| John Martyn OBE | |
| Birth Name: | Iain David McGeachy |
| Birth Date: | 11 September 1948[1] |
| Birth Place: | New Malden, Surrey, England |
| Death Place: | Thomastown, Ireland |
| Genre: | Folk blues, progressive folk, folk-rock, folk jazz |
| Occupation: | Musician, songwriter |
| Instrument: | Guitar, vocals |
| Years Active: | 1967–2009 |
| Label: | Island, WEA |
| Associated Acts: | Beverley Martyn |
Iain David McGeachy (11 September 1948 – 29 January 2009), known professionally as John Martyn, was a British guitarist and singer-songwriter. 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]
Martyn began his career at age 17 as a key member of the Scottish 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] Domestic and substance abuse problems marked his personal life throughout the 1970s and 1980s, though he continued to release albums while collaborating with figures such as Phil Collins and Maeve Aubele, Carolyn Woolham and Lee "Scratch" Perry. He remained active until his death in 2009.
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. He attended Shawlands Academy in Glasgow. 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]
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. 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.
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.
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.
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. In 1978, he played guitar on the album Harmony of the Spheres by Neil Ardley.
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). 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."
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." 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. In 1983 Martyn released a live album, Philentropy, and married Annie Furlong but the couple, who had lived in Scotland, later separated. Returning to Island records, he recorded Sapphire (1984), Piece by Piece (1986) and the live Foundations (1987) before leaving the label in 1988.
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 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 2000's 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.[18] In 2001, Martyn appeared on the track "Deliver Me" by Faithless keyboard player and DJ Sister Bliss.[19]
In July 2006, the documentary Johnny Too Bad was screened by the BBC.[20] 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) 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.[21]
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.[22] 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."[23]
To mark Martyn's 60th birthday, Island released a 4 CD 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. His partner Theresa Walsh collected the award at Buckingham Palace.[24] 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".[25] [26]
Martyn died on 29 January 2009, at a hospital in Thomastown, County Kilkenny, Ireland,[27] 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.[28]
Following Martyn's death, Rolling Stone lauded his "progressive folk invention and improvising sorcery".[29] 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."[30]
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.[31] [32]
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.[33] 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".[34]
| Year | Album | Peak chart positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [35] [36] | ||||
| 1967 | London Conversation
| - | ||
| 1968 | The Tumbler
| - | ||
| 1970 | Stormbringer! (with Beverley Martyn)
| - | ||
| 1970 | The Road to Ruin (with Beverley Martyn)
| - | ||
| 1971 | Bless the Weather
| - | ||
| 1973 | Solid Air
| - | ||
| 1973 | Inside Out
| - | ||
| 1975 | Sunday's Child
| - | ||
| 1977 | One World
| 54 | ||
| 1980 | Grace and Danger
| 54 | ||
| 1981 | Glorious Fool
| 25 | ||
| 1982 | Well Kept Secret
| 20 | ||
| 1984 | Sapphire
| 57 | ||
| 1986 | Piece by Piece
| 28 | ||
| 1990 | The Apprentice
| - | ||
| 1991 | Cooltide
| - | ||
| 1992 | Couldn't Love You More
| 65 | ||
| 1993 | No Little Boy
| - | ||
| 1996 | And
| 32 | ||
| 1998 | The Church with One Bell
| 51 | ||
| 2000 | Glasgow Walker
| 66 | ||
| 2004 | On the Cobbles
| 95 | ||
| 2011 | Heaven and Earth
| 51 | ||
| "-" denotes a release that did not chart. Note: the 2009 reissue of Solid Air reached 88 in the UK chart. | ||||