Martin Page

Martin George Page (born 23 September 1959) is a professional musician. He is a singer-songwriter and bass player.^[1]

Early life

Page was born in Southampton, Hampshire, England, to Alan Richard Page (an aviation engineer) and Ruth Pamela Page. During a good portion of his childhood, Martin moved with his family from military base to military base as a result of his father's career. During those times, he stated that he spent a lot of time listening to early Genesis, the Beatles, and Motown musicians.

Page was an apprentice at Southampton FC, a professional association football (soccer) team.^[2] While he enjoyed playing within the Saints' apprentice program, Page spent a great deal of his time listening to live music and learning how to play his chief instrument, the bass guitar, and that ultimately began to affect his abilities as an association football player. After a good deal of thought and consideration, Page's love of music propelled him to leave his association football and become a professional bass player.

Music career

Page toured with many British bands as a session musician before forming Q-Feel with his bandmate (and later friend, flatmate, and writing partner) Brian Fairweather. Q-Feel's success with their single "Dancing in Heaven (Orbital Be-Bop)" led to Page and Fairweather moving to Los Angeles, where they met Diane Poncher. Poncher worked for Bob Cavallo (who was part of Cavallo, Ruffalo and Fargnoli Management and was looking for new bands to manage), and she saw that Page and Fairweather had the potential to produce quality work, so she left his agency and became Page and Fairweather's manager.^[3]

Thanks to Poncher's connections and Page and Fairweather's talents, Page was able to work with some of his musical heroes, including Earth, Wind, and Fire, The Commodores, and Elton John's writing partner, Bernie Taupin. Page's partnership with Taupin yielded the hit singles "We Built This City" (Starship) and "These Dreams" (Heart). Page and Taupin worked together again on Taupin's Tribe album (which also featured Fairweather on guitar) and Page's In the House of Stone and Light album. Page was also the composer behind Go West's big hits "King of Wishful Thinking" and "Faithful". In addition to the aforementioned hits, Page has also written songs with Robbie Robertson, for Tom Jones, for Josh Groban, and many others. Page also played keyboards for Ray Parker, Jr., on the Ghostbusters theme song.^[4]

In 1994, Page received recognition as a singer and musician with his debut solo album In the House of Stone and Light. The title track, which he wrote after spending some time in reflection on a visit to the Grand Canyon, was a hit in the same year, reaching No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100. After the success of In the House of Stone and Light, Page took some time for touring and reflection. Both his parents and some dear friends died during the time between his first and second albums. He returned to the studio in 2008 to create his second album, In the Temple of the Muse, which was released via IroningBoard Records, an independent label that Page and Poncher started together to give Page greater control of his music.^[3] Among the songs on In the Temple of the Muse are Page's own recording of "Mi Morena" and "Blessed," which is a song that Page has described as a "commitment song." He has also stated that "Blessed" is not about any person specifically,^[5] although he has stated that when his mother was still alive and around his studio when he was writing the song, she would plead with him not to play it because it would make her cry.

He continued to collaborate with other artists, such as Robbie Williams on his In and Out of Consciousness: Greatest Hits 1990–2010. In October 2010, Page wrote, arranged, co-produced, sang background vocals, and played on “The Long Walk Home”.^[6]

Page's third album, A Temper of Peace, was originally expected to be released around Christmas 2011.^[7] Due to delays, the release was pushed back to 18 July 2012.^[8]

His fourth album, Hotel of the Two Worlds, was released on 29 June 2015 via IroningBoard Records.

On 14 December 2016 he announced in a promotional video that he is releasing a new album, entitled The Slender Sadness (The Love Songs) stated for a February 2017 release. He decided to release the album early, on 23 January 2017, in part for Valentine's Day. The album is a compilation and concept album, with eight new songs and records and eight past recordings. Its concept is a compilation of ballads and love songs.

Personal life

Page resides in Southern California. He has never married, and he shares his home with his three cats.

Charts

Albums

Singles

References

External links

• Martin Page's Official Website^[1]
• The Martin Page Page (fansite) at the Wayback Machine (archived 26 October 2009)

1. ↑ Martin Page's official website