George Martin

George Martin was a producer and arranger for the Beatles, and was responsible for signing the band (then minus Ringo) in 1962. He was often referred to as the “Fifth Beatle,” and from 1962 to 1970, he produced 13 albums and 22 singles for the group.

Martin was head of EMI’s Parlophone Records when he met Beatles manager Brian Epstein and scheduled a recording session at EMI’s Abbey Road studios. They replaced drummer Pete Best with Ringo Starr and released the band's first U.K. single, “Love Me Do.” The first U.S. single, “Please Please Me,” became a smash hit, partly thanks to Martin’s suggestion to speed up the tempo.

He also served as the Fab Four's arranger, suggesting the addition of strings to “Yesterday,” conducting the strings for “Eleanor Rigby,” playing piano himself and composing the harpsichord section on “In My Life,” adding orchestral elements to “A Day in the Life” and including the sounds of backward tapes to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

In 1965, he received an Academy Award nomination for best music, scoring of music, adaptation or treatment for The Beatles’ classic film A Hard Day’s Night. He also scored the 1968 animated film Yellow Submarine and scored, with Paul and Linda McCartney, the 1973 James Bond film Live and Let Die. Additionally, Martin was a six-time Grammy Award winner, including Album of the Year for Sgt. Pepper. 

He also contributed to the television films Magical Mystery Tour and Ringo (a comedy which featured the drummer playing himself, and switching places with a look-alike — also played by himself), as well as the television documentaries The Beatles Anthology and The Alchemists of Sound. Additionally, he produced and hosted The Rhythm of Life, a BBC documentary series that highlighted artists and discussed musical compositions.

In 2006, Martin remixed the music for Love, the Cirque du Soleil production that featured Beatles music. He also produced music for Cilla Black, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Mahavishnu Orchestra, America, Jeff Beck, Cheap Trick, Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Getz, Kenny Rogers, Neil Sedaka, Jimmy Webb, Dire Straits, Peter Gabriel, Sting, Meat Loaf, Carly Simon, Celine Dion and Kate Bush, among others.

Martin wrote three books, his memoir, All You Need is Ears (co-written with Jeremy Hornsby) that described his work with the Beatles and other artists, Summer of Love: The Making of Sgt Pepper (co-written with William Pearson) and Playback, his limited-edition illustrated autobiography.

Martin was knighted in 1996 and inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999.

He died March 8, 2016, in Coleshill, Oxfordshire, England. He was 90.