In Memory of Marcus Robert Weissmann

BORN: Marcus Robert Weissmann : May 25, 1953, Queens, NY
DIED: October 19, 1995, Brooklyn, NY

Marcus Robert Weissmann ("Marco Sin"), the third and last child of the late Ernest Weissmann and the late Jane Freeman Paterson Weissmann, was born in Queens, New York on May 25, 1953. His elementary, middle school and high school education were all at the United nations International School, first located in Queens, later in Manhattan. He graduated from UNIS in 1971. In the 1970s he worked at various jobs in and around New York City while pursuing his interest in music, performing with the bands Bread and Butter and Space Between Your Ears.

In 1979 he joined the band Dirty Looks which lasted until 1984. After the demise of Dirty Looks, Marco went on to tour America and Europe with the Irish band Waterboys from 1985-1986, but was forced to leave the tour in early spring of 1986 due to a cocaine overdose in Paris. In 1987 after successfully getting clean he went to work at Goldman Sachs in New York, joined the New York City underground rock band Lone Cowboys (December '86 thru October '87) and became very active in Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous.

In 1991 he left Goldman Sachs, retiring on a full disability pension, and, in addition to his work with AA an NA, began working with different groups devoted to helping victims and/or survivors of sexual abuse and of incest especially. At this time Marco also began painting and returned to writing poetry, which he hadn't done since he was a teenager.

On October 19, 1995, Marco Sin passed away in his Brooklyn apartment. He died of heart failure due to a recurring struggle with drugs. Poet, painter, friend, brother, but most fondly remembered as the flamboyant, fun-loving bassist with Dirty Looks.

Remembrance

Everyone loves to be around him. When people are around him they feel good about themselves. It's not usual to see a heavy set person move the way he moves. He doesn't care if fat is uncool. It's not a standard rock & roll image and originally we thought it was uncool. It's the way he dances on stage. Girls want to get up and dance with him. Girls love dancing with Marco. He learned to dance in junior high school to Beatles and Motown records. He's like a round James Brown...

There'll be a time he'll be skinny again, but right now he's making the most out of the most. Whatever his weight, Marco moves like he is 135-pounder, dances like a 135-pounder and plays like 135-pounder. He's really light when it comes to stuff like that.

The above are excerpts from Patrick and Peter from a May 1980 Epic Records press release. Throughout Marco's short life, that description would stay true to the very end. Marco never became skinny again, but he never let that stand in the way of enjoying life--and he lived life to the fullest.

~ special thanks to Peter Parker and Kevin K for their help in putting this page together.