Death of the "fifth Beatle" George Martin

Death of the "fifth Beatle" George Martin

Like others, drummer Pete Best, bassist Stuart Sutcliffe, pianist Billy Preston or manager Brian Epstein, the title of "fifth Beatle" had often been assigned. And although his work with one of the most famous rock bands and pop of the 1960s will not represented that part of his career, it is through this collaboration that the British producer George Martin, who died in age of 90 years on the night of March 8 to 9, should remain in the history of music popular. Leaving the group the latitude to experiment in the studio, at a time and in a phonographic company (EMI) where it was unusual, bringing his knowledge of music, arrangement for recordings becoming during the ascent Beatles increasingly sophisticated, suggesting the right idea at the right time, George Martin has brought his experience, his ear to the compositions of the group. His death was announced on the night of 8 to 9 March by a tweet drummer Ringo Starr.


Student at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama

Born January 3, 1926, in London, in a modest background - his father is a carpenter - George Martin served in the British Navy between 1943 and 1947 before studying piano and oboe, arrangement and composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. This is the department of classical public service radio BBC he made ​​his professional debut before being hired in early 1950 by Parlophone, one of the labels of the Phonographic company EMI Records. He oversees and produced his first recordings - jazz, cabaret music, folk, traditional music, children's discs - and specializes in actors records as Peter Ustinov, Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan, who win a mainstream success.In 1955, he became head of Parlophone. Rock'n'roll US will soon surge on Europe and Great Britain in particular.
"It is their character, charisma, enthusiasm that attracted me," George Martin, Beatles producer

At the beginning of February 1962, in search of a group that comes in contact with Brian Epstein, the manager of The Beatles. The group, who learned his trade in the clubs of Hamburg and Liverpool, failed to convince the other label. Following a hearing on June 6, Martin decided to sign the group, without being at the time totally convinced. Further tests will take place until the recording of Love Me Do, September 4, with Ringo Starr on drums, who replaced Pete Best. 45- The first rounds of the Beatles out October 5, 1962 with the B-side PS I Love You. Both songs signed by John Lennon and Paul McCartney will provide in the years to come most of the Beatles' compositions.



During a meeting with our colleague Bruno Lesprit, published in Le Monde of 7 January 1998, George Martin recalled: "In fact their first songs were not that good. Only Love Me Do and PS I Love You hold water. It is their character, charisma, enthusiasm that attracted me. And then the flower has blossomed. In less than a year, they began towrite terrifying songs. " The success and soon Beatlemania will come with the 45s next Please Please Me , in January 1963. It is from the sessions of the album Rubber Soul,which appears at the beginning of December 1965 that the Beatles music will is more complex and that the role of George Martin will take important. Strings, winds, keyboards, sound effects will soon dress recordings of the group, in close collaboration with Martin. He will receive the first two of his six Grammy Awards for his productionSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band , Album of the Year in 1967.

In 1965, Martin left Parlophone, while remaining the official producer of the Beatles. It is to him that after the band split in 1970, we will look regularly at reissue campaigns, including commemorative operation Anthology in 1995. He founded the Associated Independent Recording structure (AIR) in 1965 and works independent for other artists; what he has done including Gerry & the Pacemakers or Shirley Bassey. He also composed his first film music. One of his most famous is the one that comes in 1973 one of the films in the James Bond series, Live and let die ( Live and Let Die ), the title song is sung by Paul McCartney. He had already produced in 1964 for the song Goldfinger by Shirley Bassey.
Collaborations with Elton John, Kate Bush,


Martin's reputation outside the Beatles led him to work for such diverse musicians as saxophonist Stan Getz in 1969, the jazz-rock band Mahavishnu Orchestra, the trio America, guitarist Jeff Beck, groups or Cheap Trick Ultravox, Neil Sedaka, Elton John, Kate Bush, Celine Dion ... in 1969 he opened the first AIR Studio in Oxford Street, London. In 1979, a second resort is located in Montserrat, West Indies, where the elite street of rock and pop. The studio will be seriously damaged in 1989 following a hurricane, and closed. It's in Hampstead in 1991 that George Martin opened its third facility in a Victorian church. He will find Paul McCartney repeatedly for discs Tug of War, Pipes of Peace , Give My Regards to Broad Street , or on the songs Ebony and Ivory , a duet with Stevie Wonder, or Say Say Say , duet with Michael Jackson.

Gentleman exquisitely polite, George Martin was knighted in 1996 for "services to music and culture, popular."