Martin Quittenton (22 April 1945 – 16 April 2015) was a British

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

and composer. He played in the

blues rock Blues rock is a fusion music genre that combines elements of blues and rock music. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electric blues and rock (electric guitar, electric bass guitar, and drums, sometimes w ...

band Steamhammer, formed in 1968. Their debut album '' Steamhammer'' was released in 1969. Quittenton also worked with

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling ...

, along with

Pete Sears Peter Roy Sears (born 27 May 1948) is an English rock musician. In a career spanning more than six decades, he has been a member of many bands and has moved through a variety of musical genres, from early R&B, psychedelic improvisational rock o ...

Micky Waller Michael Waller (6 September 1941 – 29 April 2008) was an English drummer, who played with many of the biggest names on the UK rock and blues scene, after he became a professional musician in 1960. In addition to being a member, albeit sometim ...

, and fellow Steamhammer guitarist

Martin Pugh Martin John Pugh is a British guitarist who came to prominence after joining blues-rock band Steamhammer in 1968, staying with that band through 5 years and 4 albums. The debut Steamhammer album, also known as '' Steamhammer'', was released ...

. In collaboration with Stewart, Quittenton co-wrote the international hit singles "

Maggie May "Maggie May" is a song co-written by singer Rod Stewart and Martin Quittenton, and performed by Rod Stewart on his album ''Every Picture Tells a Story'', released in 1971. In 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked the song number 130 on its list of T ...

" and "

You Wear It Well "You Wear It Well" is a song written by Rod Stewart and Martin Quittenton, performed by Stewart. It uses an arrangement markedly similar to that of "Maggie May", one of Stewart's hits from the previous year. Stewart recorded "You Wear It Well" ...

", along with the British top ten single " Farewell", from Stewart's 1974 album '' Smiler''. Stewart invited Quittenton to join his group

The Faces Faces are an English rock band formed in 1969 by members of Small Faces after lead singer and guitarist Steve Marriott left to form Humble Pie. The remaining Small Faces—Ian McLagan (keyboards), Ronnie Lane (electric bass, vocals), and Kenne ...

, but Quittenton was not attracted by the wild off-stage antics for which the Faces were notorious. In 1973, Quittenton formed an instrumental band with Pete Sears,

Manfred Mann Manfred Mann were an English rock band, formed in London and active between 1962 and 1969. The group were named after their keyboardist Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band. The band had two differen ...

drummer John Lingwood and keyboardist

Max Middleton David Maxwell Middleton (born 4 August 1946) is an English composer and keyboardist who was originally a docker on the London docks. Middleton is known for his work on the Fender Rhodes Electric piano, the Minimoog synthesiser and his percussiv ...

. The band never got beyond the rehearsal stage. Suffering from mental health problems, Quittenton left the music business and moved to

Llanrhyddlad Llanrhyddlad ( cy, Llan-Rhûddlad) is a hamlet in Anglesey, in north-west Wales. in the community of Cylch-y-Garn Cylch-y-Garn is a community (Wales), community in Anglesey, Wales, located on the north west coast of the county, west of Amlw ...

, on the isle of

Anglesey Anglesey (; cy, (Ynys) Môn ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms a principal area known as the Isle of Anglesey, that includes Holy Island across the narrow Cymyran Strait and some islets and skerries. Anglesey island ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

References

External links

*
Steamhammer official website
1945 births 2015 deaths English blues guitarists English male guitarists English rock guitarists Blues rock musicians Steamhammer (band) members {{UK-guitarist-stub