“Forgotten Hollywood”- A Day in the Life of George Martin…
Manny P. here…
Sir George Martin was a British record producer, arranger, and composer. His influential involvement with The Beatles altered pop music for generations. He was motivated by iconic composers, such as Cole Porter, Bernard Herrmann, and even, Sergei Rachmaninov, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Maurice Ravel. Martin is considered one of the great record producers, with 30 #1 hit singles in the United Kingdom; and 23 #1 hits in the United States.
After serving in the War Office and the Royal Navy during World War II, Martin used his veteran’s grant to attend the Guildhall School of Music and Drama from 1947 to 1950. Following his graduation, he worked for the BBC’s classical music department, and then joined EMI, as an assistant to Oscar Preuss, the head of EMI’s Parlophone Records. He took over after Preuss retired. During his tenure, he worked with Peter Ustinov, Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan, Rolf Harris, Peter Cook, and Dudley Moore. Martin produced the popular soundtrack album for David Frost’s BBC television show That Was the Week That Was in 1963.
His irreverent background led to solid work with British Invasion artists, including Cilia Black, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, and most famously, The Beatles. His influential suggestion led to Ringo Starr taking over drummer chores for the group. He also collaborated with Matt Monro, Neil Sedaka, Kenny Rogers, Gary Glitter, Jeff Beck, America, and Celine Dion. Late in his career, Martin produced Elton John’s moving redux after the tragic death of Princess Diana (Candle in the Wind); and a Cirque du Soleil Las Vegas stage tribute to The Beatles.
In fact, Martin’s work with The Beatles is legendary. His hits as a recording engineer include Love Me Do and Please Please Me; and particularly, as the orchestral arranger for Yesterday, Eleanor Rigby, Michelle, Penny Lane, I am the Walrus, Strawberry Fields Forever, In My Life, A Day in the Life, With a Little Help From My Friends, All You Need is Love, Here Comes the Sun, Hey Jude, Lucy In the Sky with Diamonds, and Let It Be. These compositions had an influential effect a decade later on Jeff Lynne in his creation of Electric Light Orchestra. George helped arrange Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey for Paul and Linda McCartney after the band dissolved.
George helped create the modern audio landscape of cinema of the 1960s and 1970s. Martin composed, arranged, and produced movie scores, including A Hard Day’s Night, for which he garnered a 1964 Oscar nomination; Ferry Cross the Mersey; Yellow Submarine; and Live and Let Die. He produced Shirley Bassey’s chart-topping Goldfinger in 1964. Martin also wrote scores for small films starring Peter Sellers, Mickey Rooney, and Michael Caine. In 2011, a documentary chronicling his career was a BBC production.
His protégé, Ringo Starr, reported his passing. George Martin was 90.
Until next time> “never forget”
This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 8th, 2016 at 11:59 pm and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
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