Martyn Joseph

Martyn Joseph
Martyn Joseph at the 2008 Greenbelt Festival.
Background information
Born	(1960-07-15) 15 July 1960 (age 56) Penarth, Wales
Genres	Folk, Celtic
Occupation(s)	Musician, singer-songwriter
Instruments	Acoustic guitar, harmonica
Years active	1983–present
Labels	Pipe Records Jericho Beach Music
Associated acts	Tom Robinson Steve Knightley Stewart Henderson
Website	Official website

Martyn Joseph (born 15 July 1960) is a Welsh singer-songwriter whose music exhibits primarily a brand of Celtic and folk, while his songwriting is often focused on social lament or protest. From independently releasing his first studio release, I'm Only Beginning in 1983, to his latest 2015 album, Sanctuary, Joseph's career has spanned thirty-four years and three different labels – Sony, Grapevine and his own Pipe Records. In 2004, he won the Best Male Artist Category in the BBC Welsh Music Awards.

Born in 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 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 eisteddfods and, at his own estimate, he had already written several songs by his early teens.

Joseph began recording in 1983, releasing five albums over the 1980s, culminating in his 1989 self-financed An Aching and a Longing (Myrrh Records), which sold 30,000 copies and gained him a large enough following that he was subsequently signed to Sony Records. 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, whose previous work included albums with The Waterboys. The first single from Martyn Joseph, "Talk about it in the Morning" co-written with Tom Robinson, was released in 1995 and reached the Top 50 charts in the UK.