Everything about George Martin totally explained
Sir George Henry Martin CBE (born
3 January 1926) is a
British record producer,
arranger and
composer. He is sometimes referred to as "the
Fifth Beatle"—a title that he owes to his work as producer or co-producer of all of
The Beatles' original records as well as playing piano on some of The Beatles tracks.
In 1969 he established the
Associated Independent Recording (AIR) Studios. Although officially retired, he's still the chairman of the AIR board.
In recognition of his services to the music industry and
popular culture, he was made a
Knight Bachelor in 1996. He is the father of producer
Giles Martin, and actor
Gregory Paul Martin.
Early years
When he was six, Martin's family acquired a piano that sparked his interest in music. At eight-years-old, Martin persuaded his parents that he should take piano lessons, but those ended after only eight lessons because of a disagreement between his mother and the teacher. After that, Martin explained that he'd just picked it up by himself.
As a child he attended several schools, including a "convent school in Holloway", St. Joseph's elementary school in
Highgate, and St. Ignatius College in
Stamford Hill, to which he won a scholarship. When war broke out and St. Ignatius College students were evacuated to Welwyn Garden City, his family left London and he was enrolled at Bromley Grammar School.
Despite Martin's continued interest in music, and "fantasies about being the next
Rachmaninov", he didn't initially choose music as a career. He worked briefly as a
quantity surveyor and then for the
War Office as a Temporary Clerk (Grade Three) which meant filing paperwork and making tea. In 1943, when he was seventeen, he joined the
Fleet Air Arm of the
Royal Navy and became a pilot and a commissioned officer. The war ended before Martin was involved in any combat, and he left the service in 1947. Encouraged by Sidney Harrison (a member of the Committee for the Promotion of New Music) Martin used his veteran's grant to attend the
Guildhall School of Music and Drama from 1947-50, where he studied piano and oboe, and was interested in the music of Rachmaninov and
Ravel, as well as
Cole Porter and
Johnny Dankworth. Martin's oboe teacher was Margaret Asher (the mother of
Jane Asher, who would later have a relationship with
Paul McCartney). On
3 January,
1948—whilst still at the Academy—Martin married Sheena Chisholm, with whom he'd two children: Alexis, and Gregory. He later married Judy Lockhart-Smith,
24 June 1966, and they also had two children: Lucy and Giles.
Parlophone
Following his graduation, he worked for the
BBC's
classical music department, then joined
EMI in
1950, as an assistant to Oscar Preuss, the head of EMI's
Parlophone Records from 1950-55. Although having been regarded by EMI as a vital German imprint in the past, it was then seen as a joke and only used for EMI's insignificant acts. After taking over Parlophone when Preuss retired in 1955, Martin spent his first years with the
record label recording classical and
Baroque music,
original cast recordings of hit plays, and regional music from around the British Isles. Martin also produced numerous
comedy and
novelty records—working with
Peter Sellers,
Spike Milligan,
Rolf Harris,
Flanders and Swann and
Shirley Abicair. Martin worked with the
Vipers Skiffle Group, with whom he'd a number of hits. In early 1962, under the pseudonym "Ray Cathode", Martin released an early electronic dance single, "
Time Beat"—recorded at the
BBC Radiophonic Workshop—in much the same style as the
Doctor Who theme tune. As Martin wanted to add
rock and roll to Parlophone's repertoire, he struggled to find a "fireproof",
hit-making pop artist or group.
As a producer Martin recorded the two-man show featuring
Michael Flanders and
Donald Swann called
At the Drop of a Hat, which sold steadily for twenty-five years, although Martin's breakthrough as a producer came with the
Beyond the Fringe show, which starred
Peter Cook,
Dudley Moore,
Alan Bennett and
Jonathan Miller. Martin's work transformed the profile of Parlophone from a "sad little company" to a very profitable business.
The Beatles
Martin was contacted by Sid Coleman who told him about
Brian Epstein, the manager of a pop group he'd met. He thought Martin might be interested in the group, even though they'd been turned down by
Decca Records among other major British labels. Until that time Martin had had only minor success with pop music, such as "
Who Could Be Bluer" by
Jerry Lordan, and singles with
Shane Fenton. After the telephone call by Coleman, Martin arranged a meeting on
13 February 1962 with Brian Epstein. Martin listened to a tape recorded at Decca, and thought that Epstein's group was "rather unpromising", but liked the sound of Lennon and McCartney's vocals.
After another meeting with Epstein on
9 May at the
Abbey Road studios, Martin was impressed with Epstein's enthusiasm and agreed to sign the unknown Beatles to a recording contract without having met them or seen them play live. The contract wasn't what it seemed, however, as Martin wouldn't sign it himself until he'd heard an audition, and later said that EMI had "nothing to lose," as it offered one
penny for each record sold, which was split amongst the four members, meaning one
farthing per group member. Martin suggested to EMI (after the release of "
From Me to You") that the royalty rate should be doubled without asking for anything in return, which led to Martin being thought of as a "traitor in EMI".
The Beatles auditioned for Martin on
6 June 1962, in studio three at the Abbey Road studios. Ron Richards and his engineer
Norman Smith recorded four songs, which Martin (who wasn't present during the recording) listened to at the end of the session. The verdict wasn't promising, however, as Richards complained about
Pete Best's drumming, and Martin thought their original songs were simply not good enough. Martin asked the individual Beatles if there was anything they personally didn't like, to which Harrison replied, "I don't like your tie". That was the turning point, according to Smith, as Lennon and McCartney joined in with jokes and comic wordplay that made Martin think that he should sign them to a contract for their wit alone.
The Beatles' first recording session with Martin was on
4 September, when they recorded "
How Do You Do It", which Martin thought was a sure-fire hit even though Lennon and McCartney hated it. Richards complained about new-member Starr's drumming on the next song, "
Love Me Do", and so on 11 September, they re-recorded "Love Me Do" with
Andy White. Starr was asked to play tambourine and maracas, and although he complied, he was definitely "not pleased". "Love Me Do" peaked at number 17 in the British charts, so on
26 November 1962 Martin recorded "
Please Please Me", which he only did after Lennon and McCartney had almost begged him to record another of their original songs. After the recording Martin looked over the mixing desk and said, "Gentlemen, you've just made your first number one record". Martin directed Epstein to find a good publisher—as Ardmore & Beechwood had done nothing to promote "Love Me Do"—telling Epstein about three publishers who, in Martin's opinion, would be fair and honest, which led them to
Dick James.
As arranger
Martin's musical expertise helped fill the gaps between The Beatles' raw talent and the sound they wanted to achieve. Most of The Beatles'
orchestral arrangements and instrumentation (as well as frequent keyboard parts on the early records) were written or performed by Martin in collaboration with the band. It was Martin's idea to put a string quartet on
Yesterday, against McCartney's initial reluctance. Martin played the song in the style of
Bach to show McCartney the voicings that were available. Another example is the song "
Penny Lane", which featured a
piccolo trumpet solo. McCartney hummed the melody he wanted, and Martin wrote it down in music notation for
David Mason, the classically trained trumpeter.
Martin's distinctive arranging work appears on multiple Beatles' recordings. For "
Eleanor Rigby" he scored and conducted a strings-only accompaniment inspired by
Bernard Herrmann. On a Canadian speaking tour in 2007, Martin said his "Eleanor Rigby" score was influenced by Herrmann's score for the
Alfred Hitchcock thriller,
Psycho.
For "
Strawberry Fields Forever", he and
Geoff Emerick turned two very different takes into a single master through careful use of
vari-speed and editing. For "
I Am the Walrus", he provided a quirky and original arrangement for brass, violins, cellos, and the
Mike Sammes Singers vocal ensemble. On "
In My Life", he played a sped-up
Baroque piano solo. He worked with McCartney to implement the orchestral 'windup' in "
A Day in the Life" and he and McCartney shared conducting duties the day it was recorded.
He contributed less-noted but integral parts to other songs, including the piano in "
Lovely Rita", the circus instrumentation in "
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite", and the orchestration in "
Good Night".
The first song that Martin didn't arrange was "
She's Leaving Home", as he'd a prior engagement to produce a
Cilla Black session, so McCartney contacted arranger
Mike Leander to do it. Martin was reportedly hurt by this, but still produced the recording and conducted the orchestra himself. Martin was in demand as an independent arranger and producer by the time of
The White Album, so The Beatles were left to produce various tracks by themselves.
Martin arranged the score for The Beatles' film
Yellow Submarine and the
James Bond film
Live and Let Die, for which
Paul McCartney wrote and sang the title song.
The Beatles Anthology
Martin oversaw post-production on
The Beatles Anthology in 1994, and 1995 (which was originally entitled, "The Long and Winding Road") working again with
recording engineer Geoff Emerick. Martin decided to use an old 8-track analogue desk to mix the songs for the project—which EMI found out an engineer still had—instead of a modern digital desk. He explained this by saying that the old desk created a completely different sound, which a new desk couldn't recreate. He also said the whole project was a strange experience for him (with which McCartney agreed) as they'd to listen to themselves chatting in the studio, 25-30 years ago.
Martin stepped down when it came to producing the two new singles reuniting McCartney, Harrison and Starr, who wanted to overdub two old Lennon demos. Martin had suffered a hearing loss, and left the work to writer/producer
Jeff Lynne of
ELO fame.
Cirque du Soleil and Love
In 2006, Martin and his son,
Giles Martin, remixed 80 minutes of Beatle music for the Las Vegas stage performance
Love, a joint venture between
Cirque du Soleil and The Beatles'
Apple Corps Ltd. A
soundtrack album from the show was released in
2006.
Other artists
Martin has produced recordings for many other artists, including contemporaries of The Beatles, such as
Matt Monro,
Cilla Black, and
Gerry and the Pacemakers, as well as the band
America, guitarist
Jeff Beck, sixties duo
Edwards Hand,
Ultravox, country-singer
Kenny Rogers, and
Yoshiki Hayashi of
X Japan.
Martin also worked with the
Mahavishnu Orchestra and
Gary Glitter. He worked with Glitter before he was famous, and recorded several songs with him in the 1960s under the name of "Paul Raven". He also produced the 1974 album
The Man In The Bowler Hat for the eccentric British folk-rock group
Stackridge.
Martin worked with
Paul Winter on his (1972)
Icarus album, which was recorded in a rented house by the sea in
Marblehead,
Massachusetts. Winter said that Martin taught him "how to use the studio as a tool", and allowed him to record the album in a relaxed atmosphere, which was different from the pressurised control in a professional studio.
Associated Independent Recording (AIR)
Within the recording industry, Martin is noted for going independent at a time when many producers were still salaried
staff—which he was until The Beatles' success gave him the leverage to start, in 1969, Associated Independent Recording, and hire out his own services to artists who requested him. This arrangement not only demonstrated how important Martin's talents were considered to be by his artists, but it allowed him a share in record royalties on his hits. Today, Martin's
Associated Independent Recording (AIR)—established in 1965—remains one of the world's pre-eminent recording studios. Martin later opened a studio in Montserrat, in 1979.
Music from James Bond series
Martin has also directly and indirectly contributed to the main themes of three films in the
James Bond series. Although Martin didn't produce the theme for the second Bond film,
From Russia With Love, he was responsible for the signing of
Matt Monro to EMI just months prior to his recording of the song of the same title.
Martin also produced two of the most well-known James Bond themes. The first was "
Goldfinger" by Shirley Bassey in 1964. Despite producing the film's theme that became a hit single, Martin didn't partake in the movie's score or the 'James Bond Theme' by
Monty Norman or
John Barry.
In 1972, Martin finally had a crack at composing, arranging and producing the music for the entire film of
Live And Let Die. Apart from scoring a successful chart entry for the song itself (by McCartney), Martin also composed one of the most colourful and funky Bond scores that served as a precursor to the music of 1970s
blaxploitation films.
Books and audio retrospective
In 1979, he published a memoir,
All You Need is Ears (co-written with Jeremy Hornsby), that described his work with The Beatles and other artists (including
Peter Sellers,
Sophia Loren,
Shirley Bassey,
Flanders and Swann,
Matt Monro, and
Dudley Moore), and gave an informal introduction to the art and science of
sound recording. In 1993 Martin published
With a Little Help from My Friends: The Making of Sgt Pepper (published in UK as
Summer of Love: The Making of Sgt Pepper, co-authored with William Pearson). Martin also edited a 1983 book called
Making Music: The Guide to Writing, Performing and Recording.
In 2001, Martin released
Produced by George Martin: 50 Years In Recording, a 6-CD retrospective of his entire studio career, and in 2002, Martin launched
Playback, his limited-edition illustrated autobiography, published by
Genesis Publications.
Awards and recognition
Selected Hit records produced or co-produced by George Martin
Records produced by Martin have achieved 30 #1 singles and 16 #1 albums in the UK - plus 23 #1 singles and 19 #1 albums in North America.
“My Kind of Girl,” Matt Monro (7/31/61, #18)
“My Boomerang Won’t Come Back,” Charlie Drake (3/17/62, #21)
“Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport,” Rolf Harris (7/13/63, #3)
“Little Children,” Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas (6/13/64, #7)
“Bad to Me,” Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas (6/27/64, #9)
“Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying,” Gerry and the Pacemakers (7/04/64, #4)
“You’re My World,” Cilla Black (8/01/64, #26)
“How Do You Do It?,” Gerry and The Pacemakers (9/05/64, #9)
“I Like It,” Gerry and The Pacemakers (11/07/64, #17)
“Walk Away,” Matt Monro (1/09/65, #23)
“I’ll Be There,” Gerry and The Pacemakers (1/30/65, #14)
“Ferry Across the Mersey,” Gerry and the Pacemakers (3/20/65, #6)
“Goldfinger,” Shirley Bassey (3/27/65, #8)
“You'll Never Walk Alone,” Gerry and the Pacemakers (7/03/65, #48)
“Trains and Boats and Planes,” Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas (7/31/65, #47)
“Alfie,” Cilla Black (9/10/66, #95)
“Girl on a Swing,” Gerry and The Pacemakers (10/22/66, #28)
“Tin Man,” America (11/09/74, #4)
“Lonely People,” America (3/08/75, #5)
“Sister Golden Hair,” America (6/14/75, #1)
“Got to Get You into My Life,” Earth, Wind and Fire (9/16/78, #9)
“Oh! Darling,” Robin Gibb (10/07/78, #15)
"Say, Say, Say," Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson (12/10/83, #1)
“Candle in the Wind 1997,” Elton John (10/11/97, #1)
Discography
Off The Beatle Track (1964)
Help! (1965)
George Martin Instrumentally Salutes The Beatle Girls (1966)
Yellow Submarine (side one: The Beatles, side two: The George Martin Orchestra) (1969)
Live and Let Die (producer for Paul McCartney's song and composer of musical score) (1973)
In My Life (1998)
Produced by George Martin (2001)
The Family Way (2003)
Selected discography (as producer)
Flanders and Swann — At the Drop of a Hat (1960)
Flanders and Swann — At the Drop of Another Hat (1964)
Gerry and the Pacemakers — Ferry Cross the Mersey (1965)
Edwards Hand — Edwards Hand (1969)
Ringo Starr — Sentimental Journey (1970)
Paul Winter Consort — Icarus (1972)
Stackridge — The Man In The Bowler Hat (released as Pinafore Days in the U.S. and Canada) (1974)
Mahavishnu Orchestra — Apocalypse (1974)
America — Holiday (1974)
Jeff Beck — Blow by Blow (1975)
America — Hearts (1975)
America — Hideaway (1976)
Jeff Beck — Wired (1976)
Jimmy Webb — El Mirage (1977)
America — Harbor (1977)
Cheap Trick — All Shook Up (1980)
UFO — No Place to Run (1980)
Little River Band — Time Exposure (1981)
Ultravox — Quartet (1982)
X Japan/Yoshiki — Eternal Melody (1993)
Tommy (Original Cast Recording) (1993)
Celine Dion — Let's Talk About Love (1997)
George Martin — In My Life (1998)
The Beatles — Love (2006)Further Information
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