Chris Martin

Martin was born on 2 March 1977 in Exeter, Devon, England,[5] and is the oldest of five children.[6] His father, Anthony John Martin, of Whitestone House, Exeter,[7] is a retired chartered accountant, and his mother, Alison Martin, who is from Zimbabwe, is a music teacher.[8] His family's caravan and motorhome sales business, Martin's of Exeter, was founded in 1929 by his grandfather John Besley Martin, CBE (a High Sheriff-also Mayor in 1968 of Exeter). It was sold by his father to a former employee in 1999.[9][10][11][12][13] William Willett, the man who campaigned for and made daylight saving time a recognised practice, was Martin's great-great-grandfather.[14] Martin's paternal aunt Elisabeth Jane (daughter of John Besley Martin) married Hon. Julian George Winston Sandys, son of Conservative politician Duncan Sandys by his wife Diana Churchill, daughter of Prime Minister Winston Churchill.[9][10] The Conservative politician David Martin is his paternal uncle.[10]

Martin was educated at the pre-preparatory Hylton School and the preparatory Exeter Cathedral School, where he found his passion for music.[15] After Exeter Cathedral School, Martin boarded at Sherborne School in Dorset, where he met future Coldplay manager Phil Harvey.[16] Martin continued his studies at University College London (UCL), staying at Ramsay Hall, where he graduated with first-class honours in Greek and Latin.[17][13] At UCL, Martin met his future Coldplay bandmates Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman, and Will Champion.[18]

A major influence on Martin and Coldplay was the Scottish rock band Travis, with Martin crediting the band for the creation of his own band.[36] The Irish rock band U2 is another important influence on Martin both musically and politically.[37] Martin wrote for Rolling Stone Magazine's "100 Greatest Artists of All Time" on the band,[38] saying: "I don't buy weekend tickets to Ireland and hang out in front of their gates, but U2 are the only band whose entire catalogue I know by heart. The first song on The Unforgettable Fire, "A Sort of Homecoming", I know backward and forward—it's so rousing, brilliant, and beautiful. It's one of the first songs I played to my unborn baby."[37] Martin and Coldplay were also greatly influenced by the English rock band Radiohead. Speaking to Rolling Stone Magazine, Martin said of Radiohead: "Sometimes I feel like they cleared a path with a machete, and we came afterward and put up a strip mall... I would still give my left ball to write anything as good as OK Computer."[39]

Martin performing at Music Midtown in Atlanta, Georgia, on 24 September 2011

Martin is very vocal about his love for Norwegian synth-pop band A-ha. In 2005, he stated in an interview: "I found myself in Amsterdam the other day and I put A-ha's first record on. I just remembered how much I loved it. It's incredible songwriting. Everyone asks what inspired us, what we've been trying to steal from and what we listened to as we were growing up — the first band I ever loved was A-ha."[40] Martin has also performed live together with Magne Furuholmen of A-ha, introducing him as "the best keyboard player in the world".[41] In November 2011, he stated that "back when we didn't have any hits of our own we used to play a-ha songs."[42]

Martin is also a fan of English rock bands Oasis and Muse,[43] Irish pop group Westlife,[44] English-Irish girl group Girls Aloud,[45] English pop group Take That,[46] and Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire. In 2014, Martin inducted Peter Gabriel into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his solo career, and performed live with him.[47]

Coldplay performed R.E.M.'s "Nightswimming" with Michael Stipe during their Austin City Limits performance in 2005, as a part of the Twisted Logic Tour. Martin went on to call "Nightswimming" "the greatest song ever written".[48] He has called Richard Ashcroft, formerly of the Verve, "the best singer in the world".[49] He also admires the lyrics of Morrissey.[50] Martin was quoted as calling Coldplay's song "Shiver" a rip-off Jeff Buckley influenced by Buckley's song "Grace". In 2008, Coldplay released an alternate music video for Viva la Vida, directed by Anton Corbijn as a tribute to Corbijn's 1990 video for Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence". It shows Martin dressed as a king, as Dave Gahan was in the original video. The band stated: "This is our attempt at a video cover version, made out of love for Depeche Mode and the genius of Anton Corbijn".

Martin playing piano at a concert in Brazil in 2007

Martin has been particularly outspoken on issues of fair trade and has campaigned for Oxfam's Make Trade Fair campaign. He travelled to Ghana and Haiti to meet farmers and view the effects of unfair trade practices.[51] When performing he usually has variations of "Make Trade Fair", "MTF" or an equal sign written on the back of his left hand and the letters "MTF" can be seen emblazoned on his piano.[52] He was a vocal critic of US President George W. Bush and the war in Iraq. During the Teenage Cancer Trust show at London's Royal Albert Hall on 24 March 2003, he encouraged the sell-out crowd to "sing against war".[53] He was a strong supporter of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, most notably during his acceptance speech for the 2004 Grammy Awards Record of the Year, accepting for "Clocks". He supported Obama for president in 2008, giving a shout-out at the end of a performance of "Yellow" on 25 October 2008 episode of Saturday Night Live.[54]

On 1 April 2006, The Guardian reported that Martin was backing the British Conservative Party leader David Cameron, and had written a new theme song for the party titled "Talk to David".[55][56] This was later revealed to be an April Fool's joke. While touring Australia in March 2009, Martin and the rest of Coldplay were the opening act at the Sound Relief benefit concert at the Sydney Cricket Ground in Sydney, for the victims of bushfires and floods in Victoria and Queensland.[57] Martin appeared in a video for the "Robin Hood Tax" campaign, which proposes a tax on stock trades in the United States.[58] This tax is aimed at levelling the field between the 1% and 99%. In June 2016, Martin supported Vote Remain in the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum.[59] In 2020, he endorsed the American "defund the police" movement.[60]

According to an article released by The Times in May 2022, Martin has an estimated net worth of £132 million.[61] In a 2012 interview with the Daily Mirror, Martin revealed that he had been suffering from tinnitus since his early adult years, although he said that he had noticed the symptoms even as a teenager "while listening to loud music".[62] As a result, Martin wears specially filtered earplugs or customised in-ear monitors while performing and has encouraged his bandmates to do the same as a preventive measure.[63] Similarly, he has encouraged his children to wear hearing protection at concerts.[64] Martin has also become an advocate for hearing loss awareness, having partnered with the Royal National Institute for Deaf People.[65] PETA named Martin the World's Sexiest Vegetarian in 2005.[66] However, he began eating meat again after his separation from Gwyneth Paltrow.[67]

Martin is a supporter of Exeter City.[68] He is also ambidextrous.[69]In February 2020, a cassette tape was discovered by a former fellow pupil of Martin's. It contained a three-minute instrumental piece entitled "Electric Thunder", which was composed by Martin, aged 12, at Exeter Cathedral School. Martin played keyboards on the track accompanying other pupils performing in a group called Grandisson Ensemble. The cassette was expected to sell for £600 at auction.[70] Martin is close friends with Jay-Z and Beyoncé.

• List of people associated with University College London
• List of British Grammy winners and nominees
• List of best-selling music artists
• List of highest-grossing live music artists
• List of artists who reached number-one on the UK Singles Chart
• List of Billboard Hot 100 number-ones by British artists

• Wild, Debs; Croft, Malcolm (2018). Life In Technicolor: A Celebration of Coldplay. ECW Press. ISBN 9781787391093.
• Roach, Martin (2011). Viva Coldplay: A Biography. Music Sales. ISBN 9780857125941.
• Spivack, Gary (2004). Coldplay: Look at the Stars. Pocket Books. ISBN 9780743491969.
• Roach, Martin (2003). Coldplay: Nobody Said It Was Easy. Omnibus Press. ISBN 9780711998100.

• Chris Martin at IMDb
• Coldplay Official Website
• Coldplay on AllMusic