| Autobiography |
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 I was born in Castleblaney,Co.Monaghan, Ireland the youngest of six children,(five boys, one girl) and influenced at a early age listening to my father and grandmother play the violin and piano respectively, I was also inspired by the records my brothers bought like Elvis, Hank Tompson, Hank Locklin to name but a few. I started taking guitar lessons at the age of 12 and it was blatantly obvious music would play a big part in my life.
My family moved to Preston England in 1959 where I attended Walburges junior school, then on to Edmund Campion school (1965) there I met Kevin Kelly (a friend to this day) we formed a duo called Sand & Gravel performing in pubs and clubs in northern England (boy was that an experience). The seventies proved to be special time I my life as I met and married my wife Pat. As the mid/late seventies arrived I had become lead singer/guitarist/fiddle player with the trio Silver Wings, specializing on the country music circuit.
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Martin and his
brothers.
Peter, Pat, Martin, John, Michael |
Pictured above is John, Martins dad on the violin. | |
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As the seventies gave way to the eighties, disillusioned by my lack of progress, Pat and I moved to Toronto Canada to be reunited with my brothers John and Micheal who had emigrated some years earlier. The Canadian music scene with its cultural mix of Irish, Scots and French influences confirmed my love for fiddle music, which remains part of my repertoire to date.
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In 1982 returning to England I became a founder member of West Coast (the late Phil Rothwell,Dermot Gethins & Brian Jessop). The first break came via a national talent contest "Search for a Star" in Blackpool winning the 1st place £1000 prize, this enabled
West Coast to make there first album. An appearance at Morecambe Country Music Festival attracted the attention of Jessie Kent a representative for the Mervyn Conn Organization, Jessie invited us to appear on the International Country Music Festival, Wembley Arena. Further appearances followed, eight in all. These Easter weekends performing along side some of the legends of country music included Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Tammy Wynette, George Jones, Conway Twitty, and Ronnie Milsap, provided experience money can't buy. We enjoyed a hard working yet exciting time playing gigs in Switzerland, Sweden, Ireland and across the UK.
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Martin in West Coast
Martin,Brian,Dermot & Phil | |
Martin with Kevin as Sand and Gravel in the late 70's |
So I headed into the nineties thinking my efforts had all been in vain when West Coast called it a day. I made a conscious decision to bring all I had learned in the past years to enhance a solo career. After all these years of working with the band and the comradeship and friends it provided, in many ways it felt like starting all over again, but hard as it seemed at the time this has proved to be yet another phase in life.
Out of the blue an opportunity to perform on the north pier Blackpool in the year 2000 presented its self, in the past three years this opened doors to other work across the UK.
Here I am at the present day and with the continued support of my family, friends and all the marvelous people I have met along the way, I thank you for everything, and look forward to the future and all it may hold.
Yours Martin.
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