Martyn Joseph (born 15 July 1960) is a Welsh singer-songwriter whose music exhibits primarily a brand of
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
and
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fol ...
, while his songwriting is often focused on social lament or protest.
[ From independently releasing his first studio release, ''I'm Only Beginning'' in 1983, Joseph's career has spanned forty years. In 2004, he won the Best Male Artist Category in the BBC Welsh Music Awards.
]
Early life
Born in Penarth
Penarth (, ) is a town and Community (Wales), community in the Vale of Glamorgan ( cy, Bro Morgannwg), Wales, exactly south of Cardiff city centre on the west shore of the Severn Estuary at the southern end of Cardiff Bay.
Penarth is a weal ...
, Wales, Joseph grew up as an avid golfer, having started to play at the age of 10. At 15 years old, he was playing off a handicap of one,[ and at 17, he became the youngest ever winner of the Glamorganshire Golf Club Championship. He has won that title four times and also played for the ]County of Glamorgan
, HQ = Cardiff
, Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974)
, Origin=
, Code = GLA
, CodeName = Chapman code
, Replace =
* West Glamorgan
* Mid Glamorgan
* South Glamorgan
, Motto ...
and in the British Youths and Amateur Championships in the 1980s. Joseph remains a keen amateur golfer and plays with a handicap of four. However, Joseph would gradually focus his career path on music.[ Growing up, he participated in school ]eisteddfod
In Welsh culture, an ''eisteddfod'' is an institution and festival with several ranked competitions, including in poetry and music.
The term ''eisteddfod'', which is formed from the Welsh morphemes: , meaning 'sit', and , meaning 'be', means, a ...
s and, at his own estimate, he had already written several songs by his early teens.[
]
Recording career
Early career (1983–1998)
Joseph began recording
A record, recording or records may refer to:
An item or collection of data Computing
* Record (computer science), a data structure
** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity
** Boot sector or boot record, ...
in 1983, releasing five albums over the 1980s, culminating in his 1989 self-financed ''An Aching and a Longing'' (Myrrh Records
__NOTOC__
Myrrh Records (also known as Myrrh Worship) was an American Christian music record label.
According to ''Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music'', the label was instrumental in developing a popular following for contemporary Christian ...
), which sold 30,000 copies and gained him a large enough following that he was subsequently signed to Sony Records
Sony Records was a record label founded by R&B duo Ike & Tina Turner in 1963. It was not affiliated with Sony Group Corporation.
Ike Turner produced singles by members of the Kings of Rhythm and the Ikettes on Sony Records. Records on the label ...
. He made his major label debut with ''Being There'' in 1992. It was produced by Ben Wisch, to create more stripped-down arrangements. Joseph worked musically with Pete Brookes, while collaborating with lyricist Stewart Henderson on many of the tracks. A year after the release of ''Being There'', Joseph recorded live versions of the songs featured on the album and released it under the title ''Undrugged''.
His second and final release under Sony, the self-titled ''Martyn Joseph'', was produced by Mick Glossop
Mick Glossop is an English record producer and recording engineer. In 2009, he was awarded a Visiting Professorship at Leeds College of Music.
Glossop was initially known for recording and producing for New wave music, new wave and Punk rock, pu ...
, whose previous work included albums with The Waterboys
The Waterboys are a folk rock band formed in Edinburgh in 1983 by Scottish musician Mike Scott. The band's membership, past and present, has been composed mainly of musicians from Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England. Mike Scott has remained ...
. The first single from ''Martyn Joseph'', "Talk About It in the Morning" co-written with Tom Robinson
Thomas Giles Robinson (born 1 June 1950) is a British singer, bassist, radio presenter and long-time LGBT rights activist, best known for the hits "Glad to Be Gay", "2-4-6-8 Motorway", and "Don't Take No for an Answer", with his Tom Robinson ...
, was released in 1995 and reached the Top 50 in the UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
.
Joseph's brief major label career produced four UK Top 75 singles
Singles are people not in a committed relationship.
Singles may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series
* ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe
* ''Singles'' ...
total in the UK, including "Dolphins Make Me Cry (#34)", "Working Mother (#65)", "Please Sir (#43)" and "Talk About it in The Morning (#45)" Prior to 2003's ''Whoever It Was That Brought Me Here Will Have To Take Me Home'', ''Being There'' and ''Martyn Joseph'' were the only albums of his to have been released in the United States.
After being dropped by Sony, he recorded two albums for the UK independent record label
A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...
Grapevine: ''Full Colour Black and White'' and ''Tangled Souls''. His first release under Grapevine featured the fourth track "Ballad of Richard Lewis", a homage to the Welsh labourer and hero better known as Dic Penderyn
Richard Lewis (1807/8 – 13 August 1831), known as Dic Penderyn, was a Welsh labourer and coal miner who lived in Merthyr Tydfil and was involved with the Merthyr Rising of 3 June 1831. In the course of the riot he was arrested alongside Lewis Le ...
, who was sentenced to death after leading the Merthyr Rising of 1831. The song would be later included in further albums (including the ''Thunder and Rainbows'' compilation, the ''Don't Talk About Love'' live album, and ''Evolved'', as a re-recording in a different style) as "Dic Penderyn".
Pipe Records (1999–present)
In 1999, Joseph established his own label, Pipe Records, citing "creative freedom" and "complete control" as the main advantages granted him that were not possible working under other labels. Drawing from possible past experiences with Sony, Joseph explains, "I'm not dependent on Robbie Williams
Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, and achieved commercial success after launching a solo career in 1996. His debut stud ...
' diary or Madonna
Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...
's film schedule for when y songsget released."[ Joseph began publishing work under a new medium, a news magazine entitled ''The Passport Queue'', the name of which is taken from a line in the song "Everything in Heaven". Subscribers of the magazine receive free annual CDs of rare recordings.
In his first release under Pipe Records, ''Far From Silent'',] Joseph explored the complications of fame and fortune, in the second track "Celebrity". The eighth track, entitled "The Good in Me is Dead", written in the perspective of a Kosovo
Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...
refugee in light of the Balkan atrocities, reflects Joseph's penchant for writing about social tragedies and injustice.[ "The prime motive in the instant that I pick up the guitar is a selfish one," Joseph says. "It's because I need to deal with the world. I'm in the world and it's horrible, and what can I do? I'm just getting this stuff out of my system as it were."][
Between ''Far From Silent'' and his next LP, Joseph came out with several works, the first of which was a 2000 limited edition EP, ''The Shirley Sessions'', which he worked on primarily during a tour with ]Shirley Bassey
Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey (; born 8 January 1937) is a Welsh singer. Best known for her career longevity, powerful voice and recording the theme songs to three James Bond films, Bassey is widely regarded as one of the most popular vocalists ...
gone awry. The next year, in 2001, Joseph compiled a two-disc best-of album entitled ''Thunder and Rainbows – The Best We Could Find'' comprising 31 of his previous favourites and two new songs. Following his first best-of compilation, he came out with his second live album, two volumes of recordings under the title ''Don't Talk About Love 1992 – 2002''.
In November 2003, Joseph released his second LP under Pipe Records, ''Whoever It Was That Brought Me Here Will Have To Take Me Home''. Soon thereafter, Joseph began a serious collaboration with Tom Robinson
Thomas Giles Robinson (born 1 June 1950) is a British singer, bassist, radio presenter and long-time LGBT rights activist, best known for the hits "Glad to Be Gay", "2-4-6-8 Motorway", and "Don't Take No for an Answer", with his Tom Robinson ...
and Steve Knightley
Steve Knightley (born 1954) is an English singer, songwriter and acoustic musician. Since 1992 he has been one half of folk/roots duo Show of Hands along with Phil Beer. Knightley was named "Songwriter of the Nineties" by BBC Radio 6 Music in ...
, whom he worked with extensively early in his career. The result was the 2004 release, ''Faith, Folk and Anarchy'', as well as an eventual live accompaniment, ''Faith, Folk & Anarchy Live''. The next year brought three more releases from Joseph. In the midst of the controversial war in Iraq
This is a list of wars involving the Republic of Iraq and its predecessor states.
Other armed conflicts involving Iraq
* Wars during Mandatory Iraq
** Ikhwan raid on South Iraq 1921
* Smaller conflicts, revolutions, coups and periphery confli ...
, Joseph's next album, ''Deep Blue'', featured the highly political tracks "Yet Still This Will Not Be" and "How Did We End Up Here". Joseph mused in an interview with a folk music website, "I bet, in his private moments alone, deep down, Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
the person regrets what he did in Iraq". ''The Bridgerow Sessions'' and ''Because We Can...'', further collaborated on with Steve Knightley and Stewart Henderson respectively, rounded out the year.
A regular performer at the annual Greenbelt Festival
Greenbelt Festival is a festival of arts, faith and justice held annually in England since 1974. Greenbelt has grown out of an evangelical Christian music festival with an audience of 1,500 young people into its current form, a more inclusive f ...
in the United Kingdom, Joseph recorded his 2006 performance and released it as ''MJGB06''. The same year, he came out with his first live effort recorded on DVD, ''Martyn Joseph Live''. A two-day stint in Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
would precede his following LP released in 2007 and would prove to be highly influential, inspiring the album's title, ''Vegas'', and its title-track. Another track on the album, "Kindness", was, on the other hand, inspired by the homeless situation in Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
, Ontario. The album exhibited a generally edgier sound, featuring electric guitar.
In October 2008, Joseph released ''Evolved'', a new full-length album featuring 14 newly recorded tracks of songs in Joseph's previous catalogue, but played in a different style than its original recording. He felt that the songs found in his albums no longer reflected the manner in which he played them live. The songs are uniquely presented exactly as Joseph played it in studio without any overdubbing or additional instrumentation.
In January 2009, at the height of the Israeli attack on Gaza, Joseph released "Five Sisters", a track paying homage to the five sisters who were killed by an Israeli shell supposedly meant to hit a mosque. Later that year, Joseph released another live album entitled ''Official Bootleg Series – Volume 1 – Live Cuts 92–08''. As the title suggests, the album compiled an assortment of official bootlegs spanning performances from 1992 to 2008. During a 31-date tour of the United Kingdom, beginning in October 2010, Joseph's performances were recorded for a future live DVD release.
Joseph later released ''Under Lemonade Skies'', a 10-track LP.
Touring
Joseph tours as a solo artist in the UK, and in the early 2000s he began touring in Canada and the United States. One of his songs, "All This Time" was borne of a trip through the Canadian wilderness. Of the track's inspiration, Joseph explains, "It humbles you visiting a place like that. Anyone who has an ego problem needs to backpack through Canada for a while."[ He is also a regular performer at major Canadian ]folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fol ...
festivals
A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival co ...
, including the Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
and Edmonton Folk Music Festival
The Edmonton Folk Music Festival (EFMF) is an annual four-day outdoor music event held the second weekend of August in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, established in 1980 by Don Whalen. The festival continues to draw many people from around the world a ...
s, and at the annual Greenbelt Festival
Greenbelt Festival is a festival of arts, faith and justice held annually in England since 1974. Greenbelt has grown out of an evangelical Christian music festival with an audience of 1,500 young people into its current form, a more inclusive f ...
in the UK.
Joseph has performed as a support act for a variety of artists, such as Chris de Burgh, Marc Cohn
Marc Craig Cohn (; born July 5, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. He won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1992. Cohn is best known for the song "Walking in Memphis" from his eponymous 1991 album, which was a Top 40 h ...
, Joan Armatrading
Joan Anita Barbara Armatrading, (, born 9 December 1950) is a Kittitian-English singer-songwriter and guitarist.
A three-time Grammy Award nominee, Armatrading has also been nominated twice for BRIT Awards as Best Female Artist. She received ...
, Art Garfunkel
Arthur Ira Garfunkel (born November 5, 1941) is an American singer, poet, and actor. He is best known for his partnership with Paul Simon in the folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel.
Highlights of Garfunkel's solo music career include one top-10 ...
, Janis Ian
Janis Ian (born Janis Eddy Fink; April 7, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter who was most commercially successful in the 1960s and 1970s. Her signature songs are the 1966/67 hit " Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking)" and the 1975 Top T ...
, and Suzanne Vega
Suzanne Nadine Vega ( Peck; born July 11, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter best known for her folk-inspired music. Vega's music career spans almost 40 years. She came to prominence in the mid-1980s, releasing four singles that entered the ...
. In June 2000, he left a tour with Shirley Bassey
Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey (; born 8 January 1937) is a Welsh singer. Best known for her career longevity, powerful voice and recording the theme songs to three James Bond films, Bassey is widely regarded as one of the most popular vocalists ...
after only eight shows over what he described as "rather obvious artistic differences". Prior to the tour, he admitted in an interview with ''Cross Rhythms
Cross Rhythms is a Christian media organisation based in Stoke-on-Trent, England. It operates an FM and online radio station, produces radio shows sent internationally, and its website has resources about contemporary Christian music.
Hi ...
'', "I've heard that she can be difficult...I figure that y songs willpaint a slightly different picture to the one she will probably paint so I guess it's a sense of balance, it's a challenge." Having unexpected time on his hands, he recorded an EP entitled ''The Shirley Sessions'', which consisted of several songs written during the tour.
In his early career, he experimented with an accompanied arrangement in his live shows, having been assigned drummer Pete Thomas from the Attractions
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism m ...
by his Sony label.[
]
Activism
Spanning his musical career, Joseph has campaigned for causes. Asked in an interview whether he considered himself primarily a musician or activist, Joseph replied, "I can't decide ... I guess it's all part and parcel of the same thing for me."[ Focusing his attention towards trade justice, third world ]debt cancellation Debt relief or debt cancellation is the partial or total forgiveness of debt, or the slowing or stopping of debt growth, owed by individuals, corporations, or nations.
From antiquity through the 19th century, it refers to domestic debts, in particu ...
and human rights, Joseph has been involved with Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
's MST (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Terra), Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
, Christian Aid
Christian Aid is the relief and development agency of 41 Christian (Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox) churches in the UK and Ireland, and works to support sustainable development, eradicate poverty, support civil society and provide disaster ...
, Casa Alianza
Casa Alianza is an international non-profit organization and the Latin American branch of Covenant House. It is a Non-governmental Organization (NGO) providing shelter, food, immediate crisis care, and an array of other services to homeless and ...
, the Stephen Lewis Foundation The Stephen Lewis Foundation is a non-governmental organization that assists mostly AIDS- and HIV-related grassroots projects in Africa.
History
The foundation was started by Stephen Lewis, a veteran Canadian politician and former Canadian ambassa ...
, Jubilee 2000
Jubilee 2000 was an international coalition movement in over 40 countries that called for cancellation of third world debt by the year 2000. This movement coincided with the Great Jubilee, the celebration of the year 2000 in the Roman Catholic C ...
and Advantage Africa.[
In May 2004, in the wake of the ]2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...
, Joseph released a five-track EP, ''The Great American Novel'', with all proceeds designated to War Child. He worked on the recording with regular collaborators Tom Robinson and Steve Knightley
Steve Knightley (born 1954) is an English singer, songwriter and acoustic musician. Since 1992 he has been one half of folk/roots duo Show of Hands along with Phil Beer. Knightley was named "Songwriter of the Nineties" by BBC Radio 6 Music in ...
.[
In 2014 he launched his "Let Yourself Trust", a not-for-profit organisation which aims to challenge what he perceives to be injustice, educating via advocacy, campaigning for human rights, and raising issues otherwise ignored.
]
Awards
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
Welsh Music Awards
*Best Male Artist, 2004
2018 Folk Alliance International Awards
*Spirit of Folk Award
2019 Wales Music Awards
* Best English Language Song - Here Come The Young
Discography
Studio albums
*''I'm Only Beginning'' (1983)
*''Nobody's Fool'' (1984)
*''Sold Out'' (1985)
*''Ballads...In Quieter Moments'' (1987)
*''Treasure the Questions'' (1988)
*''Being There'' (1992)
*''Martyn Joseph'' (1995)
*''Full Colour Black And White'' (1996)
*''Tangled Souls'' (1998)
*''Far From Silent'' (1999)
*''Whoever It Was That Brought Me Here Will Have To Take Me Home'' (2003)
*''Run to Cover'' (2004)
*''Deep Blue'' (2005)
*''Vegas'' (September 2007)
*''Evolved'' (October 2008)
*''Under Lemonade Skies'' (October 2010)
*''Broken Peace'' (October 2010)
*''Songs for the Coming Home'' (October 2012)
*''Tires Rushing By in the Rain'' (October 2013)
*''Kiss The World Beautiful - Songs for the Let Yourself Trust'' (June 2014)
* ''Sanctuary (October 2015)''
* ''Sanctuary Acoustic (May 2016)''
* ''Here Come The Young (January 2019)''
* ''Days Of Decision: A Tribute to Phil Ochs (January 2020)''
* ''1960 (November 2021)''
* ''1960 Acoustic (November 2022) (Includes Live DVD)''
Live albums
*''An Aching and a Longing'' (1989)
*''Undrugged/Being There'' (1993)
*''Live at St. David's Hall Cardiff'' (1995) (free for new members of artist's fan mag)
*''Don't Talk About Love 1992 – 2002'' (Volume 1, 2001)
*''Don't Talk About Love 1992 – 2002'' (Volume 2, 2002)
*''Faith, Folk & Anarchy Live'' (2004)
*''Live in Toronto'' (2006) (available as an mp3 download only from artist website)
*''Martyn Joseph Live'' (2006, DVD)
*''MJGB06 – Live Greenbelt 2006'' (2007)
*''Official Bootleg Series – Vol 1 – Live Cuts 92-08'' (2009)
*''Live at the Brook – 07.11.10 – Official bootleg – Vol 2'' (2011)
*''Live in Hansbeke, Belgium – May 2013 – Official bootleg – Vol 3'' (2014)
*''Live in Derby, England - 2017 - Official Bootleg - Vol 4'' (2017)
Compilations
*''Thunder and Rainbows – The Best We Could Find: 1988–2000'' (Two-disc, 2000)
EPs
*''The Shirley Sessions'' (2000)
*''The Great American Novel'' (2003)
*''When We Get Through This'' (2020)
Collaborations
*''Faith, Folk, And Anarchy'' (2004, with Tom Robinson
Thomas Giles Robinson (born 1 June 1950) is a British singer, bassist, radio presenter and long-time LGBT rights activist, best known for the hits "Glad to Be Gay", "2-4-6-8 Motorway", and "Don't Take No for an Answer", with his Tom Robinson ...
& Steve Knightley
Steve Knightley (born 1954) is an English singer, songwriter and acoustic musician. Since 1992 he has been one half of folk/roots duo Show of Hands along with Phil Beer. Knightley was named "Songwriter of the Nineties" by BBC Radio 6 Music in ...
)
*''The Bridgerow Sessions'' (2005, with Steve Knightley)
*''Because We Can...'' (2005, music and poetry recorded with Stewart Henderson)
*''Because We Can...Again'' (2009, music and poetry recorded with Stewart Henderson)
References
External links
Official website
Pipe Records, Martyn's music label
"Let Yourself" charity website
Martyn Joseph biography from BBC Wales
at The Phantom Tollbooth
June 2005 interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Joseph, Martyn
1960 births
Living people
Welsh singer-songwriters
Welsh male singers
People from Penarth
British male singer-songwriters