George Martin - composer and honorary Beatle

Born in London on 3rd of January 1926, George Martin is probably one of the most famous and respected producers of his generation, renown for his long-term friendship with the members of cult English pop band the Beatles, as well as being the first producer to grant them an audition upon hearing their songs. On the other hand, George Martin has also composed a handful of movie scores since the early 1960s, alongside his numerous entries as a producer. Obviously, Sir Martin is a man of many talents: the sheer amount of work he has put into the music industry can testify for this. However, his true vocation lies within score composition, and this is something that many people tend to overlook due to the overwhelming importance that popular music has in the eyes of mainstream masses.

George Martin's career emerged, like many other artists, from the hardship and carnage of the Second World War. Prior to his departure from military services in 1947, he had served, from 1943 until the end of the war, as part of the Fleet Air Arm: the Royal Navy division accountable for the maintenance and operation of aircrafts on board the British war-ships. During all this time he had cherished the idea of becoming a score composer. He would finally come closer to his dream by attending the Guildhall Scholl of Music in London in the late 1940s. Martin graduated in the early 1950s and signed up as an assistant to the manager of the EMI records company, Oscar Preuss. By the time Martin had reached 29 years of age, Preuss retired from EMI. This furthered Martin's position in the company, allowing him to become the sole manager of EMI records.

Martin would prove himself to be quite the "enfant terrible", serving a plateful of rock-n-roll alongside a Bach overture for instance. In 1962, he agreed to sign a record contract for the Beatles, despite the fact that his response to the early audition was rather sour. However, Martin had one condition for signing them on: he would help them shape their musical concept, re-working the sound rendering and especially the instrumentation, often playing alongside them or even "for" them. This state of affairs would lead him into producing many other artists, and would eventually lead the Beatles into national, and then worldwide stardom. George Martin had definitively managed to revive the mainstream music industry back in the early 60s, but it could be argued that producing such a vast amount of pop musicians has prevented George Martin from developing his own scores on a much wider scale.

George Martin's first breakthrough came in the shape of a 1961 Peter Sellers' comedy entitled "Mr. Topaze", in which he was asked to work on the title song. The actual score itself was put together by French composer Georges Van Parys. The following year, he would work alongside Muir Mathieson for a Ken Annakin film "Crooks Anonymous". These early works didn't draw much attention due to the fact that both films were somewhat bland. This is very much the case for Martin's following efforts, with films "Take me Over" and "Calculated Risk" in 1963. On the other hand "A Hard Day's Night" won an Award for "best Scoring of Music Adaptation" in 1964. At first, George Martin wasn't credited at all. The reason for this was most probably due to Paul McCartney's fame, as well as the fact that this particular piece of work would be remembered as "the third Beatles album" rather than "the soundtrack to A Hard Day's Night". The film was much admired by fans of the Beatles and critics alike. Nowadays, Martin is thankfully credited next to Paul McCartney's name.

Live and Let Die, the eighth James Bond movie directed by Guy Hamilton, was George Martin's opportunity to stand out. Although the Bond movies went from sweet to sour upon Sean Connery's disappearance from the series, Martin's score managed to capture the same sense of mystery and eroticism that John Barry had displayed in the early movies, even though the orchestration has more of a rock/jazz fusion feel to it, especially the drum sections. This chemistry between old-fashion Bond themes and rock fusion turns out to be Martin's highlight as a film composer. Martin was later to ask Sean Connery to "sing" the title track on his album "In My Life".

George Martin now sometimes works with his son Giles Martin on musical projects. These have included producing and writing music for young New Zealand singer Hayley Westenra, and also the latest Beatles "Love" album. He has also lent his support to garageband.com which supports independent music and unsigned bands.

Films by George Martin:

• Mr. Topaze - title song
• Crooks Anonymous
• Take me Over
• Calculated Risk
• A Hard Day's Night - soundtrack to one of the best Beatles films
• Ferry Cross the Mersey - with another 60s pop band from Merseyside "Gerry and the Pacemakers"
• Yellow Submarine - soundtrack to the animated feature
• Pulp
• Live and Let Die - the 8th Bond film with title song by Paul McCartney and Wings
• The Optimists
• Honky Tonk Freeway

Television themes and other George Martin credits:

• Frost on Sunday - the theme is punningly called "By George! It's the David Frost Theme."