George Martin

English rock producer, arranger, and pianist

• Born: January 3, 1926
• Birthplace: London, England
• Died: March 8, 2016
• Place of death: Wiltshire, United Kingdom

An extraordinary record producer, Martin worked with the Beatles, encouraging the group to experiment with a variety of instruments and enhancing their songs with distinctive arrangements and innovative electronic studio manipulation.

The Life

Born to an impoverished family, George Henry Martin formed a band at the age of fifteen after attending a BBC Symphony Orchestra concert at his school. Despite his desire to pursue an artistic career, he enlisted in the Royal Navy, serving as an officer and a pilot until 1947. Following his military service, Martin attended the prestigious Guildhall School of Music until 1950, where he studied oboe and piano.

After graduation, Martin briefly worked for the BBC Music Library before becoming the assistant to Oscar Preuss, head of EMI’s Parlophone Records. When Preuss retired in 1955, Martin was appointed to oversee the label at the young age of twenty-nine. While he began his career at EMI recording classical music, Martin also produced regional music, original cast albums, and various comedy records. In 1962 he was introduced to the Beatles, and he hesitantly offered them a recording contract. Despite his initial reservations at the group’s seeming lack of musical promise, Martin later recounted that he was impressed by both the sense of humor and the charm of the band members and their manager, Brian Epstein. Martin served as the sole producer of the Beatles for the majority of the group’s career, providing guidance by means of his own classical training and acting as an arranger and keyboardist for the group.

Martin also produced other artists, both while working with the Beatles and after the group's breakup. Some of the other acts he worked with included the Bee Gees, Cheap Trick, Jeff Beck, Ella Fitzgerald, and Ultravox. In addition, he contributed orchestral underscore to a number of films, including the Beatles-related works A Hard Day's Night (1964, for which Martin received an Academy Award) and Yellow Submarine (1968), The Family Way (1966), and the James Bond film Live and Let Die (1973). He also produced the Bond film theme songs "Goldfinger" (by Shirley Bassey) and "Live and Let Die" (by former Beatle Paul McCartney and his band Wings).

Martin later became a crucial proponent of the monumental Beatles Anthology project of the 1990s, and he directed his son Giles in the remixing of eighty minutes of Beatles music that served as the sound track for the Cirque du Soleil stage show, Love, commercially released in 2006.

Martin's work output declined in the late 2000s and 2010s as he essentially retired from the studio. He died on 8 March, 2016, in his sleep at home in Wiltshire, England, at the age of ninety. After his death tributes to his work and legacy poured in from around the world, with past collaborators and admirers alike citing his unmistakable influence on popular music.

The Music

As the producer of the Beatles, Martin contributed to their distinctive sound at every stage of their career. He steered the raw, unpolished young group in the studio in the early 1960s, recognizing their potential and making several suggestions that helped lead to their breakthrough hits. His role in the band’s success became even more apparent in 1965, when he overdubbed his original music for string quartet onto the Paul McCartney track "Yesterday," showcasing his influence not only as a producer but as a frequent instrumental contributor to the band's sound. During the creative height of the Beatles’ output, Martin contributed extensively by composing original music, creating tailored arrangements, providing advice regarding instrument selection, and pioneering studio manipulation for some of their most celebrated songs.

Rubber Soul. With the Beatles’ sixth studio album, Rubber Soul (1965), Martin’s contribution began to rise, corresponding to the increasingly introspective and varied nature of the material he was provided by the group. In the case of the reminiscent ballad "In My Life," Martin satisfied John Lennon’s desire for a Baroque-like quality by composing an ornate keyboard solo in the vein of Johann Sebastian Bach, which he performed himself. While he originally played the striking interlude on a Hammond organ, he eventually chose to record it at half-speed on a Steinway piano and speed it electronically, creating a unique timbre that combined the rich tone of the piano and the agility of the harpsichord. The Beatles would later revisit a Bach-like serenade in their renowned single "Penny Lane" (1967), utilizing a trumpet solo that Martin helped McCartney to realize after the songwriter was inspired by a performance of Bach’s Brandenberg Concerto No. 2.

Revolver. Following the success of Rubber Soul, the Beatles sought to achieve new artistic heights with their next studio album, Revolver (1966). Martin facilitated the creative forces of the band in realizing their musical potential. In the case of the psychedelic sermon "Tomorrow Never Knows," he chose to record George Harrison’s guitar solo backward through a Leslie speaker, also taping Lennon’s voice track through the amplifier in order to achieve an omnipresent quality that matched the lyrics. The producer famously supplied music for string octet in the track "Eleanor Rigby," achieving an eerie quality that he later attributed to the influence of film composer Bernard Herrmann. Throughout the song, the strings both counter and accompany McCartney’s vocal melody, adding chilling melancholy by doubling the voice when the priest wipes dirt from his hands as he departs from the lonely heroine’s grave.

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. With Martin’s assistance, the Beatles next recorded the album that many consider to be their magnum opus, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). Some rock historians consider this the first concept album, and the striking cover art depicts the Beatles in psychedelic garb standing alongside icons of both high and popular culture, including Edgar Allan Poe, Karl Marx, Bob Dylan, and Marilyn Monroe. With the careful assistance of producer Martin, the band had set a new artistic precedent, replacing the single with the album as the predominant musical entity.

Among Martin’s memorable contributions to the work are the electronically manipulated sound collage of Lennon’s "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" and the clarinet trio employed in McCartney’s "When I’m Sixty-Four." Notable is his atonal orchestral crescendo in the album’s final track, "A Day in the Life," followed by an E major chord (played on three pianos) that he allowed to ring out for more than a minute by increasing the recording level as the piano resonated. The gesture arguably serves as the most experimental moment of the Beatles’ entire musical career. The album profoundly influenced the course of popular music, not only initiating the psychedelic rock craze but setting a benchmark for using the studio as an artistic tool in its own right.

Love. Martin and his son Giles obtained permission to remix Beatles songs for a live show by the Cirque du Soleil performance group, and released the resulting soundtrack as an album in 2006. Intended as a new way to experience the well-known songs of the beloved band, the album featured remixes combining different original Beatles tracks in unusual and experimental ways, a process known as mashup. In some instances new sounds were also added to the mix. The result is a soundscape that not only captures the innovative quality of the Beatle's catalogue but reinforces Martin's skills in studio manipulation. The album was well received by critics and fans, and also won the approval of surviving Beatles McCartney and Ringo Starr.

Musical Legacy

In addition to serving as the producer of the Beatles, Martin worked with a number of celebrated artists, including Gerry and the Pacemakers, Peter Sellers, and Sophia Loren. By 1963 he had produced thirty-seven number-one hits, a testament to his success prior to the Beatles.

Ultimately, Martin is inextricably linked to the Beatles’ musical legacy. Often dubbed "the fifth Beatle," he earned the title through not only production but also collaboration. Composing arrangements that accompanied some of the group’s most celebrated songs, the producer balanced the amateur musical knowledge of the band with his own academic training. Through his expertise, the musical language of high culture began to penetrate the band’s repertory, resulting in albums such as Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, a landmark work of music production that obscured the boundaries between popular and art music.

Principal Recordings

albums (with the Beatles): Please Please Me, 1963; With the Beatles, 1963; Beatles for Sale, 1964; The Beatles’ Second Album, 1964; Beatles ’65, 1964; The Beatles’ Story, 1964; A Hard Day’s Night, 1964; Introducing the Beatles, 1964; Meet the Beatles, 1964; Something New, 1964; Beatles VI, 1965; Help!, 1965; Rubber Soul, 1965; Revolver, 1966; Yesterday…and Today, 1966; Magical Mystery Tour, 1967; Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1967; The Beatles, 1968 (The White Album); Abbey Road, 1969; Yellow Submarine, 1969; Let It Be, 1970.

Bibliography

"George Martin Biography." Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, 2016. Web. 23 Jun. 2016.

Kozinn, Allan. "George Martin, Redefining Producer Who Guided Beatles, Dies at 90." New York Times. New York Times, 9 Mar. 2016. Web. 23 Jun. 2016.

Lewisohn, Mark. The Beatles Recording Sessions. New York: Harmonie Books, 1988. Print.

Markowitz, Rhonda. The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Rock History: Folk, Pop, Mods, and Rockers, 1960-1966, Vol. 2. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2006. Print.

Martin, George, and Jeremy Hornsby. All You Need Is Ears. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1979. Print.

Martin, George, and William Pearson. With a Little Help from My Friends: The Making of Sgt. Pepper. Boston: Little, Brown, 1994. Print.

Roylance, Brian, Julian Quance, Oliver Craske, Roman Milisic, and Derek Taylor, eds. The Beatles Anthology. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2000. Print.