associated_acts years_active birth_place alias label background birth_date instrument genre article_title birth_name occupation
king kobra signal unruly child 1973 -- 1995 2009 -- present south bend , indiana mark free now & then frontiers solo_singer 12 april 1954 vocals piano guitar drums hard metal rock , aor , glam metal , heavy marcie free
 mark edward free musician , singer-songwriter
marcie free

marcie michelle free -lrb- born mark edward free on april 12 , 1954 -rrb- is an american rock singer , best known as the lead singer of king kobra , signal and unruly child .
free started singing professionally at the age of 19 while living in flint , michigan -lrb- 1973 -rrb- .
in 1975 , free moved to las vegas , nevada which eventually -lrb- in 1979 -rrb- led to her relocating to los angeles , ca where she met carmine appice -lrb- vanilla fudge , beck , bogert & appice , rod stewart -rrb- in 1983 .
together they formed king kobra and were signed to capitol records in 1984 .
free recorded two albums with king kobra , `` ready to strike '' and `` thrill of a lifetime '' , before leaving in november 1986 to pursue other musical interests .
in 1987 , free formed a band with guitarist danny jacob , bassist and keyboardist erik scott and drummer jan uvena , which would later take the name signal .
signal recorded one album for emi , 1989 's `` loud and clear '' , before disbanding soon after .
in 1990 , free then joined up with bruce gowdy , -lrb- stone fury/world trade -rrb- and guy allison -lrb- world trade -rrb- -lrb- keyboards -rrb- , forming a group known as unruly child .
unruly child signed with atlantic/interscope records in 1991 and released their self-titled debut album in 1992 .
in 1993 , free sang the theme song '' -lrb- to be -rrb- the best of the best '' for the action film best of the best 2 .
also in 1993 , a solo album consisting of demos free had sung for a mother/daughter songwriting duo named judithe and robin randall was released on an independent label in the uk called now and then records .
the album entitled `` long way from love '' was re-released on frontiers records in 1998 .
this album version included some of the live performances free gave while in manchester , england for the first rock festival known as `` the gods of aor '' in october 1993 .
shortly after the release of `` long way from love '' , unruly child , after losing their record deal with atlantic/interscope , had reformed under the moniker twelve pound sledge and were writing new material in hopes of re-signing with another u.s. label .
that never happened , though songs from these sessions were later released in 1995 , as a solo album on independent labels in germany and japan , entitled `` tormented '' .
suffering with gender dysphoria all her life , free came out to the world as marcie free in november 1993 .
in 1995 , free retired from the music business and moved back to michigan to be close to her family .
however , she still sings professionally on the side and in september 2009 , free , gowdy and allison reunited as unruly child and signed a recording contract with frontiers records .
a new album with that label , `` worlds collide '' , has been released to critical acclaim .
unruly child 's triad -lrb- free , gowdy , allison -rrb- continues to write and record .
they have announced a new release scheduled for spring 2014 entitled `` down the rabbit hole '' coming out on the band 's new label `` unruly records '' .
