Mark Mordue was born in 1960 and raised in Newcastle, New South Wales. His teenage years were split between the coastal steel-mining town and growing up in Nhulunbuy, Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. Mark moved to Sydney in late 1981, where he launched his career as a rock journalist, enmeshing himself in the turbulent inner city music scene of the era, experiences that form the core of Darlinghurst Funeral Rites.
He is the winner of a 1992 Human Rights Media Award and the 2010 Pascall Prize: Australian Critic of the Year. He is currently at work on a biography of Nick Cave and is the Editor of NEIGHBOURHOOD, a monthly newspaper for inner Sydney.