John Martyn

Biography

Iain David McGeachy (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".
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×Solid Air1973 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracksA1Solid Air5:47A2Over the Hill2:52A3Don't Want to Know3:01A4I'd Rather Be the Devil6:19B1Go Down Easy3:36B2Dreams by the Sea3:18B3May You Never3:43B4The Man in the Station2:55B5The Easy Blues3:22 (1973) and One World×One World4 November 1977 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 8 tracksA1Dealer4:55A2One World4:03A3Smiling Stranger3:26A4Big Muff6:25B1Couldn't Love You More3:00B2Certain Surprise3:48B3Dancing3:41B4Small Hours8:40 (1977), as well as experimenting with guitar effects and tape delay machines like the Echoplex. 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 Lee "Scratch" Perry. He remained active until his death in 2009.

Early life and education

Martyn was born Iain David McGeachy at Beechcroft Avenue, New Malden, Surrey on 11 September 1948, to Belgian-Jewish mother Beatrice "Betty" Ethel (née Jewitt) and Greenock-born Scottish father Thomas Paterson "Tommy" McGeachy. 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. 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.

1960s and 1970s

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×London ConversationOctober 1967 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracksA1Fairy Tale Lullaby2:51A2Sandy Grey2:25A3London Conversation2:42A4Ballad of an Elder Woman2:43A5Cocaine2:59A6Run Honey Run2:37B1Back to Stay3:28B2Rolling Home5:44B3Who's Grown Up Now4:01B4Golden Girl2:34B5This Time3:07B6Don't Think Twice It's Alright4:12, the same year. Released in 1968, his second album, The Tumbler×The TumblerDecember 1968 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracksA1Sing a Song of Summer2:23A2The River3:00A3Goin' Down to Memphis3:12A4The Gardeners3:15A5A Day at the Sea2:36A6Fishin' Blues2:38B1Dusty3:07B2Hello Train2:36B3Winding Boy2:23B4Fly on Home2:34B5Knuckledy Crunch and Slippledee-Slee Song2:55B6Seven Black Roses4:01, 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 Martyn, who had previously recorded solo as Beverley Kutner. Their second duo album, The Road to Ruin×The Road to RuinNovember 1970 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracksA1Primrose Hill2:57A2Parcels3:29A3Auntie Aviator6:04A4New Day3:59B1Give Us a Ring3:54B2Sorry to Be So Long4:44B3Tree Green3:11B4Say What You Can3:06B5Road to Ruin6:21, 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×Solid Air1973 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracksA1Solid Air5:47A2Over the Hill2:52A3Don't Want to Know3:01A4I'd Rather Be the Devil6:19B1Go Down Easy3:36B2Dreams by the Sea3:18B3May You Never3:43B4The Man in the Station2:55B5The Easy Blues3:22, 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×Live at Leeds1992 · Album · LiveSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 6 tracks1Outside In18:572Solid Air7:133Make No Mistake5:054Bless the Weather4:455The Man in the Station2:356I'd Rather Be the Devil8:40 — 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". 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.

1980s

Martyn's marriage broke down at the end of the 1970s and "John hit the self destruct button" (although other biographers, including The Times obituary writer, attribute the break-up of his marriage to his already being addicted to alcohol and drugs). In her autobiography, Beverley described protracted domestic violence. Out of this period, described by Martyn as "a very dark period in my life", came the album Grace and Danger×Grace and DangerOctober 1980 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracks1Some People Are Crazy4:202Grace and Danger4:033Lookin’ On5:124Johnny Too Bad3:575Sweet Little Mystery5:286Hurt in Your Heart4:597Baby Please Come Home3:568Save Some (for Me)3:349Our Love3:57. Released in October 1980, the album had been held up for well over 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 reissue in 2007, containing the original album remastered and including b-sides, outtakes and other rarities related to the album sessions.
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×Glorious FoolSeptember 1981 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracksA1Couldn't Love You More3:59A2Amsterdam5:28A3Hold on My Heart4:39A4Perfect Hustler4:42A5Hearts and Keys7:33B1Glorious Fool4:58B2Never Say Never4:57B3Pascanel (Get Back Home)3:49B4Didn't Do That4:21B5Please Fall in Love With Me6:08B6Don't You Go4:44, 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×PhilentropyNovember 1983 · Album · LiveSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 8 tracks1Make No Mistake3:332Don't Want to Know4:133Root Love4:574Looking On6:005Hung Up4:316Johnny Too Bad7:507Sunday's Child6:028Smiling Stranger4:26, 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.

1990s and 2000s

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 titled 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. In 2001, Martyn appeared on the track "Deliver Me×Deliver Me12 March 2001 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 4 tracks1Deliver Me (radio mix)3:302Deliver Me (Hiver & Hammer remix)7:583Deliver Me (Geert Huinink mix)9:034Deliver Me7:49" by Faithless keyboard player and DJ Sister Bliss.
In July 2006, the documentary Johnny Too Bad was screened by the BBC. 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.
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. The film concept being a strong influence of the album design of Martyn's Heaven and Earth×Heaven and Earth3 May 2011 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracks1Heel of the Hunt5:392Stand Amazed6:503Heaven and Earth7:044Bad Company4:355Could've Told You Before I Met You5:086Gambler5:187Can't Turn Back the Years4:178Colour5:319Willing to Work8:04 (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."
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. 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".

Death

Martyn died on 29 January 2009, at a hospital in Thomastown, County Kilkenny, Ireland, from acute respiratory distress syndrome. Martyn's health was affected by his life-long use of drugs and alcohol. He was survived by his partner of 10 years, Theresa Walsh, his children with Beverley Martyn, Mhairi and Spenser, and stepson, Beverley’s son Wesley.

Tributes

Following Martyn's death, Rolling Stone lauded his "progressive folk invention and improvising sorcery". 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."
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.
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. 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".
On 19 April 2025 his song "May You Never×May You Never1 January 2009 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 15 tracks1May You Never3:432Solid Air5:443Bless the Weather4:294Sweet Little Mystery5:275Head and Heart4:546Don't Want to Know3:037John the Baptist3:138Over the Hill2:559Spencer the Rover4:1110Fairy Tale Lullaby2:5011Couldn't Love You More3:0712Over the Rainbow3:2413Sunshine's Better (Talvin Singh remix)5:5014Small Hours8:4415Singin' in the Rain1:30" was featured in an episode of the BBC Radio 4 series Soul Music.

Live albums

Live at Leeds (Island ILPS 9343, September 1975)
Philentropy (Body Swerve JMLP 001, November 1983)
Foundations (Island ILPS 9884, October 1987)
BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert (30 March 1992)
Live (July 1995)
The New York Session (November 2000)
Germany 1986 (July 2001) (with Danny Thompson)
The Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal 1986 (August 2001) (with Danny Thompson)
Live at the Town & Country Club, 1986; Collectors Series 2 (August 2001)
Sweet Certain Surprise (live in New York, 1977) (October 2001)
Live at the Bottom Line, New York, 1983; Collectors Series 3 (November 2001)
Live in Milan, 1979; Collectors Series 4 (May 2002)
And Live (June 2003) (recorded in 1996)
Live in Concert at the Cambridge Folk Festival BBC 1985 (December 2003)
Classics Live (November 2004)
Live in Nottingham 1976 (May 2005)
On Air (Bremen Town Hall, Germany, September 1975) (May 2006)
In Session (August 2006) (BBC sessions, recorded for John Peel and Bob Harris, between 1973 and 1978)
Live at The Roundhouse (May 2007)
BBC Live in Concert (June 2007)
The Battle of Medway: 17 July 1973 (November 2007)
The Simmer Dim (Garrison Theatre, Lerwick, August 1980) (June 2008)
The July Wakes (July Wakes Festival, Chorley, Lancs, July 1976) (October 2008)
Live at the Hanging Lamp (Richmond, London, May 1972) (2013) (vinyl-only release)

Compilation albums

So Far So Good (March 1977)
The Electric John Martyn (October 1982)
Sweet Little Mysteries: The Island Anthology (June 1994)
The Hidden Years (December 1996)
The Very Best Of (April 1997)
Serendipity — An Introduction to John Martyn (1998)
Another World; Collectors Series Vol 1 (1998)
Classics (March 2000)
The Best of Live '91 (July 2000)
Solid Air (Classics Re-visited) (September 2002) (2 disc set)
Late Night John (May 2004)
Mad Dog Days (June 2004)
Anthology (September 2004)
The John Martyn Story (May 2006)
One World Sampler (November 2006)
Sixty Minutes With (April 2007)
Ain't No Saint (September 2008) (4 disc set)
May You Never — The Very Best Of (March 2009)
Remembering John Martyn (June 2012)
Sweet Little Mystery: The Essential (September 2013)
The Island Years (September 2013) (18 disc box set)
The Best of the Island Years (November 2014)
May You Never: The Essential John Martyn (November 2016) (3 disc set)
Head and Heart: The Acoustic John Martyn (June 2017)

Tribute albums

Johnny Boy Would Love This (August 2011)

Singles

"John the Baptist" / "The Ocean" (Island WIP 6076, January 1970)
"Anni Part 1" / "Anni Part 2" (with John Stevens' Away) (Vertigo 6059 140, 1976)
"Over the Hill" / "Head and Heart" (Island WIP 6385, February 1977)
"Dancing" / "Dealer" (version) (Island WIP 6414, January 1978)
"In Search of Anna" / "Certain Surprise" (Island K7450, 1979)
"Johnny Too Bad×Johnny Too Bad1 October 1980 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracks1Johnny Too Bad2Johnny Too Bad (version)" / "Johnny Too Bad" (version) Island WIP 6547, October 1980)
"Johnny Too Bad" (extended dub version) / "Big Muff" (extended remix) (Island IPR 2047, March 1981)
"Sweet Little Mystery" / "Johnny Too Bad" (Island WIP 6718, June 1981)
"Please Fall in Love with Me" / "Don't You Go" (WEA K 79243, August 1981)
"Hiss on the Tape" / "Livin' Alone" (WEA K 79336, October 1982)
"Gun Money" (U.S. remix) / "Hiss on the Tape" (live) (WEA 259987-7, November 1982)
"Over the Rainbow" / "Rope Soul'd" (Island IS 209, October 1984)
"Angeline" / "Tight Connection to My Heart" (Island IS 265, February 1986)
"Classic John Martyn×Classic John MartynFebruary 1986 · EP · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 5 tracks1Angeline4:492Tight Connection to My Heart (Has Anybody Seen My Love)3:513May You Never3:424Solid Air5:465Glistening Glyndebourne6:31" (Island CID 265, February 1986)
"Angeline" / "Tight Connection to My Heart" / "May You Never×May You Never1 January 2009 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 15 tracks1May You Never3:432Solid Air5:443Bless the Weather4:294Sweet Little Mystery5:275Head and Heart4:546Don't Want to Know3:037John the Baptist3:138Over the Hill2:559Spencer the Rover4:1110Fairy Tale Lullaby2:5011Couldn't Love You More3:0712Over the Rainbow3:2413Sunshine's Better (Talvin Singh remix)5:5014Small Hours8:4415Singin' in the Rain1:30" / "Certain Surprise" / "One Day Without You" (Island 12 IS 265, February 1986)
"Lonely Love" / "Sweet Little Mystery" (live) (Island IS 272, October 1986)
"Send Me One Line" / "Patterns in the Rain" (Hypertension HYS 100 102, May 1990)
"Deny This Love" (remix) / "The Apprentice×The ApprenticeMarch 1990 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Live on Love4:312The River4:033Look at the Girl4:354Income Town4:265Send Me One Line5:386Deny This Love4:167Hold Me4:518Upo3:509The Apprentice4:2910The Moment3:4411Patterns in the Rain3:44" (live) (Permanent S12, August 1990, 7-inch vinyl)
"Deny This Love" (remix) / "The Apprentice" (live) / "Deny This Love" (album version) (Permanent CD Perm 1, August 1990)
"Jack the Lad" / "Annie Sez" / "The Cure" / "Jack Sez" (Permanent CD Perm 3, April 1992)
"Sweet Little Mystery" / "Head and Heart" (Permanent, Perm 6, September 1982)
"Lonely Love" / "May You Never" (Permanent, Perm 8, December 1992)
"Somewhere Over the Rainbow" (Voiceprint, JMCD001, 1998)
"Excuse Me Mister" / "God Song" (live) / "Rock, Salt & Nails" (live) / "John Wayne" (live) (Independiente, ISOM14MS CD, May 1998)
"Deliver Me×Deliver Me12 March 2001 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 4 tracks1Deliver Me (radio mix)3:302Deliver Me (Hiver & Hammer remix)7:583Deliver Me (Geert Huinink mix)9:034Deliver Me7:49" (with Sister Bliss) (Multiply Records, CDMULTY72, March 2001)

DVD/video

John Martyn in Vision 1973–81 (1982)
Live from London (Camden Palace, 1984)
Foundations: Live at The Town and Country Club (recorded 1986, released 1988)
The Apprentice Tour (August 1990)
Purely Music (January 1992) (released on LaserDisc)
Tell Them I'm Somebody Else (2000)
Live in Concert (John Martyn & Band at Camden Palace Theatre, London, 23 November 1984) (2001) (DVD release of 1986 Live from London; re-issued Live at the Camden Palace Theatre London 1984 (2004) & Live from the Camden Palace (2012))
Live in Dublin (with Danny Thompson at Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, for RTE TV, Ireland, June 1986) (February 2005)
John Martyn at the BBC (various 1973–1982) (August 2006)
The Apprentice in Concert (John Martyn & Band with Dave Gilmour at Shaw Theatre, London, 31 March 1990) (2006) (DVD release of 1990 The Apprentice Tour)
Empty Ceiling (John Martyn & Band recorded for Ohne Filter, German TV, April 1986) (November 2006)
Solid Air Live at The Roundhouse (John Martyn & Band in London, 3 February 2007) (May 2007)
The Man Upstairs (John Martyn (solo) recorded for Rockpalast, German TV, 17 March 1978) (April 2008)
One World One John (John Martyn & Band recorded mostly at Vicar Street, Dublin in 1999, 2000 & 2003) (February 2012)