John Mark Heard III (December 16, 1951 – August 16, 1992) was an American record producer, folk rock singer and songwriter from Macon, Georgia.

(who co-produced VOL's album Killing Floor with Heard), The Choir, Randy Stonehill and Michael Been of The Call.

Heard's first appearance on record was with his early Jesus music band Infinity+3, who released the album Setting Yesterday Free in 1970.

[1] After graduating from the University of Georgia in 1974 with an ABJ (bachelor of arts in journalism) degree in television, Heard traveled to Switzerland to study at L'Abri under the influential evangelical Christian philosopher Francis Schaeffer.

Singers Larry Norman and Randy Stonehill stumbled onto Mark one day playing his guitar.

He begin working on his Appalachian Melody album for the label, but would also maintain a close relationship with the people at the L'Abri for years.

Heard released five albums for the label: 1981's Stop the Dominoes, 1982's Victims of the Age, 1983's Eye of the Storm, 1984's Ashes and Light and 1985's Mosaics.

On July 4, 1992, Heard had a heart attack on stage while performing with Pierce Pettis and Kate Miner, at the Cornerstone Festival in Bushnell, IL, near Peoria.

Julie Miller also wrote a song in tribute to Heard called "All My Tears" which has also been recorded by Jars of Clay, Emmylou Harris (studio and live versions) and Selah with Kim Hill on Bless the Broken Road: The Duets Album.

In 2000, a group of fans gathered together to help Fingerprint Records release Mystery Mind, the first collection of previously unreleased material from the songwriter.

The following year, Paste magazine released Hammers and Nails, a CD of previously unreleased recordings by Heard.

Buddy Miller, who performed the track on Universal United House of Prayer, accepted the award on behalf of Heard.