On an impulse, I decided to research Beatles producer George Martin at NYPL. It certainly beats suffering through a New Jersey Transit delay. I found this marvelous book that answered all my questions:
Martin, G. (2002).
Playback: An illustrated memoir. Guildford: Genesis.
Since this was a rare book with only 2000 copies signed by the author it was held in the Special Collections of the Research Library
He was born in 1926 and self-learned music. He actually wrote his first musical piece at age 8. He later attended the Guilford School of Music. He entered Abby Road studios in 1950 when he produced classical music for EMI. In addition, he produced the recordings of the London Baroque Ensemble and later made children's records for the HMV label.
He first met Brian Epstein in February 1962 when he signed the Beatles to EMI/Parlophone after several record labels rejected them. In June of that year, he rejected Pete Best as the drummer and hired Ringo Starr. When he recorded Please, Please, Me in 1963 he realized that this group was going to be something special.
Other groups, he recorded included:
- Cilla Black
- Billy J. Kramer
- Cilla Black
- Shirley Bassey
- Gerry and the Pacemakers
- The Fourmost
- Neil Sedaka (later in his career)
He admitted that his biggest mistake was to record Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever as a double-A side. With 20/20 hindsight George felt that those two songs should have been included on the Sgt. Pepper album.
I could have spent hours reading this book and taking notes, but I had to skim through much of the book. There were fantastic photos of the Fab Four that I had never seen.
I also listened to an album called Off the Beatle Track, a collection of instrumental versions by the George Martin Orchestra.
