| George
Martin is best remembered as the producer of most
of the Beatles' recordings from 1962 through 1969. His
actual credits are diverse, encompassing artists ranging
from 1950s jazz bandleader Humphrey Lyttleton, the comic
talents of Peter Sellers and Michael Bentine, legendary
vocalists like Ella Fitzgerald, and rock acts as different
as Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas, Peter Gabriel,
and Celine Dion.
The association with the Beatles alone made him the
most well-known and successful record producer in
the history of popular music. In the time of his own
professional prime, that distinction might have rated
him a mention in some trade magazines. But with over
a billion copies sold of records and songs whose making
he supervised (and they are still selling, with billions
of pounds and dollars spent on them), he has earned
a knighthood and been the subject of a 151-song, six-CD
set devoted to his work as a music director. Few record
producers -- John Hammond Sr., Sam Phillips, Leonard
Chess, and Willie Dixon -- rate as his peer, in terms
of influencing the shape and direction of music.
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