1. Iain David McGeachy, known professionally as John Martyn, was a British singer-songwriter and guitarist.
21 Facts About John Martyn
1. 2.
John Martyn was born in Beechcroft Avenue, New Malden, Surrey, to Belgian Jewish mother Beatrice "Betty" Ethel and Greenock-born Scottish father Thomas Paterson "Tommy" McGeachy.
3.
John Martyn adapted his accent depending on context or company, changing between broad or refined Glaswegian and southern English accents, and continued to do so throughout his life.
4.
John Martyn signed to Chris Blackwell's Island Records in 1967 and released his first album, London Conversation, the same year.
5.
In February 1973, John Martyn released the album Solid Air, the title song a tribute to the singer-songwriter Nick Drake, a close friend and label-mate who would die in 1974 from an overdose of antidepressants.
6.
On Bless the Weather and on Solid Air John Martyn collaborated with jazz bassist Danny Thompson, with whom he proceeded to have a musical partnership which continued until his death.
7.
John Martyn was a close friend of John and Beverley, and found the album too openly disturbing to release.
8.
Only after intense and sustained pressure from John Martyn did Blackwell agree to release the album.
9.
John Martyn left Island records in 1981, and recorded Glorious Fool and Well Kept Secret for WEA achieving his first Top 30 album.
10.
In 1983 John Martyn released a live album, Philentropy, and married Annie Furlong but the couple, who had lived in Scotland, later separated.
11.
John Martyn released The Apprentice in 1990 and Cooltide in 1991 for Permanent Records, and reunited with Phil Collins for No Little Boy, which featured rerecorded versions of some of his classic tracks.
12.
In 2001, John Martyn appeared on the track "Deliver Me" by Faithless keyboard player and DJ Sister Bliss.
13.
In collaboration with his keyboard player Spenser Cozens, John Martyn wrote and performed the score for Strangebrew, which won the Fortean Times Award at the London Short Film Festival in the same year.
14.
On 4 February 2008, John Martyn received the lifetime achievement award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.
15.
John Martyn was appointed OBE in the 2009 New Year Honours and died a few weeks later.
16.
John Martyn had recorded new material before he died and his final studio album, Heaven and Earth, was completed and released posthumously in May 2011.
17.
John Martyn died on 29 January 2009, at a hospital in Thomastown, County Kilkenny, Ireland, from acute respiratory distress syndrome.
18.
John Martyn had been living in Thomastown with his partner Theresa Walsh.
19.
John Martyn's health was affected by his life-long abuse of drugs and alcohol.
20.
John Martyn was survived by his partner and his children, Mhairi, Wesley and Spencer McGeachy.
21.
John Martyn was uncompromising, which made him infuriating to some people, but he was unique and we'll never see the likes of him again.