'Return of The...

 was introduced as the final member of the then six-piece band.

Although not a major songwriting force within the band, Bedford wrote one of the band's more emotive songs "One Better Day

One Better Day

"One Better Day" is a song by British band Madness from their 1984 album Keep Moving. The song was written by Graham McPherson and Mark Bedford. The song was released as a single in the UK, and spent 7 weeks in British charts peaking at number 18....

" with Suggs

Suggs (singer)

Graham McPherson , better known as Suggs, is an English singer, actor, former radio DJ, TV personality, and most famous as the frontman of the band Madness.-Early life:...

. He was also responsible for co-writing "Not Home Today", "Disappear", "Return of the Los Palmas 7", "Deceives The Eye", "Stepping Into Line" and "Maybe In Another Life". The only song he ever wrote entirely on his own was "Mummy's Boy", which appeared on the band's debut album One Step Beyond...

One Step Beyond...

One Step Beyond... is the 1979 debut album by the British ska group Madness. It was ranked 90th in a 2005 survey held by British television's Channel 4 to determine the 100 greatest albums of all time. The album peaked at number 2 and remained in the British record charts for over a year. One Step...

.

Bedford played double bass on Robert Wyatt

Robert Wyatt

Robert Wyatt is an English musician, and founding member of the influential Canterbury scene band Soft Machine, with a long and distinguished solo career...

's recording of the Elvis Costello song 'Shipbuilding

Shipbuilding (song)

"Shipbuilding" is a song written by Elvis Costello and Clive Langer . Written during the Falklands War of 1982, Costello's lyrics discuss the contradiction of the war bringing back prosperity to traditional shipbuilding areas of Merseyside , North East England and Belfast to build new ships to...

' in 1982.

After Madness split up for the first time in 1986, Bedford played bass with Voice of the Beehive

Voice of the Beehive

Voice of the Beehive is an Anglo-American alternative pop rock band formed in London in 1986 by Californian sisters Tracey Bryn and Melissa Brooke Belland, daughters of The Four Preps singer, Bruce Belland.- Career :...

, and in 1991 played bass on Morrissey

Morrissey

Steven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...

's second studio album "Kill Uncle

Kill Uncle

Kill Uncle is Morrissey's second solo album, released on 4 March 1991 by EMI and HMV Records...

".

He later teamed up with ex-Higsons

The Higsons

The Higsons were an English funk-punk band popular in the United Kingdom in the 1980s.-History:Founded in 1980 at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, The Higsons' first recording was on the Norwich - A Fine City compilation album. The band signed to the 2 Tone Records label, along with bands...

 brass supremo Terry Edwards

Terry Edwards

Terry Edwards is an English musician.Edwards gained a degree in music from the University of East Anglia in 1982, where he was also a founding member of The Higsons. He produced and played on the debut album by Yeah Jazz "Six Lane Ends"...

, and they formed Butterfield 8 along with various strong members of the jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 scene at the time. They released a single "Watermelon Man" and an album called Blow!. This was re-released in 2001 on the Sartorial Records label.

Bedford left Madness in 2009, after the release of The Liberty of Norton Folgate

The Liberty of Norton Folgate

The Liberty of Norton Folgate is the ninth studio album by the British band Madness, released on 18 May 2009. The band worked on the album for close to three years and it is their first album of new material since 1999's Wonderful...

. He recently appeared in a TV advert with the group, promoting a popular beer, but he is no longer a member of the band. Bedders is a graphic designer

Graphic designer

A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, printed or electronic media, such as brochures and...

 and he runs his own printing business from a shop in east London.

In his spare time he often plays the bass in the Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra. He lives near Stoke Newington

Stoke Newington

Stoke Newington is a district in the London Borough of Hackney. It is north-east of Charing Cross.-Boundaries:In modern terms, Stoke Newington can be roughly defined by the N16 postcode area . Its southern boundary with Dalston is quite ill-defined too...

 in London, and has two daughters, Alice and Olivia.