George Martin was born in North
London in 1926. He belonged to a
different generation from the Beatles but
together their collaboration over the
years produced some of the finest
contemporary music of all time.

  After the war George studied piano
and oboe at the Guildhall School of Music
and Drama. He joined EMI in 1950 as an
assistant and became head of the
Parlophone label in 1954. Much of his
early work involved producing classical,
dance and jazz music. He also produced a
number of early comedy records with
stars such as Peter Sellers and Spike
Milligan.

  In the mid 50's record companies began
to cater for the teenage market and
although Parlophone was slow to
respond to this new demand eventually
they too became interested in the pop
scene.

  George's secretary Judy, who
eventually became his wife, later
remembered being very impressed by
Brian Epstein at their first meeting.
George also thought him very polite, not
at all like the casual pushy managers he
often had to deal with. However he was
not impressed with what Brian played for
him that day, although he did think the
Beatles had an interesting sound and he
agreed to give them a recording test.

George met the Beatles for the first time
on the 6th June, 1962, when they
auditioned for him at EMI's Number 3
Studio at Abbey Road in London. Brian
had given George Marting a lists of songs
the Beatles wanted to perform and from
it he chose three or four numbers
including  “Love Me Do” and “PS I Love
You”. On the 11th September, 1962, the
Beatles returned to London to make
their first official recording. Between the
first visit and the Beatles returning in
September, the decision to change
drummers had been taken and Pete Best
was replaced by Ringo Starr. When
George Martin heard this he decided not
to take any chances at the first session
with someone unknown to him and so he
brought in a session drummer called
Andy White to play one the first record. At
this time none of the Beatles could read
music and they knew very little of the
mechanics of recording studio and so
initially they were very much reliant on
George Martin's expertise.

  At the end of the first recording session
George, trying to make them feel at ease,
said “Let me known if there is anything you
don't like”, to which George Harrison
promptly replied, “Yeah, I don't like your
tie”! This was to be the start of many
successful recording sessions together.

  “Love Me DO”, the Beatles' first single,
was eventually released on the 4th
October, 1962 and reached No. 17 in the
British charts despite a boycott from a
number of early fans who felt that if they
bought the record the Beatles might
become famous and leave Liverpool.