Robert Martin (singer)

Robert Martin (born June 1948), also known as Bobby Martin, is an American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is mainly known for collaborating in the 1980s with the musician Frank Zappa, although he is also a prestigious session musician, composer of music for cinema, theater, television and advertising, musical director and music teacher. He also directs music production company Think Method Production with Stephen Boyd.^[1] He recognizes as musical influences Ray Charles, Stravinsky, Coltrane, Rachmaninoff, Mose Allison, Cannonball Adderley, David "Fathead" Newman, Steely Dan, Frank Zappa and Etta James.

Biography

Childhood

Martin was born in Philadelphia in June 1948, the son of opera singers. His grandmother worked at RCA in Trenton, New Jersey, thereby accessing a number of records. Growing up in the 1950s in this city, and with a deeply musical atmosphere at home, he was exposed to a great variety of music.^[1] "The first piece of music I remember hearing, identifying and asking for was The Firebird by Stravinsky. I used to ask my mom to play that piece – I loved it." Apart from the exposure to classical music he gained through his parents and through performances of the Philadelphia Orchestra, he also listened to other kinds of music. His father was a member of a Big Band, he saw Dick Clark's American Bandstand show, and he listened to the excellent jazz that was played in the city's clubs.^[2] The presence of avant-garde rock and Philadelphia soul in his discography exemplify the breadth of his musical life.^[3]

He began his interest in music very early. At home his parents had a piano Lester Spinet and as soon as he had enough height to reach the keys, learned to play by ear. "I recognized chord progressions and melodies, and I could reproduce them after I had listened to them." He started taking piano lessons at age 8, although he already knew how to play and compose blues. After learning to read music he left the lessons, because "I preferred what I was able to learn on my own." He is completely self-taught with his voice and with almost all the instruments, especially the wind of metal and wood, except the french horn, which he perfected at the Curtis Institute of Music.^[4] While he was an outstanding student at high school, a member of the National Honor Society, and an accomplished sportsman (a wrestling champion and excellent baseball player who considered playing professionally), he preferred to pursue music.

Martin learned to play french horn at school casually. When he was in third grade he did a test at school to choose pupils for the band. he was given a french horn and passed the test. However he was not happy because he was passionate about the blues and wanted to play the saxophone after listening to Ray Charles saxophonist David "Fathead" Newman. Finally at age 13 he persuaded the head of the band to let him play the saxophone. After a few weeks he had learned the instrument well enough to become the main tenor of the band.^[2]

He subsequently entered the Curtis Institute of Music where he undertook intensive classical studies intensive.^[3] In Curtis, he had Mason Jones, the principal french horn orchestra interpreter of the [[Philadelphia Orchestra], as teacher, and he performed the classical repertoire under the baton of Eugene Ormandy, Claudio Abbado, Lorin Maazel and Seiji Ozawa.^[2][5]

Career

Martin began his professional career in his own city, before heading to the west coast. He collaborates as a session musician in recording studios at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia. Between 1969 and 1974, Martin interpreted the french horn in a variety of successes of that time. At this stage he played on many records that helped to establish the Philadelphia soul sound, such as "Me and Mrs. Jones", "Back Stabbers", "Love Train", and "If You Don't Know Me by Now". He can be heard on records produced by the successful team of producers and songwriters Gamble and Huff of Philadelphia International Records. There he also collaborated with his namesake Bobby Martin, arranger, producer and composer of the label.^[3]

Regarding his role as singer, Etta James was his great mentor, who encouraged him to sing with her in all live performances over a period of fifteen years.^[5]

In the 1970s he was part of the group from Woodstock, Orleans.

In 1981 Dave Robb, Martin's partner in the Orleans group in the 1970s, told him that Frank Zappa needed a musician for the 1981 tour. He was scheduled to audition for the next day. In it, Zappa put him to the test with the keyboards, tenor saxophone and horn. He asked him to transpose parts of keyboard to horn or saxophone, as well as follow polyrhythms and metric modulations. But what really decided to incorporate him into the band was his vocal ability, especially being able to sing the melody one octave higher than expected, in a natural voice. Since then he has performed on all Frank's tours and albums until the last Zappa's tour in 1988.

Between tours with Zappa, he obtained the position of musical director of Cybill Shepherd and Bette Midler, and worked with Paul McCartney, Michael McDonald, Stevie Nicks, Boz Scaggs, Etta James (on tour with The Rolling Stones), Patti LaBelle, Bonnie Raitt , Kenny Loggins, and many others.

Since 1986, Martin has owned and operated his own studio and has diversified into programming, engineering, mixing, mastering and producing music for advertising, film and television.

In 1986 he toured with Michael McDonald.

Martin is a member of the band Banned From Utopia, a band of former Frank Zappa musicians dedicated to the interpretation of his music. It consists of:

• Robert (Bobby) Martin -Frank Zappa 1981–88 – vocals, keyboards, sax, french horn
• Ray White – Frank Zappa 1978–84 – vocals, guitar.
• Tom Fowler – Frank Zappa 1973–75, 1978 – bass.
• Albert Wing – Frank Zappa 1988 – tenor saxophone and soprano.
• Robbie Mangano – guitar, vocals.
• Joel Taylor – drums.

In 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, Martin was a special guest at the Zappanale Festival in Bad Doberan, Germany. In 2010, he performed with Collectif LeBocal and The Central Scrutinizer Band.^[6]

He composed the music for the CBS television program Cybill, and was the show's musical director. While working on the show he became the partner of its star, Cybill Shepherd. He also composed for Baywatch, Martial Law and three seasons of the Lifetime Television program Intimate Portrait. Regarding this aspect of his musical life Martin has stated that it served to "pay the bills".

Discography

• Discography on AllMusic^[7]
• Discography on United Mutations^[8]

References

External links

• Official website