George Martin Net Worth, Career, Biography, Facts, Age,

George Martin was an English producer, composer, and musician who had a net worth of $100 million at the time of his death in 2016. He was most notable for his production work with The Beatles. He was often referred to as the “fifth Beatle”. He was involved in each of The Beatles’ original albums, from their first to their last. George Martin died on March 8, 2016 at the age of 90.

Early Life: Born in Highbury, London, England, in 1926, George Martin started playing the piano before his seventh birthday. He joined the Royal Navy in 1943 when he was 17 years old, but didn’t see any combat time and left the military in 1947. Martin studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and started working in the classical music department at the BBC after graduation. Martin eventually began working for EMI and Parlophone Records, working primarily with classical and Baroque music.

The Beatles: George Martin is most famous, however, for his work with the legendary band The Beatles. He signed the fledgling group to a record contract in 1962. The Beatles recorded their first song with Martin in September of the same year: “How Do You Do It”, though they eventually chose not to release this track. Martin then began arranging the group’s music, and, in the late ’50s, started working as a composer. He worked on dozens of albums, including “Help!”, “…and I Love Her”, “London by George”, “British Maid”, “Yellow Submarine”, “Live and Let Die”, “Beatles to Bond and Bach”, “In My Life”, and “Produced by George Martin”. He arranged the film scores for “Yellow Submarine”, “Live and Let Die”, “A Hard Day’s Night”, “The Family Way”, and “Honky Tonk Freeway”.

Beatles Royalties and Earnings: During “Beatlemania”, George was a relatively low paid producer earning 3000 pounds per year. At the time EMI had a policy of not paying its producers year end bonuses OR allowing them to earn a cut of production royalties.

After generating tens of millions in revenue for EMI, Martin grew frustrated and in 1962 launched his own company Associated Independent Recording (AIR). He also poached EMI’s best producers and staff who were equally frustrated. From that point on, every artist he worked with would share a cut of royalties with George.

George did however receive generous songwriting royalties for every album and song he contributed to for The Beatles.

In 1965 he was awarded a half penny royalty for every album and song sold but he eventualy sold those rights for a relative pittance compared to what they could have been worth.

Later Career: Martin worked on “The Beatles Anthology” and, in 2006, used the group’s music to arrange the Vegas show “Love”. Martin is often described as the “Fifth Beatle” for his influence within the band, though the nickname apparently didn’t sit well with John Lennon. Martin’s memoir, “All You Need is Ears”, came out in 1979. He later published “Summer of Love: The Making of Sgt Pepper”. Martin was nominated for an Oscar for Scoring of Music for 1964’s “A Hard Day’s Night”. He won several Grammy Awards, including Best Contemporary Album for producing “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” in 1967 and Album of the Year for the same record.