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Iain David McGeachy OBE (11 September 1948 – 29 January 2009), known professionally as John Martyn, was a British singer-songwriter and guitarist. Over a 40-year career, he released 23 studio albums, and received frequent critical acclaim. The Times described him as "an electrifying guitarist and singer whose music blurred the boundaries between folk, jazz, rock and blues".[2]

John Martyn
OBE
Martyn in 1978
Background information
Birth nameIain David McGeachy
Born(1948-09-11)11 September 1948[1]
New Malden, Surrey, England
Died29 January 2009(2009-01-29) (aged 60)
Thomastown, Ireland
GenresFolk blues, progressive folk, folk-rock, folk jazz
Occupation(s)Musician, songwriter
Instrument(s)Guitar, vocals
Years active1967–2009
LabelsIsland, WEA
Websitejohnmartyn.com

Martyn began his career at age 17 as a key member of the British folk music scene, drawing inspiration from American blues and English traditional music, and signed with Island Records. By the 1970s he had begun incorporating jazz and rock into his sound on albums such as Solid Air (1973) and One World (1977), as well as experimenting with guitar effects and tape delay machines such as Echoplex.[3] He struggled with substance abuse and domestic problems throughout the 1970s and 1980s, though he continued to release albums while collaborating with figures such as Phil Collins and Lee "Scratch" Perry. He remained active until his death in 2009.


Personal Life


Martyn was born in Beechcroft Avenue, New Malden, Surrey, to Belgian Jewish mother Beatrice "Betty" Ethel (née Jewitt) and Greenock-born Scottish father Thomas Paterson "Tommy" McGeachy.[4][5][6][7][8] His parents, both opera singers, divorced when he was five and he spent his childhood alternating between Scotland and England. Most of this time was spent in the care of his father and grandmother, Janet, in Shawlands, Glasgow, part of his holidays each year spent on his mother's houseboat.[9][10][11] He adapted his accent depending on context or company, changing between broad or refined Glaswegian and southern English accents, and continued to do so throughout his life.[10][6][11] He attended Shawlands Academy in Glasgow.[2] At school, he was a keen rugby player. On leaving school he attended Glasgow School of Art, but left to pursue his musical aspirations.[12]


Late 1960s


Mentored by Hamish Imlach, Martyn began his professional musical career when he was 17, playing a fusion of blues and folk resulting in a distinctive style which made him a key figure in the British folk scene during the mid-1960s.[3] He signed to Chris Blackwell's Island Records in 1967 and released his first album, London Conversation, the same year.[13] Released in 1968, his second album, The Tumbler, was moving towards jazz.


1970s



Original sound


By 1970 Martyn had developed a wholly original and idiosyncratic sound: acoustic guitar run through a fuzzbox, phase shifter and Echoplex. This sound was first apparent on Stormbringer! released in February 1970.


Collaborations with Beverley Martyn


Stormbringer! was written and performed by Martyn and his then-wife Beverley, who had previously recorded solo as Beverley Kutner. Their second duo album, The Road to Ruin, was released in November 1970. Island Records felt that it would be more successful to market Martyn as a solo act and this was how subsequent albums were produced, although Beverley continued to make appearances as a backing singer as well as continuing as a solo artist herself.[2]


Solo releases


Released in 1971, Bless the Weather was Martyn's third solo album. In February 1973, Martyn released the album Solid Air, the title song a tribute to the singer-songwriter Nick Drake, a close friend and label-mate who would die in 1974 from an overdose of antidepressants. In 2009, a double CD Deluxe edition of Solid Air was released featuring unreleased songs and out-takes, and sleeve notes by Record Collector's Daryl Easlea. On Bless the Weather and on Solid Air Martyn collaborated with jazz bassist Danny Thompson, with whom he proceeded to have a musical partnership which continued until his death.

Following the commercial success of Solid Air, later on in 1973 Martyn quickly recorded and released the experimental Inside Out, an album with emphasis placed on feel and improvisation rather than song structure. In 1975, he followed this with Sunday's Child, a more song-based collection that includes "My Baby Girl" and "Spencer the Rover", which are references to his young family. Martyn subsequently described this period as 'very happy'. In September 1975, he released a live album, Live at Leeds — Martyn had been unable to persuade Island to release the record, and resorted to selling individually signed copies by mail from his home in Hastings. Live at Leeds features Danny Thompson and drummer John Stevens. In 2010, a 2CD Deluxe version of Live at Leeds was released, and it was discovered that not all of the songs on the original album were from the Leeds concert. After releasing Live at Leeds, Martyn took a sabbatical, including a visit to Jamaica, spending time with reggae producer Lee "Scratch" Perry.

In 1977, he released One World, which led some commentators to describe Martyn as the "Father of Trip-Hop".[14] It included tracks such as "Small Hours" and "Big Muff", a collaboration with Lee "Scratch" Perry. Small Hours was recorded outside; the microphones picked up ambient sounds, such as geese from a nearby lake.[5] In 1978, he played guitar on the album Harmony of the Spheres by Neil Ardley.


1980s


Martyn's marriage broke down at the end of the 1970s and "John hit the self destruct button"[15] (although other biographers, including The Times obituary writer, attribute the break-up of his marriage to his already being addicted to drink and drugs).[2] In her autobiography, Beverley also alleges protracted domestic violence.[16] Out of this period, described by Martyn as "a very dark period in my life",[17] came the album Grace and Danger. Released in October 1980, the album had been held up for a year by Chris Blackwell. He was a close friend of John and Beverley, and found the album too openly disturbing to release. Only after intense and sustained pressure from Martyn did Blackwell agree to release the album. Commenting on that period, Martyn said, "I was in a dreadful emotional state over that record. I was hardly in control of my own actions. The reason they finally released it was because I freaked: Please get it out! I don't give a damn about how sad it makes you feel—it's what I'm about: the direct communication of emotion. Grace and Danger was very cathartic, and it really hurt."[17]

In the late 1980s, Martyn cited Grace and Danger as his favourite album, and said that it was "probably the most specific piece of autobiography I've written. Some people keep diaries, I make records."[17] The album has since become one of his highest-regarded, prompting a deluxe double-disc issue in 2007, containing the original album remastered.

Phil Collins played drums and sang backing vocals on Grace and Danger and subsequently played drums on and produced Martyn's next album, Glorious Fool, in 1981. Martyn left Island records in 1981, and recorded Glorious Fool and Well Kept Secret for WEA achieving his first Top 30 album.[2] In 1983 Martyn released a live album, Philentropy, and married Annie Furlong but the couple, who had lived in Scotland, later separated.[5][18] Returning to Island records, he recorded Sapphire (1984), Piece by Piece (1986) and the live Foundations (1987) before leaving the label in 1988.


1990s and 2000s


John Martyn performs at the Barbican Centre, London 2008.
John Martyn performs at the Barbican Centre, London 2008.

Martyn released The Apprentice in 1990 and Cooltide in 1991 for Permanent Records, and reunited with Phil Collins for No Little Boy (1993) which featured rerecorded versions of some of his classic tracks. The similar 1992 release Couldn't Love You More was unauthorised by and disowned by Martyn. Material from these recordings and his two Permanent albums have been recycled on many releases. Permanent Records also released a live 2-CD set called "Live" in 1994. And (1996) came out on Go! Discs and saw Martyn draw heavily on trip-hop textures, a direction which saw more complete expression on 2000s Glasgow Walker; The Church with One Bell (1998) is a covers album of blues classics, which draws on songs by other artists, including Portishead and Ben Harper.[19] In 2001, Martyn appeared on the track "Deliver Me" by Faithless keyboard player and DJ Sister Bliss.[20]

Martyn in 2006
Martyn in 2006

In July 2006, the documentary Johnny Too Bad was screened by the BBC.[21] The programme documented the period surrounding the operation to amputate Martyn's right leg below the knee (the result of a burst cyst that had led to septicaemia[18]) and the writing and recording of On the Cobbles (2004), an album described by Peter Marsh on the BBC Music website as "the strongest, most consistent set he's come up with in years." Much of Cobbles was a revisiting of his acoustic-based sound. Martyn's last concerts were in November 2008 reprising Grace and Danger.[22]

In collaboration with his keyboard player Spenser Cozens, Martyn wrote and performed the score for Strangebrew (Robert Wallace 2007), which won the Fortean Times Award at the London Short Film Festival in the same year.[23][24] The film concept being a strong influence of the album design of Martyn's Heaven and Earth (2011). On 4 February 2008, Martyn received the lifetime achievement award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. The award was presented by his friend Phil Collins. The BBC website stated Martyn's "heartfelt performances have either suggested or fully demonstrated an idiosyncratic genius." Eric Clapton was quoted saying that Martyn was "so far ahead of everything, it's almost inconceivable."[25]

To mark Martyn's 60th birthday, Island released a 4CD boxed set, Ain't No Saint on 1 September 2008. The set includes unreleased studio material and rare live recordings.

Martyn was appointed OBE in the 2009 New Year Honours and died a few weeks later.[18][26] His partner Theresa Walsh collected the award on his behalf at Buckingham Palace.[27] Martyn had recorded new material before he died and his final studio album, Heaven and Earth, was completed and released posthumously in May 2011. The sleeve note says, "all the tracks on this recording were kept as John wished — in their entirety".[28][29]


Death


Martyn died on 29 January 2009, at a hospital in Thomastown, County Kilkenny, Ireland,[30] from acute respiratory distress syndrome. He had been living in Thomastown with his partner Theresa Walsh. Martyn's health was affected by his life-long abuse of drugs and alcohol. He was survived by his partner and his children, Mhairi, Wesley and Spencer McGeachy.[31]


Tributes


Following Martyn's death, Rolling Stone lauded his "progressive folk invention and improvising sorcery".[32] Friend and collaborator Phil Collins paid tribute to him, saying, "John's passing is terribly, terribly sad. I had worked with and known him since the late 1970s and he was a great friend. He was uncompromising, which made him infuriating to some people, but he was unique and we'll never see the likes of him again. I loved him dearly and will miss him very much."[33]

Mike Harding introduced an hour-long tribute to Martyn in his BBC Radio 2 programme on 25 February 2009. A tribute album, Johnny Boy Would Love This, was released on 15 August 2011, comprising cover versions of his songs by various artists.[18][34]

The "Grace & Danger: A Celebration of John Martyn" tribute concert held on 27 January 2019 at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall marked the tenth anniversary of his passing.[35] Curated and hosted by Danny Thompson, artists including Eddi Reader, Eric Bibb and Paul Weller performed "to do full justice to a selection of Martyn's finest songs and channel some of the great man's spirit".[36]


Discography



Studio albums


Year Album Peak chart positions
UK
[37][38]
1967 London Conversation
  • Released: October 1967
  • Label: Island (ILPS 952)
-
1968 The Tumbler
  • Released: December 1968
  • Label: Island (ILPS 9091)
-
1970 Stormbringer! (with Beverley Martyn)
  • Released: February 1970
  • Label: Island (ILPS 9113)
-
1970 The Road to Ruin (with Beverley Martyn)
  • Released: November 1970
  • Label: Island (ILPS 9133)
-
1971 Bless the Weather
  • Released: November 1971
  • Label: Island (ILPS 9167)
-
1973 Solid Air
  • Released: February 1973
  • Label: Island (ILPS 9226)
-
1973 Inside Out
  • Released: October 1973
  • Label: Island (ILPS 9253)
-
1975 Sunday's Child
  • Released: 28 January 1975
  • Label: Island (ILPS 9296)
-
1977 One World
  • Released: 4 November 1977
  • Label: Island (ILPS/ZCI 9492)
54
1980 Grace and Danger
  • Released: 13 October 1980
  • Label: Island (ILPS/ZCI 9560)
54
1981 Glorious Fool
  • Released: September 1981
  • Label: WEA (WEA K/K4 99178)
25
1982 Well Kept Secret
  • Released: August 1982
  • Label: WEA (WEA K/K4 99255)
20
1984 Sapphire
  • Released: November 1984
  • Label: Island (ILPS/ICT 9779)
57
1986 Piece by Piece
  • Released: February 1986
  • Label: Island (ILPS/ICTCID 9807)
28
1990 The Apprentice
  • Released: March 1990
  • Label: Permanent Records (PERM CD/MC/LP 1)
-
1991 Cooltide
  • Released: November 1991
  • Label: Permanent Records (PERM CD/MC/LP 4)
-
1992 Couldn't Love You More
  • Released: August 1992
  • Label: Permanent Records (PERM CD/MC/LP 9)
65
1993 No Little Boy
  • Released: July 1993
  • Label: Permanent Records (PERM CD/MC 14)
-
1996 And
  • Released: August 1996
  • Label: Go! Discs (828798-2/-4)
32
1998 The Church with One Bell
  • Released: 23 March 1998
  • Label: Independiente (ISOM 3CD)
51
2000 Glasgow Walker
  • Released: May 2000
  • Label: Independiente (ISOM 15CD)
66
2004 On the Cobbles
  • Released: 26 April 2004
  • Label: Independiente (ISOM 43CD)
95
2011 Heaven and Earth
  • Released: 16 May 2011
  • Label: Hole in the Rain (LSM4010)
51
"-" denotes a release that did not chart. Note: the 2009 reissue of Solid Air reached 88 in the UK chart.

Live albums



Compilation albums



Tribute albums



Singles



DVD/video



References


  1. "Biography". Johnmartyn.com. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
  2. Obituary: "John Martyn: guitarist and singer", The Times, 30 January 2009, pg. 75.
  3. Hartenbach, Brett. "John Martyn: Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
  4. "Feeling Gravity's Pull – The Official John Martyn Website". Johnmartyn.com. May 1998. Since his birth in 1949 (sic), to an English mother and Scottish father, he's forever been shuttling the length ... In fact she wasn't she was Jewish Belgian. ... Exit Ms Frederick stage left, rapidly, but the song remains: Sandy Grey turns up the following ...
  5. John Neil Munro, Some People Are Crazy — the John Martyn Story; ISBN 978-1-84697-058-0, Polygon, 2007 p.125
  6. "Musical genius or a wasted talent? In search of the real John Martyn". HeraldScotland.
  7. "Martyn, John [real name Ian David McGeachy] (1948–2009), musician and songwriter". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/100767. ISBN 978-0-19-861411-1. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  8. Read Small Hours Online by Graeme Thomson | Books via www.scribd.com. His parents were Thomas Paterson McGeachy and Beatrice Ethel Jewitt... Beatrice was born on December 10, 1924 to Maud and Harold Jewitt, into a Jewish family that had moved, after her arrival, from Belgium to England.* Her father was a broker for a shipping company, her mother a housewife. They lived at 34 Compton Avenue, in the new and affluent garden suburb of Gidea Park in Romford, Essex.
  9. "Serendipity – Brendan Quayle | Big Muff". Johnmartyn.info. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  10. "Graeme Thomson on John Martyn's "lifelong grudges and huge, messy explosion of records"". YouTube. Archived from the original on 11 December 2021. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  11. "John Martyn: Heaven can wait". The Independent. 5 May 2004. Archived from the original on 13 June 2022.
  12. "Glasgow Walker | Big Muff". Johnmartyn.info.
  13. "London Conversation (1967)". The Official John Martyn Website. 4 April 2013. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  14. His obituary in The Times states that "The record's dubby, echoing soundscapes have been claimed as the forerunner of the 'trip-hop' style that emerged in the 1990s."
  15. "The wild man of folk dies aged 60". The Independent. 30 January 2009. Archived from the original on 13 June 2022. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  16. Beverley Martyn, Jacki Dacosta, Sweet Honesty – The Beverley Martyn Story; ISBN 978-1-90721-188-1, Grosvenor, 2011
  17. "John's Diary 1980s — Martyn's biography on his website". Johnmartyn.com. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
  18. "John Martyn: Pioneering singer-songwriter who blended folk with jazz and played with Eric Clapton and Dave Gilmour – Obituaries – News". The Independent. 30 January 2009. Archived from the original on 13 June 2022. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
  19. "The Church With One Bell (1998)". John Martyn. 9 April 1998. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  20. "Sister Bliss – Deliver Me". Discogs.com. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  21. "Johnny Too Bad". Bbc.co.uk. 1 January 1970. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
  22. "Biography Part 5". Johnmartyn.com. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
  23. Strangebrew (2006) – IMDb, retrieved 9 July 2020
  24. "Robert Milton Wallace". IMDb. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  25. "Folk Awards 2008 – Winners and Nominees". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  26. "No. 58929". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2008. p. 11.
  27. "Partner collects folk singer John Martyn's OBE for services to music". Big Muff The John Martyn Pages. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  28. Edwards, Mark (15 May 2011). "John Martyn Heaven and Earth". The Sunday Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  29. "John Martyn's final recordings to be released". The Guardian. 27 April 2011. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  30. "John Martyn's last appearance in Kytelers". Advertiser.ie. 6 February 2009. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
  31. "UK | Scotland | Glasgow, Lanarkshire and West | Songwriter Martyn dies, aged 60". BBC News. 29 January 2009. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
  32. Fricke, David (11 May 2009). "Fricke's Picks: Remembering Singer-Guitarist John Martyn". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
  33. Leonard, Michael (29 January 2009). "Phil Collins pays tribute to John Martyn". MusicRadar.
  34. Beaudoin, Jedd (30 October 2011). "Various Artists: Johnny Boy Would Love This… A Tribute to John Martyn". PopMatters. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  35. Virtue, Graeme (28 January 2019). "Grace & Danger: A Celebration of John Martyn review – torrid tribute from Paul Weller and friends". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  36. "Review: Grace & Danger, A Celebration of John Martyn, Celtic Connections 2019". The Fountain. 1 February 2019. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  37. "JOHN MARTYN full Official Chart History". Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  38. Some People Are Crazy – the John Martyn Story – John Neil Munro (Polygon 2007)
  39. "Classics Live (2004)". Johnmartyn.com. 26 April 2013.
  40. Angeline was the world's first ever CD single, released in 1986

Further reading





На других языках


- [en] John Martyn

[es] John Martyn

John Martyn (New Malden, Londres, Reino Unido, 11 de septiembre de 1948 - Kilkenny, Irlanda, 29 de enero de 2009[1]) fue un cantante, compositor y guitarrista británico cuyo nombre real era Ian David McGeachy, Orden del Imperio Británico en 2009. Durante más de cuarenta años de carrera publicó veinte álbumes de estudio.

[ru] Мартин, Джон (певец)

Джон Мартин, (англ. John Martyn OBE, от рождения Ян Дэвид МакГичи (Iain David McGeachy); 11 сентября 1948 (1948-09-11) — 29 января 2009) — британский гитарист, певец и исполнитель собственных песен. За сорокалетнюю карьеру Джон выпустил двадцать студийных альбомов, работал с такими музыкантами, как Эрик Клэптон, Дэвид Гилмор и Фил Коллинз. Его называли гитаристом и певцом, в чьей музыке были грани между фолком, джазом, роком и блюзом[4].



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