George Martin


George Martin

Martin backstage at the Beatles' Love show, Las Vegas, June 2006
Born
George Henry Martin

(1926-01-03)3 January 1926
Highbury, London, England
Died8 March 2016(2016-03-08) (aged 90)
Alma materGuildhall School of Music and Drama
Occupations
  • Record producer
  • arranger
  • composer
  • conductor
  • musician
Known forWorking with:
Spouses
  • Sheena Chisholm
    (m. 1948; div. 1965)
  • Judy Lockhart Smith
    (m. 1966)
Children4, including Giles and Greg
Musical career
Genres
Instruments
  • Keyboards
  • oboe
  • clarinet
Years active1950–2006
Labels

Sir George Henry Martin CBE (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the "Fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the Beatles' original albums.[1] Martin's formal musical expertise and interest in novel recording practices facilitated the group's rudimentary musical education and desire for new musical sounds to record.[2] Most of their orchestral and string arrangements were written by Martin, and he played piano or keyboards on a number of their records.[3] Their collaborations resulted in popular, highly acclaimed records with innovative sounds, such as the 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band—the first rock album to win a Grammy Award for Album of the Year.[4]

Martin's career spanned more than six decades in music, film, television and live performance. Before working with the Beatles and other pop musicians, he produced comedy and novelty records in the 1950s and early 1960s as the head of EMI's Parlophone label, working with Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan and Bernard Cribbins, among others. His work with other Liverpool rock groups in the early mid-1960s helped popularize the Merseybeat sound.[5] In 1965, he left EMI and formed his own production company, Associated Independent Recording.

AllMusic has described Martin as the "world's most famous record producer".[6] In his career, Martin produced 30 number-one hit singles in the United Kingdom and 23 number-one hits in the United States, and won six Grammy Awards.[7] He also held a number of senior executive roles at media companies and contributed to a wide range of charitable causes, including his work for The Prince's Trust and the Caribbean island of Montserrat. In recognition of his services to the music industry and popular culture, he was made a Knight Bachelor in 1996.

  1. ^ "Sir George Martin, the Fifth Beatle, dies aged 90 – reaction". The Daily Telegraph. 9 March 2016. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
  2. ^ "Obituary: Sir George Martin". BBC News. 9 March 2016. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  3. ^ Miles 1997, p. 205.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Harrington was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Linehan, Hugh (10 March 2016). "George Martin: the man who helped make the Beatles truly great". The Irish Times. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  6. ^ "George Martin Biography, Songs, & Albums". AllMusic. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference grammys was invoked but never defined (see the help page).