Dire Straits Mark Knopfler's official website
 After the Brothers in Arms tour ended in 1986, Dire Straits went on a lengthy hiatus and Mark Knopfler concentrated on solo projects and film soundtracks. Dire Straits regrouped for the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert in 1988, where they were joined for their set by Eric Clapton (who performed his hit Wonderful Tonight with the group). Also in 1988, drummer Terry Williams left the band.
After Mark Knopfler worked and toured with The Notting Hillbillies (who had a minor hit single Your Own Sweet Way from their album Missing...Presumed Having a Good Time), Dire Straits regrouped in January 1991. By this time the band comprised four key members: Knopfler, John Illsley, and keyboardists Alan Clark and Guy Fletcher. Accompanied by other part-time members or session musicians, including the highly respected American drummer Jeff Porcaro from Toto (who after recording was offered a full time role in the band, but declined due to recording commitments to Toto), the group began recording tracks for a new album. The result was the band's final original studio album, On Every Street, released in 1991, six years after the release of Brothers in Arms. A widely anticipated release, On Every Street met with mixed reviews and moderate success. It was regarded by some reviewers as an underwhelming follow up and didn't sell as well as its predecessor. The song The Bug, taken from that album, contains backing vocals by Vince Gill who also turned down an invitation to join the band full time.
The 1991–1992 world tour that followed On Every Street was not as successful as the previous one of 1985–86. A live album, On the Night, released in 1993, documented that tour, in which Chris Whitten played drums.
Following the release of Live at the BBC, a collection of live recordings from their early years, Dire Straits disbanded quietly in 1995, after Knopfler expressed a desire to give up touring on a large scale and he immediately went on to work full-time on solo material and film soundtracks, while the other group members pursued their own careers. Guy Fletcher has, however, continued to be associated with almost every single piece of work concerning Mark Knopfler's solo career.
Three 'Best of' albums have been released, the most recent being the compilation The Best of Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler: Private Investigations in November 2005, which consisted of material from most of Dire Straits' studio albums and Mark Knopfler's solo and soundtrack material. Surprisingly enough, the album was an underground hit, and did exceptionally well, considering the group had split up over 10 years previously, and it contained only one previously unreleased track - All The Roadrunning, a duet with Emmylou Harris later released on an album of the same name.
Notable Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler fans include Douglas Adams, Princess Diana, Quentin Tarantino, the band The Killers, who performed a cover of Romeo and Juliet for the Live from Abbey Road series on Channel 4 and notable ABC employee Mike Donaldson. Indian cricket great Sachin Tendulkar is another Dire Straits fan. The band System of a Down sometimes plays a part from Sultans Of Swing on their live concerts, as an intro for their song called Aerials and even Metallica played Brothers In Arms live on a the 21st Annual Bridge School Benefit.
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