George Martin

Sir George Martin CBE
Martin backstage at the Beatles' Love show, Las Vegas, c. 2006
Born	George Henry Martin (1926-01-03)3 January 1926 Highbury, London, England
Died	8 March 2016(2016-03-08) (aged 90) Wiltshire, England
Alma mater	Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Spouse(s)	Sheena Chisholm ​ ​ (m. 1948, divorced)​ Judy Lockhart-Smith ​ ​ (m. 1966)​
Children	4, including Giles and Greg
Musical career
Genres	Rock pop classical comedy
Occupation(s)	Record producer arranger composer conductor audio engineer musician
Instruments	Oboe keyboards
Years active	1950–2006
Labels	EMI Parlophone Apple
Associated acts	The Beatles America Cilla Black Jeff Beck Mahavishnu Orchestra Paul McCartney Ringo Starr Gerry & The Pacemakers
Musical artist

Sir George Martin CBE (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, audio engineer, and musician. He was referred to as the "Fifth Beatle" in reference to his extensive involvement in each of the Beatles' original albums.^[1]

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 early 1950s, working with Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan and Bernard Cribbins, among others. In his career he produced 30 number-one hit singles in the United Kingdom and 23 number-one hits in the United States. 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.

Early years[]

Martin was born January 3, 1926,^[2] in Highbury, London. When he was six, his family acquired a piano that sparked his interest in music.^[3] At eight years of age, he persuaded his parents, Henry and Betha Beatrice (née Simpson) Martin,^[4] that he should take piano lessons, but those ended after only eight lessons because of a disagreement between his mother and the teacher.

As a child, he attended several schools, including a "convent school in Holloway", St Joseph's School (Highgate), and at St Ignatius' College (Stamford Hill), where he had won a scholarship. When WWII broke out St. Ignatius College students were evacuated to Welwyn Garden City. George's family left London, with him being enrolled at Bromley Grammar School.^[5]

I remember well the very first time I heard a symphony orchestra. I was just in my teens when Sir Adrian Boult brought the BBC Symphony Orchestra to my school for a public concert. It was absolutely magical. Hearing such glorious sounds I found it difficult to connect them with ninety men and women blowing into brass and wooden instruments or scraping away at strings with horsehair bows.^[6]

Despite Martin's continued interest in music, and "fantasies about being the next Rachmaninoff", he did not initially choose music as a career.^[7] He worked briefly as a quantity surveyor, and later for the War Office as a Temporary Clerk (Grade Three), which meant filing paperwork and making tea.^[8]

In 1943, when he was 17, he joined the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy becoming a commissioned officer and aerial observer. The war ended before Martin was involved in any combat, and he left the service in 1947.^[9]

Encouraged by the pianist, teacher and broadcaster Sidney Harrison Martin used his veteran's grant to attend the Guildhall School of Music and Drama from 1947 to 1950. He studied piano and oboe, being interested in the music of Rachmaninoff and Ravel and Cole Porter. His oboe teacher was Margaret Eliot (the mother of Jane Asher, who later became involved with Paul McCartney).^[10][11][12] After that, Martin explained that he had just picked it up by himself.^[13] On 3 January 1948 – while still at the Academy – he married Sheena Chisholm, with whom he had two children, Alexis and Gregory Paul Martin. He later married Judy Lockhart-Smith on 24 June 1966, and they also had two children, Lucie and Giles Martin.^[14]

Parlophone[]

The Beatles' first LP (produced by Martin)

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 to 1955. Although having been regarded by EMI as a vital German imprint in the past, it was then not taken seriously and only used for EMI's insignificant acts.^[10][15] After taking over Parlophone, as head of artists and repertoire,^[16] when Preuss retired in 1955, Martin recorded classical and Baroque music, original cast recordings, and regional music from around Britain and Ireland.^[17][18]

Martin also produced numerous comedy and novelty records. His first success for Parlophone was the "Mock Mozart" single, performed by Peter Ustinov with Antony Hopkins – a record reluctantly released in 1952 by EMI, only after Preuss insisted they give his young assistant, Martin, a chance. In 1956 he produced the well known children's song "Nellie the Elephant" which was released by Parlophone in October of that year. Later that decade, he worked with Peter Sellers on two very popular comedy LPs. One was released on 10" format and called The Best Of Sellers, the second was released in 1957, being called Songs for Swinging Sellers (a spoof on Frank Sinatra's LP Songs for Swingin' Lovers!).^[19]

As he had worked with Sellers, he also came to know Spike Milligan, with whom he became a firm friend, and was best man at Milligan's second marriage: "I loved The Goon Show, and issued an album of it on my label Parlophone, which is how I got to know Spike."^[20] The album was Bridge on the River Wye. It was a spoof of the film The Bridge on the River Kwai, being based on the 1957 Goon Show episode "An African Incident." It was intended to have the same name as the film, but shortly before its release, the film company threatened legal action if the name was used.^[21] Martin edited out the 'K' every time the word Kwai was spoken, with Bridge on the River Wye being the result. The River Wye is a river that runs through England and Wales. The album featured Milligan, Sellers, Jonathan Miller, and Peter Cook, playing various characters.^[22][23]

Other comedians he worked with included Bernard Cribbins, Charlie Drake, Terry Scott, Bruce Forsyth, Michael Bentine, Dudley Moore, Flanders and Swann, Lance Percival, Joan Sims, Bill Oddie, and The Alberts. He worked with both Jim Dale and the Vipers Skiffle Group, with whom he had a number of hits. In early 1962, Martin collaborated with Maddalena Fagandini, then working at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, to create two electronic singles, "Time Beat" and "Waltz in Orbit", which were released as records by the pseudonymous Ray Cathode.^[24] As Martin wanted to add rock and roll to Parlophone's repertoire, he struggled to find a "fireproof" hit-making pop artist or group.^[25]

As a producer, Martin recorded the two-man show featuring Michael Flanders and Donald Swann, At the Drop of a Hat, which sold steadily for twenty-five years, although his breakthrough as a producer came with the Beyond the Fringe show cast album, which starred Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett, and Jonathan Miller, and he also produced the accompanying soundtrack album for David Frost's satirical BBC TV show That Was the Week That Was in 1963. His work transformed the profile of Parlophone from a "sad little company" to a very profitable business.^[26]

The Beatles[]

Martin working with the Beatles in a studio during Beatles for Sale sessions, 1964

Martin was contacted by Sid Coleman of Ardmore & Beechwood, who told him about Brian Epstein, the manager of a band whom he had met. He thought Martin might be interested in the group, even though they had been turned down by Decca Records. Until that time, although there had been considerable success with comedy records, and a number 1 hit with the Temperance Seven, Martin had only minor success with pop music, such as "Who Could Be Bluer" by Jerry Lordan, and singles with Shane Fenton and Matt Monro. After the telephone call by Coleman, Martin arranged a meeting on 13 February 1962 with Brian Epstein.^[27] Martin listened to a tape recorded at Decca, and thought that Epstein's group was "rather unpromising", but liked the sound of Lennon's and McCartney's vocals.^[28]

After another meeting with Epstein on 9 May at EMI Studios in London, Martin was impressed by Epstein's enthusiasm and agreed to sign the unknown Beatles to a recording contract, without having met them or seen them play live.^[29] The contract was not what it seemed, however, as Martin would not sign it himself until he had heard an audition, and later said that EMI had "nothing to lose," as it offered one penny for each record sold, which was split among the four members.^[30] 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".^[31]

The Beatles auditioned for Martin on 6 June 1962, in studio three at EMI.^[32] Ron Richards and his engineer Norman Smith recorded four songs, which Martin (who was not present during the recording) listened to at the end of the session. The verdict was not promising, however, as Richards complained about Pete Best's drumming, and Martin thought their original songs were simply not good enough.^[29] Martin asked the individual Beatles if there was anything they personally did not like, to which George Harrison replied, "I don't like your tie." That was the turning point, according to Smith, as John Lennon and Paul McCartney joined in with jokes and comic wordplay, that made Martin think that he should sign them to a contract for their wit alone.^[33]

The Beatles' second recording session with Martin was on 4 September 1962, when they recorded "How Do You Do It", heavily modified by The Beatles which Martin thought was a sure-fire hit, even though Lennon and McCartney did not want to release it, not being one of their own compositions or style.^[34] Martin was correct: Gerry & the Pacemakers' version, which Martin produced, spent three weeks at No. 1 in April 1963, before being displaced by the Beatles' "From Me to You". On 11 September 1962, the Beatles re-recorded "Love Me Do" with session player Andy White playing drums. Ringo Starr was asked to play tambourine and maracas, and although he complied, he was definitely "not pleased". Due to an EMI library error, a 4 September version with Starr playing drums was issued on the British single release; afterwards, the tape was destroyed, and the 11 September recording with Andy White on drums was used for all subsequent releases.^[35] Martin later praised Starr's drumming, calling him "probably ... the finest rock drummer in the world today".^[36] As "Love Me Do" peaked at number 17 in the British charts, on 26 November 1962 Martin recorded "Please Please Me", which he did only after Lennon and McCartney had almost begged him to record another of their original songs. Martin's crucial contribution to the song was to tell them to speed up what was initially a slow ballad. After the recording Martin looked over the mixing desk and said, "Gentlemen, you have just made your first number one record".^[37][38] Martin directed Epstein to find a good publisher, as Ardmore & Beechwood had done nothing to promote "Love Me Do", informing Epstein of three publishers who, in Martin's opinion, would be fair and honest, which led them to Dick James.^[39]

As an arranger[]

Abbey Road Studios, where Martin recorded Parlophone's artists

Martin's formal musical expertise helped fill the gaps between the Beatles' unrefined talent and the sound which distinguished them from other groups, which eventually made them successful. Most of the Beatles' orchestral arrangements and instrumentation were written or performed by Martin, as well as frequent keyboard parts on the early records, in collaboration with the less musically experienced band.^[40] It was Martin's idea to score a string quartet accompaniment for "Yesterday" against McCartney's initial reluctance.^[40][41] Martin played the song in the style of Bach to show McCartney the voicings that were available.^[42] Another example is the song "Penny Lane", which featured a piccolo trumpet solo that was requested by McCartney after hearing the instrument on a BBC broadcast. McCartney hummed the melody that he wanted, and Martin notated it for David Mason, the classically trained trumpeter.^[43]

Martin's work as an arranger was used for many 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 that his "Eleanor Rigby" score was influenced by Herrmann's score for the Alfred Hitchcock thriller Psycho.^[44] For "Strawberry Fields Forever", he and recording engineer Geoff Emerick turned two very different takes into a single master through careful use of vari-speed and editing.^[45] For "I Am the Walrus", he provided a quirky and original arrangement for brass, violins, cellos, and the Mike Sammes Singers vocal ensemble.^[46][47][48] On "In My Life", he played a speeded-up baroque piano solo.^[49] He worked with McCartney to implement the orchestral climax in "A Day in the Life", and he and McCartney shared conducting duties the day that it was recorded.^[50]

Martin contributed integral parts to other songs, including the piano in "Lovely Rita",^[51] the harpsichord in songs such as "Because" and "Fixing a Hole"; the old steam organ and tape loop arrangement that created the Pablo Fanque circus atmosphere that Lennon requested on "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" (both Martin and Lennon played steam organ parts for this song), and the orchestration in "Good Night".^[52][53][54] The first song that Martin did not arrange was "She's Leaving Home", as he had 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.^[55] Martin was in demand as an independent arranger and producer by the time of the band's 1968 self-titled double album (also known as the "White Album"), so the Beatles were left to produce various tracks by themselves.^[56]

Martin composed and arranged the score for the Beatles' film Yellow Submarine^[57] and the James Bond film Live and Let Die, for which Paul McCartney wrote and sang the title song.^[58] He helped arrange Paul and Linda McCartney's American number 1 single "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey".^[59]

Paul McCartney once commended Martin by saying: "George Martin [was] quite experimental for who he was, a grown-up."^[60]

Film and composing work[]

Beginning in the late 1950s, Martin began to supplement his producer income by publishing music and having his artists record it. He used the pseudonyms Lezlo Anales and John Chisholm, before settling on Graham Fisher as his primary pseudonym.^[19]

Martin composed, arranged, and produced film scores since the early 1960s, including the instrumental scores of the films A Hard Day's Night (1964, for which he won an Academy Award Nomination), Ferry Cross the Mersey (1965), Yellow Submarine (1968), and Live and Let Die (1973). Other notable movie scores include Crooks Anonymous (1962), The Family Way (1966), Pulp (1972, starring Michael Caine and Mickey Rooney), the Peter Sellers film The Optimists of Nine Elms (1973), and the John Schlesinger-directed Honky Tonk Freeway (1981).^[61]

Martin was also commissioned to write an official opening theme for BBC Radio 1's launch in September 1967. Entitled "Theme One", it was the first music heard on Radio 1 (not The Move's "Flowers in the Rain", which was the first record played in full on the station).^[62] The tune was later covered by the British progressive rock group Van der Graaf Generator.^[63]

In November 2017, the Craig Leon-produced album George Martin – Film Scores and Original Orchestral Music was released. The album of new recordings collected a selection of Martin's compositions together for the first time, including previously unheard pieces Belle Etoile and sketches from the feature film The Mission (1986) which were not used in the original soundtrack.

The Beatles Anthology[]

Martin oversaw post-production on The Beatles Anthology (which was originally entitled The Long and Winding Road) in 1994 and 1995, working again with Geoff Emerick.^[64] Martin decided to use an old 8-track analogue mixing console – which EMI learned an engineer still had – to mix the songs for the project, instead of a modern digital console. He explained this by saying that the old console created a completely different sound, which a new console could not accurately reproduce.^[65] He also said he found the whole project a strange experience, as they had to listen to themselves chatting in the studio, 25–30 years previously.^[66]

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, so he left the work to writer/producer Jeff Lynne of the Electric Light Orchestra.^[67][68]

Cirque du Soleil and Love[]

In 2006, Martin and his son, Giles Martin, remixed 80 minutes of Beatles music for the Las Vegas stage performance Love, a joint venture between Cirque du Soleil and the Beatles' Apple Corps Ltd.^[69] A soundtrack album from the show was released that same year.^[70]

Public image[]

Martin's contribution to the Beatles' work received regular critical acclaim, and led to him being described as the "fifth Beatle". In 2016, McCartney wrote that "If anyone earned the title of the fifth Beatle it was George".^[71][72] According to Alan Parsons, he had "great ears" and "rightfully earned the title of "fifth Beatle".^[73] Julian Lennon called Martin "the fifth Beatle, without question".^[74]

In the immediate aftermath of the Beatles' break-up, a time when he made many angry utterances, John Lennon trivialised Martin's importance to the Beatles' music. In his 1970 interview with Jann Wenner, Lennon said, "[Dick James] is another one of those people, who think they made us. They didn't. I'd like to hear Dick James' music and I'd like to hear George Martin's music, please, just play me some."^[75]

In a 1971 letter to Paul McCartney, Lennon wrote, "When people ask me questions about 'What did George Martin really do for you?,' I have only one answer, 'What does he do now?' I noticed you had no answer for that! It's not a putdown, it's the truth."^[76] Lennon wrote that Martin took too much credit for the Beatles' music. Commenting specifically on "Revolution 9", Lennon said, "For Martin to state that he was 'painting a sound picture' is pure hallucination. Ask any of the other people involved. The final editing Yoko and I did alone."^[76]

In 1971, Lennon said, "George Martin made us what we were in the studio. He helped us develop a language to talk to other musicians."^[77]

Other artists[]

Martin in 2007

Martin produced recordings for many other artists, including contemporaries of the Beatles, such as Matt Monro, Cilla Black, Gerry & The Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas, The Fourmost, David and Jonathan, and The Action, as well as The King's Singers, the band America,^[78] guitarists Jeff Beck, John McLaughlin and John Williams, sixties duo Edwards Hand, Gary Brooker, Neil Sedaka, Ultravox, country singer Kenny Rogers, UFO, Cheap Trick, Elton John, Little River Band, Celine Dion and Yoshiki of X Japan.^[79][80]

Also working with Gary Glitter before his chart success, Martin recorded several songs with him in the early 1960s, with the singer using the pseudonym of "Paul Raven". He also produced the album The Man in the Bowler Hat (1974) for the eccentric British folk-rock group Stackridge.^[81] 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.^[82] In 1979 he worked with Ron Goodwin to produce the album containing The Beatles Concerto, written by John Rutter. In 2010, Martin was the executive producer of the hard rock debut of Arms of the Sun, an all-star project featuring Rex Brown (Pantera, Down), John Luke Hebert (King Diamond), Lance Harvill and Ben Bunker.^[83]

In 1991, Martin contributed the string arrangement and conducted the orchestra for the song "Ticket To Heaven" on the last Dire Straits studio album, On Every Street. In 1992, Martin worked with Pete Townshend on the musical stage production of The Who's Tommy. The play opened on Broadway in 1993, with the original cast album being released that summer. Martin won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album in 1993, as the producer of that album.

In 1995, he contributed the horn and string arrangement for the song "Latitude" on the Elton John Made in England album, which was recorded at Martin's AIR Studios London. He also produced "Candle in the Wind 1997", Elton's tribute single to the late Diana, Princess of Wales, which topped charts around the world in September 1997.^[84][85]

Associated Independent Recording (AIR)[]

Within the recording industry, Martin was known for having become independent at a time when many producers were still salaried. EMI had refused his pleas for royalties on his own work,^[16] nor did they provide him with any year-end bonuses (which were standard for EMI employees) after 1962, maintaining that his £3000 annual salary was sufficient remuneration for his services, at a time when artists he had signed and was producing had generated tens of millions of pounds for EMI. By 1965, the Beatles' success had given Martin the leverage to start Associated Independent Recording (AIR), which enabled him to hire out his services to other artists. Martin also took EMI's best producers and staff along with him to AIR.^[16] AIR demonstrated how important Martin's talents were to his artists, and it allowed him a share in record royalties on his hits.^[86] To this day, AIR remains one of the world's pre-eminent recording studios.^[87] In 1979, Martin opened AIR Montserrat, a studio on the Caribbean island of Montserrat.^[14] This studio was destroyed by Hurricane Hugo ten years later.^[88]

Music from the James Bond series[]

Martin also directly and indirectly contributed to the main themes of three films in the James Bond series. Although Martin did not 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.^[89]

Martin also produced two of the best-known James Bond themes. The first was "Goldfinger" by Shirley Bassey in 1964.^[90] The second, in 1973, was "Live and Let Die" by Paul McCartney and Wings for the film of the same name. He also composed and produced the film's score.^[91]

Books and audio retrospective[]

In 1979, Martin 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 he published Summer of Love: The Making of Sgt Pepper (published in the U.S. as With a Little Help from My Friends: The Making of Sgt Pepper, co-authored with William Pearson),^[92][93] which also included interview quotations from a 1992 South Bank Show episode discussing the album. 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 six-CD retrospective of his entire studio career, and in 2002, Martin launched Playback, his limited-edition illustrated autobiography, published by Genesis Publications.^[94]

Television[]

The Rhythm of Life[]

In 1997–98, Martin hosted a three-part BBC co-produced documentary series titled The Rhythm of Life, in which he discussed various aspects of musical composition with professional musicians and singers, among them Brian Wilson, Billy Joel, and Celine Dion. The series aired on the Ovation television network in the United States.^[95][96][97]

Produced by George Martin[]

On 25 April 2011, a 90-minute documentary feature film co-produced by the BBC Arena team, Produced by George Martin, aired to critical acclaim for the first time in the UK. It combines rare archive footage and new interviews with, among others, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Jeff Beck, Cilla Black, and Giles Martin, and tells the life story of how George Martin, a schoolboy growing up in the Depression, grew up to become a legendary music producer. The film, with over 50 minutes of extra footage, including interviews from Rick Rubin, T-Bone Burnett and Ken Scott, was released worldwide by Eagle Rock Entertainment on DVD and Blu-ray on 10 September 2012.

Soundbreaking: Stories from the Cutting Edge of Recorded Music[]

Produced in association with Sir George Martin, Soundbreaking: Stories from the Cutting Edge of Recorded Music charts a century's worth of music innovation and experimentation, and offers a behind-the-scenes look at recorded music. Soundbreaking features more than 160 original interviews with some of the most celebrated recording artists, producers, and music industry pioneers of all time. Soundbreaking became George Martin's last, and one of his most personal, projects when he died six days before its premiere.^[98]

Death[]

Martin died in his sleep on the night of 8 March 2016 at his home in Wiltshire, England, at the age of 90.^[99][100] His death was announced by Ringo Starr on his Twitter account,^[101] and a spokesperson for Universal Music Group confirmed his death.^[102] The cause of his death was not disclosed.^[103]

Awards and recognition[]

• Grammy Award 1967 – Best Contemporary Album (as producer of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band)^[104]
• Grammy Award 1967 – Album of the Year (as producer of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band)^[104]
• Grammy Award 1973 – Best Arrangement, Accompanying Vocalist(s) (as arranger of "Live and Let Die")^[104]
• BRIT Awards 1977 – Best British Producer (of the past 25 years).^[105]
• BRIT Awards 1984 – Outstanding Contribution To Music^[106]
• Grammy Award 1993 – Best Musical Show Album (as producer of The Who's Tommy)^[104]
• Grammy Award 2007 – Best Compilation Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media, producer together with Giles Martin, of The Beatles album Love^[104]
• Grammy Award 2007 – Best Surround Sound Album, producer together with Giles Martin, of The Beatles album Love^[104]
• In 1965, he was nominated for an Academy Award 1964 – Scoring of Music (for A Hard Day's Night)^[107]
• In April 1989, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Music by Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.^[108]
• On 9 July 1992, he was awarded an honorary Master of Arts degree by University of Salford, in recognition of his involvement with the innovative BSc Hons Popular Music and Recording validated by the university (taught at University College Salford), and his contribution to British popular music in general.^[109]
• He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 15 March 1999^[110] and into the UK Music Hall of Fame on 14 November 2006.
• Martin was named the British Phonographic Industry's "Man of the Year" of 1998.
• In 2002, he was given the Lifetime Achievement Award for Services to Film by the World Soundtrack Academy at Belgium's Flanders International Film Festival.
• In 2002, Martin was honoured with a gold medal for Services to the Arts from the CISAC (the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers).^[111]
• He was granted his own coat of arms in March 2004 by the College of Arms. His shield features three beetles, a house martin holding a recorder, and the Latin motto Amore Solum Opus Est ("All You Need Is Love").^[112]
• In November 2006, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Music by Leeds Beckett University.^[113]
• In September 2008, he was awarded the James Joyce Award by the Literary and Historical Society of University College Dublin.^[114]
• On 25 May 2010, he was given an honorary membership in the Audio Engineering Society at the 128th AES Convention in London.
• On 29 June 2011, he was given an honorary degree, Doctor of Music, from the University of Oxford.^[115]
• On 17 October 2012, he won a lifetime award in the 39th BASCA Gold Badge Awards^[116]

Martin was one of a handful of producers to have number one records in three or more consecutive decades (1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s). Others in this group include Phil Spector (1950s, 1960s and 1970s), Quincy Jones (1960s, 1970s and 1980s), Michael Omartian (1970s, 1980s and 1990s), and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis (1980s, 1990s, and 2000s).^[117][118]

Selected non-Beatles hit records produced or co-produced by George Martin[]

Records produced by Martin have achieved 30 number one singles and 16 number one albums in the UK – plus 23 number one singles and 19 number one albums in North America (most of which were by The Beatles).^[119]

• "You're Driving Me Crazy", The Temperance Seven (25 May 1961, #1)
• "My Kind of Girl", Matt Monro (31 July 1961, #5)
• "My Boomerang Won't Come Back", Charlie Drake (5 October 1961, #14)
• "Sun Arise", Rolf Harris (25 October 1962, #3)
• "How Do You Do It?", Gerry & the Pacemakers (11 April 1963, #1)
• "Bad to Me", Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas (22 August 1963, #1)
• "Hello Little Girl", The Fourmost (30 August 1963, #9)
• "Little Children", Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas (19 March 1964, #1)
• "Can't Buy Me Love", Ella Fitzgerald (1 May 1964, #34)
• "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying", Gerry & the Pacemakers (4 July 1964, #4)
• "You're My World", Cilla Black (1 August 1964, #1)
• "Walk Away", Matt Monro (4 September 1964, #4)
• "I Like It", Gerry & the Pacemakers (7 November 1964, #1)
• "I'll Be There", Gerry & the Pacemakers (30 January 1965, #14)
• "Ferry Cross the Mersey", Gerry & the Pacemakers (20 March 1965, #6)
• "Goldfinger", Shirley Bassey (27 March 1965, #8)
• "You'll Never Walk Alone", Gerry & the Pacemakers (3 July 1965, #48)
• "Trains and Boats and Planes", Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas (31 July 1965, #47)
• "Alfie", Cilla Black (10 September 1966, #UK6 #95)
• "Girl on a Swing", Gerry & the Pacemakers (22 October 1966, #28)
• "Live and Let Die", Paul McCartney & Wings (1 June 1973, UK#9 US#2)
• "Tin Man", America (9 November 1974, #4)
• "Lonely People", America (8 March 1975, #5)
• "Sister Golden Hair", America (14 June 1975, #1)
• "Oh! Darling", Robin Gibb (7 October 1978, #15)
• "The Night Owls", Little River Band (1981, US #6)
• "Ebony and Ivory", Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder (29 March 1982 US #1)
• "Say, Say, Say", Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson (10 December 1983, #1)
• "No More Lonely Nights", Paul McCartney (8 December 1984, #6)
• "Morning Desire", Kenny Rogers (10 July 1985, #1)
• "The Man I Love", Kate Bush & Larry Adler (18 July 1994, #27)
• "Candle in the Wind 1997", Elton John (11 October 1997, #1)
• "Pure", Hayley Westenra (10 July 2003, #1 UK classical charts, No. 8, UK album chart)

Discography[]

• Off the Beatle Track (1964 Parlophone PCS 3057)
• A Hard Day's Night: Instrumental Versions of the Motion Picture Score (19 February 1965, United Artists)
• George Martin Scores Instrumental Versions of the Hits (1965)
• Help! (1965, Columbia TWO 102)
• ..and I Love Her (1966, Columbia TWO 141)
• George Martin Instrumentally Salutes The Beatle Girls (1966)
• The Family Way (1967)
• British Maid (1968, United Artists SULP 1196, released in the US as London by George)
• Yellow Submarine (side one: The Beatles, side two: The George Martin Orchestra, 1969)
• By George! (1970, Sunset SLS 50182, reissue of British Maid)
• Live and Let Die (producer for Paul McCartney's song, and composer of musical score, 1973)
• Beatles to Bond and Bach (1978)
• In My Life (1998)
• Produced by George Martin (2001)
• The Family Way (2003)

Selected discography (as producer)[]

• Sidney Torch – "Barwick Green" (The Archers theme) (1951)
• Jack Parnell – "The White Suit Samba" (1951)
• Jimmy Shand – "Bluebell Polka" (1952)
• Kenneth McKellar – "Ae Fond Kiss" (1952)
• Tommy Reilly – "Melody on the Move" (1952)
• Adrian Boult / Jean Pougnet / London Philharmonic Orchestra – The Lark Ascending (1952)
• Peter Ustinov – "Mock Mozart" (1952)
• Eve Boswell – "Pickin' a Chicken" (1955)
• Edna Savage – "Arrivederci Darling" (1955)
• Eamonn Andrews – "The Shifting Whispering Sands" (1956)
• Dick James – "Robin Hood" (1956)
• The Ivor and Basil Kirchin Band - "Rock-A-Beatin' Boogie" (1956)
• Johnny Dankworth – "Experiments With Mice" (1956)
• Shirley Abicair – "Smiley" (1956)
• Glen Mason - "Glendora" (1956)
• Mandy Miller – "Nellie the Elephant" (1956)
• The Vipers Skiffle Group – "Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O" (1957)
• Jim Dale – "Be My Girl" (1957)
• Ian Wallace – "The Hippopotamus Song" (1957)
• Charlie Drake – "Splish Splash" (1958)
• Peter Sellers – "A Drop of the Hard Stuff" (1958)
• Humphrey Lyttelton – "Saturday Jump" (1959)
• Bruce Forsyth – "I'm in Charge" (1959)
• Flanders and Swann – At the Drop of a Hat (1960)
• Matt Monro – "Portrait of My Love" (1960)
• Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren – "Goodness Gracious Me" (1960)
• Beyond the Fringe (Original Cast Recording) (1961)
• Dudley Moore – "Strictly for the Birds" (1961)
• Bernard Cribbins – "Right Said Fred" (1962); "Hole in the Ground" (1962); "Gossip Calypso" (1962)
• The Alberts – "Morse Code Melody" (1962)
• Michael Bentine – "Football Results" (1962)
• Terry Scott – "My Brother" (1962)
• Christine Campbell - "If This Should Be a Dream" (1963)
• Joan Sims – "Oh Not Again Ken" (1963)
• Shirley Bassey – "I (Who Have Nothing)" (1963)
• David Frost and Millicent Martin – That Was the Week That Was (1963)
• Cambridge Circus (Original Cast Recording) (1963)
• Flanders and Swann – At the Drop of Another Hat (1964)
• Alma Cogan – "It's You" (1964)
• The Scaffold – "2 Day's Monday" (1966)
• Ron Goodwin – Adventure (1966)
• Edwards Hand – Edwards Hand (1969)
• Stan Getz – Marrakesh Express (1969)
• Ringo Starr – Sentimental Journey (1970)
• Seatrain – Seatrain (1970)
• Seatrain - The Marblehead Messenger (1971)
• The King's Singers – "The King's Singers Collection" (1972)
• Paul Winter Consort – Icarus (1972)
• The King's Singers – "A French Collection" (1973)
• The King's Singers – "Deck the Hall" (1973)
• John Williams – The Height Below (1973)
• Stackridge – The Man in the Bowler Hat (1974, released as Pinafore Days in the US and Canada)
• Mahavishnu Orchestra – Apocalypse (1974)
• America – Holiday (1974)
• Tommy Steele – My Life, My Song (1974)
• Jeff Beck – Blow by Blow (1975)
• America – Hearts (1975)
• America – Hideaway (1976)
• American Flyer – American Flyer (1976)
• Jeff Beck – Wired (1976)
• Cleo Laine – Born On a Friday (1976)
• Jimmy Webb – El Mirage (1977)
• America – Harbor (1977)
• Neil Sedaka – A Song (1977)
• Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978, original soundtrack)
• America – Silent Letter (1979)
• Gary Brooker – No More Fear of Flying (1979)
• Cheap Trick – All Shook Up (1980)
• UFO – No Place to Run (1980)
• Little River Band – Time Exposure (1981)
• Ultravox – Quartet (1982)
• Paul McCartney – Tug of War (1982)
• Paul McCartney – Pipes of Peace (1983)
• Paul McCartney – Give My Regards to Broad Street (1984)
• Kenny Rogers - (1985)
• Peabo Bryson – Quiet Storm (1986)
• Peabo Bryson – Positive (1988)
• Andy Leek – Say Something (1988)
• Yoshiki – Eternal Melody (1993)
• Tommy (Original Cast Recording) (1993)
• Larry Adler - The Glory of Gershwin (1994)
• Celine Dion – "The Reason" (1997)
• George Martin – In My Life (1998)
• The Beatles – Love (2006)

Coat of arms[]

External image
Martin's heraldic badge: A zebra statant proper supporting with the dexter foreleg over the shoulder an Abbot's Crozier Or.

Sir George was granted a coat of arms in 2004, with the Latin motto "Amore Solum Opus Est" which translates to "All you need is love." The arms are a prime example of canting arms, creating arms with a visual pun, including Martin, a recorder, beetles, and a badge (not shown) of a zebra holding an abbot's crozier, representing both Abbey Road Studios and the Beatles' album, with its iconic cover featuring a zebra crossing.^[120]

Coat of arms of George Martin

Crest (upon a Helm with a wreath Argent and Azure): A House Martin proper holding under the sinister wing a Recorder in bend sinister mouthpiece downwards Or. Escutcheon Azure on a Fess nebuly Argent between three Stag Beetles Or five Barrulets Sable.

See also[]

• The Art of Noise (radio show)

Notes[]

References[]

• The Beatles (2003). The Beatles Anthology (DVD). Apple records. ASIN: B00008GKEG.
• Lewis, Roger (1995). The Life and Death of Peter Sellers. London: Arrow. ISBN 978-0-09-974700-0.
• Lewisohn, Mark (2013). The Beatles: All These Years: Volume I: Tune In. Crown Archetype. ISBN 978-1-4000-8305-3.
• Lewisohn, Mark (1990). The Beatles: Recording Sessions. Three Rivers Press; Reprint edition. ISBN 978-0-517-58182-7.
• MacDonald, Ian (1994). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties. New York: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 978-0-8050-2780-8.
• Martin, George (1983). Making Music. New York: William Morrow and Company. ISBN 978-0-688-01465-0.
• Martin, George (1995). All You Need Is Ears. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-312-11482-4.
• Martin, George; Pearson, William (1995). Summer of Love: The Making of Sgt. Pepper. London: Pan Books. ISBN 978-0-330-34210-0.
• Martin, George (2002). Playback: An Illustrated Memoir. Guildford: Genesis Publications. ISBN 978-0-904-35182-8.
• Miles, Barry (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now. New York: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 978-0-8050-5249-7.
• Miles, Barry (2002). In the Sixties. Jonathan Cape. ISBN 978-0-224-06240-4.
• Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage & Baronetage. Crans, Switzerland: Burke’s Peerage.
• Spitz, Bob (2005). The Beatles – The Biography. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0-316-80352-6.
• Ventham, Maxine (2002). Spike Milligan: His Part In Our Lives. London: Robson. ISBN 978-1-86105-530-9.
• Womack, Kenneth (2017). Maximum Volume: The Life of Beatles Producer George Martin (The Early Years, 1926-1966). Chicago: Chicago Review Press. ISBN 978-1-61373-189-5.
• Womack, Kenneth (2018). Sound Pictures: The Life of Beatles Producer George Martin (The Later Years, 1966-2016). Chicago: Chicago Review Press. ISBN 978-0-91277-774-0.

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to George Martin.

• George Martin – Management biography
• "George Martin". Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
• George Martin at IMDb
• George Martin & The Beatles – All Songs & Performers (NYT; 15 March 2016).
• College of Arms. The Arms of Sir George Martin, Kt., C.B.E.
• ^[permanent dead link] JazzWax.com: Four-part interview by Marc Myers for the Wall Street Journal^{[permanent dead link]}
• "Produced by George Martin" DVD review Archived 11 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine
• Interview at Hit Channel
• George Martin interview on BBC Radio 4 Desert Island Discs, 6 August 1982