George Martin Is Gone

Grammy-winning producer, arranger and musician George Martin, often called the “fifth Beatle,” died Thursday at the age of 90. The cause of death was not immediately announced. The news was first broken in a tweet by Ringo Starr, which read, “Peace and love… George will be missed.” Martin's death was confirmed by a spokesperson at Universal Music Group, but no further details were available. In 1962, Martin took a meeting with Beatles manager Brian Epstein, a chat that would change both their lives. He wasn’t overly impressed with the recording Epstein played for him, but he did like the sound of John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s voices enough to sign them. Martin produced all their albums through 1969’s Abbey Road. Not only did Martin produce the bulk of The Beatles’ studio albums, he arranged and embellished a number of their songs, including the string arrangements on “Yesterday” and “Eleanor Rigby,” and a variety of arrangements on “I Am the Walrus." He also arranged the score for the Fab Four film Yellow Submarine and the James Bond movie Live and Let Die-- for which McCartney performed the theme song. In addition to his work with The Beatles, Martin produced albums by McCartney as a solo artist, Jeff Beck, America, Cheap Trick, Celine Dion and many others. He retired from producing in 1998 with the release of In My Life, an album of other people covering songs by The Beatles. In 1969, Martin established the Associated Independent Recording Studios, and in 1996, in recognition of his services to the music industry and popular culture, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth. George Martin produced 30 number-one singles and 16 number-one albums in the U.K., and 23 number-one singles and 19 number-one albums in North America. His most recent work was re-mixing Beatles songs for Love, the Cirque du Soleil Las Vegas production featuring the music of Fab Four. George Martin is survived by his wife Judy and four children, including producer Giles Martin and actor Gregory Martin.