George Martin

Knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1996, and winner of both the Grammy Lifetime Achievement and Novello Awards, producer, arranger, composer, and author, Sir George Martin has had an impact and influence on music and popular culture that is immeasurable.

In a global millennium poll taken in 1999 of music critics by USA Today, Martin was named the Most Successful and Influential Producer of the 20th Century. Inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, Martin is also listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most successful producer ever, with more than 50 number one hit records over five decades in America and Great Britain alone. The recordings he has produced have collectively sold more than one billion units, worldwide.

As a producer, arranger, and composer, his work has influenced, helped propel, and set standards for more popular music and comedy artists than anyone else before or since. As mentor and creative collaborator, Martin helped steward and bring to the world the most original, successful, and influential music phenomenon in popular music history - the Beatles. Best known as the Beatles producer, he signed the Beatles, and subsequently produced and arranged nearly all the Beatles records - even playing on many of the most memorable Lennon/McCartney songs.

A classically trained arranger and composer, Martin has conducted many of the great orchestras throughout the world. Among numerous film, television, and stage projects, he has composed, arranged and/or produced the scores for the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Tommy, the Beatles animated feature, Yellow Submarine, and two Academy Award nominated films: the Beatles' A Hard Days Night, and the James Bond film Live and Let Die.

In 1997, after having overseen and provided the artistic direction to the much acclaimed Beatles Anthology series, and his own final album In My Life, Martin produced his final recording. After nearly four decades, the last song he produced became the biggest selling recording of all time with global sales exceeding 40 million units. The song was Elton John's Candle in the Wind Princess Diana Tribute.

In addition to numerous highly acclaimed television documentary projects including: The Making of Sergeant Pepper and The Rhythm of Life, both appearing on the BBC and PBS, Martin continues to appear throughout the US and Europe in the critically acclaimed, multi-media presentation of The Making of Sergeant Pepper to sell-out crowds in which he takes audiences on a magical mystery tour, looking behind the scenes at the technical and creative process which resulted in the record he produced and arranged for the Beatles.

His numerous books include; With A Little Help From My Friends, All You Need is Ears, Making Music, and Playback. In addition to his own books, he has written numerous articles, chapters, prefaces and introductions in support of other writers, most recently Jay Warner's On This Day in Music History.

In November 2000, "1," a collection of 27 #1 Beatles songs produced by Martin was released. In less than four months it became the biggest selling recording ever with more than 30 million units sold worldwide. The recording also set a world record by reaching #1 on the music charts in 27 countries, simultaneously.

In 2003, Martin organized, executive produced and served as Music Director in celebration of Queen Elizabeth's Golden Jubilee. Again, delivering the largest aggregate of superstar icons ever assembled on one stage, including: Elton John, Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Brian Wilson, Rod Stewart, Ricky Martin, Tony Bennett, Annie Lennox, The Corrs, Ozzy Osbourne, Tom Jones, Steve Winwood, and Queen, to name but a few. The Concert was the largest worldwide simulcast of any music event in history, and spawned best selling DVD's and million selling CD sets.

Currently, Martin has a number of projects in development including a new Beatles project with the Cirque de Soleil, and a major television documentary, CD box set, and DVD collection on the story of recorded music, On Record, The Soundtrack of Our Lives with Kevin Spacey. Given a creative collaboration spanning more than 35 years, perhaps no one can speak with more authority about Martin than Paul McCartney. When asked in a 1998 interview to comment on Martin and Martin's influence on him, he said, "George is the man of the year, the man of the hour, the man of the minute, the man for me."

Like the most famous of his artists, the Beatles, he has enjoyed the exceptionally rare accolade of receiving both critical and commercial success. His productions have registered a staggering 30 Number One singles and 16 Number One albums in his homeland-and an equally astonishing 22 Number One singles and 19 Number One albums in North America. These figures are duplicated in practically every country in the world. No other producer in history has a track record even remotely as successfully. In 2000, "1", a collection of 27 Number One Beatles songs produced by Martin sold over 30 million copies. Martin has also won his fair share of awards, including more than six Grammy Awards, The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and the prestigious Novello Award.

In his multi-media presentation, "The Making of Sergeant Pepper", Martin uses the metaphor of music to illustrate the power of teamwork and integration. Through his own words, as well as brief video dialogues with Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, from inside Abbey Road Studios (taped especially for his presentation), Martin takes the audience on an historic journey into the heart of a creative process.

With unusual detail and specific technical illustrations, humor and music, the presentation focuses on the dynamic of teamwork and creativity to achieve excellence, originality and innovation. He describes the blending of unique and individual talents to create a greater and powerful influential whole. Peppered with personal remarks and anecdotes about the Beatles, the audience comes to see how four unique individuals with their own specific talents, personal agendas and goals, combined to set a new standard in their industry-and then continued to raise their own bar which re-invented not only the entire music industry, but forever changed popular culture as well.