5 Fascinating Facts About George Martin, the "Fifth Beatle"
Referred to as “the fifth Beatle,” producer George Martin famously steered the Fab Four’s recording career from their Beatlemania days through their psychedelic phase. Martin revolutionized pop music in the process. Much has been written about his ties to The Beatles. Let’s take a look at five fascinating facts about George Martin that don’t have to do with The Beatles.
1. Martin Took Oboe Lessons From the Mother of Peter and Jane Asher
As a child, Martin learned to play the piano, dreaming of being the next Sergei Rachmaninoff. When German warplanes blitzed England, Martin was inspired to enlist in the Naval Fleet Air Arm. He was an aerial observer whose primary duty was reconnaissance. Upon his demobbing, he Studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama Conservatory in London. He studied piano and oboe.
His Oboe instructor was Margaret Eliot, mother of Peter and Jane Asher. In 1950, Martin was hired by EMI Records at 3 Abbey Road, St. John’s Wood. Parlophone was the smallest arm of EMI with artists such as Roberto Inglez, Mandy Miller, Bob Harvey, Sidney Torch and His Orchestra, The Five Smith Brothers, Jimmy Shand, Humphrey Lyttleton, Karl Haas, and Ray Cathode—hardly household names. Martin learned as he worked on sessions recording novelty records, South American Music, Music Hall Performers, Orchestras, and comedy skits. He was put in charge of classical and baroque music, as he served as the assistant to the head of the label, Oscar Preuss.
Source: Jay McDowell/americansongwriter.com
