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Chris Martin

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For other people named the Coldplay musician, see [[:the Coldplay musician (disambiguation)]].
Chris Martin

Christopher Anthony John Martin (born 2 March 1977) is an English singer-songwriter and instrumentalist, best known for his work as lead vocalist of the band Coldplay.[1]

Early life

Martin was born the eldest of five children.[2] His father, Anthony, was an accountant, and his mother, Alison, was a music teacher.[3][4] Martin attended Sherborne School, a boys' independent school in Dorset and later studied at University College London, staying at Ramsay Hall where he read Ancient World Studies and graduated with First Class honours in Greek and Latin.[2][5][4] At university, he played for the 2nd XI Hockey Team with fellow bandmember Will Champion.[citation needed]

Solo work

As a solo artist, Martin has written songs for a variety of acts including Embrace ("Gravity") and Jamelia ("See It in a Boy's Eyes"). Chris Martin has also collaborated with Ron Sexsmith, Faultline, The Streets, and Ian McCulloch. He also sang a part of the vocals for the Band Aid 20 single, "Do They Know It's Christmas?" at the end of 2004. In 2005, Martin collaborated with Nelly Furtado on the track "All Good Things (Come to an End)", for her 2006 album, Loose. The two were once rumoured to be a couple, after they both performed at Glastonbury in 2002. Furtado joked about the situation, saying that "Yeah, he's my boyfriend — he just doesn't know it yet".[6]

Chris Martin's fascination with hip hop was shown in the summer of 2006 when he collaborated with rapper Jay-Z for the rapper's comeback album Kingdom Come after the two met earlier in the year. Martin put some chords together for a song known as "Beach Chair" and sent them to Jay-Z who enlisted the help of hip hop producer Dr. Dre to add the drum line to complete the track. The song was performed on 27 September 2006 by the two during Jay-Z's European tour at Royal Albert Hall. In 2007, Martin appeared on a track titled "Part of the Plan" for Swizz Beatz' debut solo album One Man Band Man. Martin has also worked on a solo collaboration with Kanye West, with whom he shared an impromptu jam session during a 2006 concert at Abbey Road Studios.[7] He performed the chorus on "Homecoming", the fifth single from West's Grammy Award-winning third album, Graduation.

Influences

Martin performs live with Coldplay in Hong Kong, 2006.

One of the bands that Martin credits with the heaviest influence on him as a musician is Norwegian pop-band A-ha. One song in particular has stayed in Martin's mind, as the following quote says: "As a 12 year old, "Hunting High and Low" was always in my head, and A-ha still continues to be an important band to me." In 2005 Martin said "I was in Amsterdam the other day and I put on the album Hunting High and Low. I remembered right there and then how much I loved that album. It's just unbelievable songwriting." He has also been known to copy the style of A-ha vocalist Morten Harket: "It was the way Morten Harket used to have different things on his wrists. I do it myself, still. He is the most disarming and beautiful man you'll ever meet."

U2 has been another important influence on Martin both musically and politically,[8] he wrote for Rolling Stone magazine's 100 Greatest Artists of All Time in the section on U2, saying: "I don't buy weekend tickets to Ireland and hang out in front of their gates, but U2 are the only band whose entire catalog I know by heart. The first song on The Unforgettable Fire, "A Sort of Homecoming", I know backward and forward -- it's so rousing, brilliant, and beautiful. It's one of the first songs I played to my unborn baby." Martin also comments on Bono's effect on his own charity and political involvement.[8]

Other endeavours

Martin and Coldplay guitarist Jon Buckland made cameo appearances in the film Shaun of the Dead as supporters of the fictional charity ZombAid.[9][10] Martin has a second cameo in this film as a Zombie.[9][10] In 2006 Martin had a cameo role in the second series episode four of the Ricky Gervais- and Stephen Merchant-created comedy Extras. Martin also played one gig with the "Sid James Experience"

Martin has been particularly outspoken on issues of fair trade and has done a great deal of campaigning for the charity Oxfam's Make Trade Fair campaign. He personally traveled to Ghana and Haiti to meet farmers and view the effects of unfair trade practices.[11] When performing, he usually has variations of "Make Trade Fair", "MTF" or an equal sign written on the back of his left hand and the letters "MTF" can be seen emblazoned on his piano.

He was a vocal critic of President George W. Bush and the war in Iraq. Martin was a strong supporter of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, most notably during his acceptance speech for the 2004 Grammy Awards Record of the Year, accepting for "Clocks". Martin also supported the Democratic Party candidate for President in 2008, giving a shout-out to Barack Obama at the end of a performance of "Yellow" on the October 25th episode of Saturday Night Live.

On 1 April 2006, The Guardian reported that Martin was backing the British Conservative Party leader David Cameron and had written a new theme song for the party entitled "Talk to David".[12][13] This was later revealed to be an April Fool's joke.[citation needed]

On 4 July 2006, Chris was an actor featured in Johnny Cash's music video for "God's Gonna Cut You Down".[citation needed]

Personal life

Martin married American actress Gwyneth Paltrow on 5 December 2003. Their daughter, Apple Blythe Alison Martin, was born on 14 May 2004 in London.[14] Their second child, Moses Bruce Anthony Martin, was born on 8 April 2006 in New York City. Simon Pegg is one of Apple's godfathers.[15][16] Pegg is a close friend of Martin, and also of Paltrow, following Martin's appearance in Shaun of the Dead,[9][10] starring Pegg. Their children's other godfather is bandmate Jonny Buckland.[16] Martin is also a vegetarian.[17] He has also said that he isn't sure about the existence of God, saying "I'm always trying to work out what 'He' or 'She' is," also saying "I don't know if it's Allah or Jesus or Mohammed or Zeus. But I'd go for Zeus."[18]

On Januaary 30, 2009 it was rumored that he has become H.I.V Positive due his livejournal account.

Solo discography

See Coldplay discography for his work with that group.
Year Song(s) Artist Album Role
2002 "Where Is My Boy", "Your Love Means Everything, Pt. 2" Faultline Your Love Means Everything Featured vocals
"Gold in Them Hills" Ron Sexsmith Cobblestone Runway Featured vocals
2003 "Sliding", "Arthur" Ian McCulloch Slideling Piano, backing vocals
"See It in a Boy's Eyes" Jamelia Thank You Co-writer, backing vocals
2004 "Everybody's Happy Nowadays" Ash Orpheus Backing vocals
"Gravity" Embrace Out of Nothing Writer
"Do They Know It's Christmas?" Band Aid 20 – Featured vocals
2006 "All Good Things (Come to an End)" Nelly Furtado Loose Co-writer
"Beach Chair" Jay-Z Kingdom Come Co-producer, featured vocals
2007 "Part of the Plan" Swizz Beatz One Man Band Man Featured vocals (sampled from "X&Y")
"Homecoming" Kanye West Graduation Co-writer, featured vocals, piano
2009 "Roll The Dice" Shawty Lo Carlos

Equipment

A Rush of Blood to the Head Tour

Chris Martin playing "Trouble" on his piano during a concert in Brazil, February 2007

Twisted Logic Tour

Viva La Vida Tour

Notes

  1. ^ "Chris Martin Biography". The Biography Channel. Retrieved 2008-11-04.
  2. ^ a b Sutton, Michael. "Chris Martin: Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-11-04.
  3. ^ Silverman, Stephen M. (2003-12-08). "Gwyneth, Chris Wedding Talk Heats Up". People. Retrieved 2008-11-04. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ a b Ellen, Barbara (2003-12-07). "The Observer Profile: Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin". The Observer. Retrieved 2008-11-04. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ No byline (2003-01-27), "She's With The Band". People. 59 (3):69
  6. ^ ChartAttack.com staff (2001). "Compilation Brings Nelly Furtado and Chris Martin Together Forever" ChartAttack.com. Retrieved 2006-04-25.
  7. ^ NME staff author (2006). "Chris Martin to release solo collaboration" NME magazine. Retrieved 2006-04-26.
  8. ^ a b "The Immortals: The First Fifty". Rolling Stone Issue 946. Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2006-12-21. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  9. ^ a b c "Shaun of the Dead (2004) - Trivia", IMDb, 2008, webpage: IMDb-5748: notes role as zombie, and singer in Ash music.
  10. ^ a b c "Shaun of the Dead movie trivia" (over 30 items), moviemistakes.com, 2008, webpage: MMis-4118: notes zombie role, Zomb-Aid, singing Ash music, clarifies zombie role walking @phone box by cafe.
  11. ^ "Coldplay". Oxfam. Retrieved 2008-11-04.
  12. ^ Olaf Priol (2006). "Their wives met at yoga. Now Chris Martin plans to rock the vote for Cameron's Tories" The Guardian. Retrieved 2006-04-25.
  13. ^ Guardian staff (2006). "Talk to David" The Guardian. Retrieved 2006-04-26.
  14. ^ Silverman, Stephen M. (2004-05-14). "It's a Girl for Gwyneth Paltrow & Hubby". People (magazine). Retrieved 2008-11-04. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  15. ^ "Martin+Paltrow Name Pegg As Godfather" (see below: References).
  16. ^ a b "Simon Pegg named Apple Martin's godfather", Celebrity Baby, 2007, webpage (has 10 ads): CB.
  17. ^ "Chris Martin named world's sexiest vegetarian". The Sydney Morning Herald. 23 July 2005. Retrieved 2008-05-20.
  18. ^ "Coldplay's Chris Martin declares religious beliefs". NME. 2008-06-03. Retrieved 2008-11-04. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)

References

  • "Chris Martin - Martin+Paltrow Name Pegg As Godfather", Contactmusic.com, 2007, webpage: Chris-Martin-Godfather.
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