Louis Michael "Lou" Martin (12 August 1949 – 17 August 2012) was a

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

and organ player from

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. He was an original member of the

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

-based band Killing Floor, and also worked with fellow Irish musician

Rory Gallagher William Rory Gallagher ( ; 2 March 1948 – 14 June 1995) was an Irish guitarist, singer, songwriter, and producer. Due to his virtuosic playing, but relative lack of fame compared to some others, he has been referred to as "the greatest ...

.Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Rock Discography'', Canongate, , p. 401Muise, Dan (2007) ''Gallagher, Marriott, Derringer and Trower'', Hal Leonard, , p. 25-29

Career

Martin started learning the piano at the age of six, and joined his first professional band, Killing Floor, in April or May 1968. In 1969 Martin and Stuart McDonald were recruited by 17-year-old

Darryl Read Darryl Michael Roy Read (19 September 1951 – 23 June 2013) was a British singer, guitarist, drummer, actor, poet and writer. In the late 1960s, Read was a member of Crushed Butler, considered by some to be amongst the forerunners of proto punk ...

who formed a band for

Emperor Rosko Michael Joseph Pasternak (born 26 December 1942), known by his stage name Emperor Rosko, is an American presenter of rock music programmes, most widely known for his shows on Radio Caroline and BBC Radio 1 in the UK in the 1960s and early 1970s. ...

's brother (Jeff Pasternak) called Crayon Angels, which Read put together and played drums, while Rosko acted as manager. Martin later left Killing Floor to play alongside Gallagher, and is featured on several of Gallagher's albums, including ''

Blueprint A blueprint is a reproduction of a technical drawing or engineering drawing using a contact print process on light-sensitive sheets. Introduced by Sir John Herschel in 1842, the process allowed rapid and accurate production of an unlimited number ...

'', ''

Tattoo A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, and/or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several tattooing ...

'', '' Irish Tour '74'', '' Against the Grain'', '' Calling Card'', '' Defender'' and ''

Fresh Evidence ''Fresh Evidence'' is Rory Gallagher's eleventh and last studio album, his fourteenth album overall. The album was unusual in that Gallagher used more additional musicians and spent more time recording than he normally did. Not as unusual, the so ...

''. He also played rhythm guitar on one track, "Race the Breeze" from ''Blueprint''. After leaving Gallagher's band, Martin and drummer Rod de'Ath formed Ramrod, after which Martin played with

Downliners Sect Downliners Sect are an English R&B and blues-based rock band, formed in the 1960s beat boom era. Stylistically, they were similar to blues-based bands such as The Yardbirds, The Pretty Things and the Rolling Stones, playing basic R&B on thei ...

and Screaming Lord Sutch, and also toured with

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the " Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into th ...

and

Albert Collins Albert Gene Drewery, known as Albert Collins and the Ice Man (October 1, 1932 – November 24, 1993),Skeely, Richard. "Albert Collins: Biography" Allmusic.com. was an American electric blues guitarist and singer with a distinctive guitar style. ...

. Martin played in the Nickey Barclay band in London in the 1980s, alongside Barclay (ex- Fanny) on keyboards, with John Conroy (ex-Sam Mitchell Band) and Dave Ball on lead guitar (ex-

Procol Harum Procol Harum () were an English rock band formed in Southend-on-Sea, Essex in 1967. Their best-known recording is the 1967 hit single " A Whiter Shade of Pale", one of the few singles to have sold over 10 million copies. Although noted for ...

). The band played across London on the blues rock circuit during the 1980s at venues such as

The White Lion, Putney The White Lion is a Grade II listed public house at 14–16 High Street, Putney, London, close to the southern end of Putney Bridge. It was built in 1887. It later became a Slug and Lettuce chain pub, then ''The Litten Tree'', then a Walkabout ...

; The Star and Garter on Lower Richmond Road; The Golden Lion, Fulham and the Cartoon,

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

. Killing Floor released an album in 2004 named ''Zero Tolerance'', on which Martin participated.

Death

After a period of illness including

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

and a number of strokes, Martin died peacefully in a hospital in Bournemouth,

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

on 17 August 2012, aged 63.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Lou 1949 births 2012 deaths Musicians from Belfast Keyboardists from Northern Ireland British blues pianists Blues musicians from Northern Ireland 20th-century pianists