Martin Carthy
| Martin Carthy | |
|---|---|
Performing with The Imagined Village at Camp Bestival; 20 July 2008
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Martin Dominic Forbes Carthy |
| Born |
21 May 1941 Hatfield, Hertfordshire |
| Origin | London, England |
| Genres | English Folk, folk baroque |
| Occupation(s) | Singer musician songwriter record producer actor |
| Instruments | acoustic guitar electric guitar mandolin banjo dulcimer |
| Years active | 1960–present |
| Labels | Topic, Fontana, Philips, Deram, B&C |
| Associated acts |
Waterson–Carthy Blue Murder The Watersons Steeleye Span Albion Country Band Brass Monkey The Imagined Village Dave Swarbrick |
| Website | watersoncarthy |
| Notable instruments | |
| 1959 (possibly late 1958) Martin 000-18 000-18MC Martin Carthy signature edition guitar by C.F. Martin & Company Fender Telecaster |
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Martin Carthy MBE (born 21 May 1941) is an English folk singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in British traditional music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon and later artists such as Richard Thompson since he emerged as a young musician in the early days of the folk revival.
He was born in Hatfield and grew up in Hampstead, North London. His mother was an active socialist and his father, from a family of Thames lightermen, went to grammar school and became a trade unionist and a councillor for Stepney at the age of 21. Martin's father had played fiddle and guitar as a young man but Martin was unaware of this connection to his folk music heritage until much later in life. His vocal and musical training began when he became a chorister at the Queen's Chapel of The Savoy. He picked up his father's old guitar for the first time after hearing "Rock Island Line" by Lonnie Donegan. He has cited his first major folk music influences as Big Bill Broonzy and the syncopated guitar style of Elizabeth Cotten. Carthy performed his first professional engagement at the age of 16 at The Loft, a coffee bar in Primrose Gardens. Although his father wanted him to go to university to study classics, Carthy left school at 17 and worked behind the scenes as a prompter at the open-air theatre in Regent's Park, then as an assistant stage manager (ASM) on a tour of The Merry Widow, and then at Theatre in the Round in Scarborough. He became a resident at The Troubadour folk club in Earls Court in the early 1960s. He joined Redd Sullivan's Thameside Four in 1961.
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