Mark Knopfler: Dire Straits' Guitarist and "What It Is" From Sailing to Philadelphia

Photo: Nevit Dilmen / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/). Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mark_Knopfler_2013_1320106.jpg

Mark Knopfler is a British musician, the lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of Dire Straits from 1977 to 1995, and a solo artist since. U-Rock® has logged 3,076 plays of "What It Is," from his album Sailing to Philadelphia.

Dire Straits and after

According to Wikipedia, Knopfler was born in Glasgow and grew up in Newcastle. He graduated from the University of Leeds and worked for three years as a college lecturer before co-founding Dire Straits with his brother David. Brothers in Arms (1985) is one of the best-selling albums ever, and the band sold 100 to 120 million records. Knopfler has scored films including Local Hero and The Princess Bride, and produced records for Tina Turner, Bob Dylan and Randy Newman. Rolling Stone ranked him 27th on its list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists.

Sailing to Philadelphia

His second solo album came out on 25 September 2000. It features James Taylor, Van Morrison, and Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze. The title track comes from Thomas Pynchon's novel Mason & Dixon. Rolling Stone's David Wild called the album "a welcome flashback" to Dire Straits, and by 2002 it had sold more than 3.5 million copies. The photo here is from Istanbul in 2013.

Why it matters on U-Rock®

Knopfler's fingerstyle guitar is instantly recognisable, and "What It Is" is one of his most direct solo rockers.

U-Rock® play data: 3,076 plays logged across the BROADCAST and CORE histories (2026-07-02 to 2026-10-12), using the higher of the two logs.

Sources 1. Wikipedia, "Mark Knopfler" — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Knopfler 2. Wikipedia, "Sailing to Philadelphia" — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailing_to_Philadelphia 3. Wikimedia Commons, "Mark Knopfler 2013 (Nevit Dilmen)" — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mark_Knopfler_2013_1320106.jpg 4. U-Rock® BROADCAST (AzuraCast) and CORE (airplay_spins) play logs