George Martin was born on Jan. 3, 1926, in Holloway, North London. The son of a carpenter, he grew up poor, without formal musical training. He taught himself to play piano by ear, and at 16 started his own school dance band, George Martin and the Four Tune Tellers. From 1943 until 1948, he served with the British Fleet Air Arm as an observer in planes, rising to the rank of lieutenant. Paul McCartney later credited Martin's legendary composure to his military service: "He pulled it all together -- you're ultimately responsible, you're the captain. I think that's where George got his excellent bedside manner," McCartney is quoted as saying in Philip Norman's "Shout!" "He'd dealt with navigators and pilots ... he could deal with us when we got out of line."(salon.com)
George Martin is best remembered as the producer of most of the Beatles' recordings from 1962 through 1969.
The association with the Beatles alone made him the most well-known and successful record producer in the history of popular music.
George Martin is often reffered to as The Fifth Beatle
Prior to his association with the Beatles, Martin produced classical, jazz, pop and humor recordings for the EMI label group. He worked with Peter Sellers, Spike Mulligan, Dudley Moore, Stan Getz, Judy Garland, Tommy Steele, Cleo Laine and others. As head of A&R for EMI's Parlophone label, Martin signed the Beatles, who had previously been turned down by Decca, Pye, Phillips and EMI itself.
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