Line #25 Music/JohnMartyn


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3	Born Iain David [=McGeachy=], John Martyn (September 11, 1948 - January 29, 2009) was an influential British singer-songwriter with an impressive [[LongRunner 40-year career]] weaving an incredible range of genres in his work. He originally started off in the London Folk scene with other musicians including Roy Harper, Gordon Giltrap, Burt Jansch, a young Music/MikeOldfield, and Martyn's close friend Music/NickDrake. Despite five years worth of prior albums, it wasn't until 1973 that Martyn made a name for himself with ''Solid Air,'' an album that combined the best of his folk years with healthy doses of jazz-leanings. Ever since, he became more famous, especially in his native Britain, through working with big names in music, including Music/EricClapton [[note]]Who covered Martyn's "May You Never" on ''Slowhand.''[[/note]], Music/PhilCollins, Music/SteveWinwood, Music/DavidGilmour and Lee "Scratch" Perry.
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5	Despite his acclaim in British folk circles, Martyn has been just as infamied for his tumultuous home life, which led to an acrimonious separation between him and fellow singer/songwriter Beverley Martyn in 1979.
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7	Notably, he wrote the title track of his 1973 breakout album, ''Solid Air'', in {{dedication}} to Music/NickDrake, who was in the grips of suicidal depression at the time (he committed suicide the following year).
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9	!!Studio Discography
10	* ''London Conversation'' (1967)
11	* ''The Tumbler'' (1968)
12	* ''Stormbringer!'' (1970; with Beverley Martyn)
13	* ''The Road to Ruin'' (1970; with Beverley Martyn)
14	* ''Bless the Weather'' (1971)
15	* ''Solid Air'' (1973)
16	* ''Inside Out'' (1973)
17	* ''Sunday's Child'' (1975)
18	* ''One World'' (1977)
19	* ''Grace and Danger'' (1980)
20	* ''Glorious Fool'' (1981)
21	* ''Well Kept Secret'' (1982)
22	* ''Sapphire'' (1984)
23	* ''Piece by Piece'' (1986)
24	* ''The Apprentice'' (1990)
25	* ''Cooltide'' (1991)
26	* ''And'' (1996)
27	* ''[[CoverAlbum The Church with One Bell]]'' (1998)
28	* ''Glasgow Walker'' (2000)
29	* ''On the Cobbles'' (2004)
30	* ''[[PosthumousCollaboration Heaven and Earth]]'' (2011)
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32	----
33	!!Tropes related to John Martyn:
34	* TheAlcoholic[=/=]DrugsAreBad: Much of his more controversial side can be owed to drugs and drink.
35	* BigFun: Was a [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]] of this in the years before his death. Getting huskier by the late '80's, he had to have a leg amputated below the knee in 2003, owing to a burst cyst. Despite the challenges, he retained a [[SadClown joking demeanor]] like he had when he was younger.
36	* DomesticAbuse[=/=]FreudianExcuse: Sadly, as revealed in a [[https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/apr/17/beverley-martyn-singer-new-album-interview 2014 interview with The Guardian,]] fellow singer/songwriter and ex-wife Beverley Martyn admits to a "Luciferian" side of John in their relationship. John was revealed to have a distrust of women stemming from [[ParentalAbandonment his mother leaving him.]] Tensions led to him making death threats before their 1979 separation.
37	--> '''Beverley Martyn''': John was my soulmate, but I was terrified of him.
38	* GenreBusting: {{Downplayed\|Trope}}. He mainly found his footing in folk, but managed get his feet wet in blues, jazz, Jamaican dub, reggae, synth-rock, and Music/PhilCollins-esque adult contemporary, before backtracking to folk. Notably, the time around his big break with ''Bless the Weather'' and ''Solid Air'' had seen to more of a jazz-mix, eventually mutating to an electronic style with an acoustic guitar plugged into fuzz boxes and reverb boxes: an innovative development for the mid-late '70s.
39	* SadClown: In public appearances, he seemed to be a homey and friendly, if a bit drunk, guy. His [[DomesticAbuse home life]] [[ViolentGlaswegian on the other hand...]]
40	* StageName: Born Iain [=McGeachy=].
41	* ViolentGlaswegian: See DomesticAbuse[=/=]FreudianExcuse above. Alongside that, some stories have popped up about his wilder side, such as [[Music/FreeBand Paul Kossoff]] breaking a bottle over his head while touring in the U.S.

Context Music / JohnMartyn