Toby Martin | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Birth name | Toby Martin |
Born |
Melbourne, Australia |
5 August 1975
Genres | Alternative rock, indie rock |
Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, musician, academic, lecturer |
Instruments | Guitar, vocals |
Years active | 1996–present |
Associated acts | Youth Group |
Toby Martin (born 5 August 1975), is an Australian singer-songwriter, musician, academic, and lecturer at New York University Sydney. Martin is the grandson of Hungarian-born Australian poet David Martin and has a PhD in the history of Australian music from the University of Sydney. After fronting Sydney-based band Youth Group from 1996 to 2009, Martin developed his solo career, releasing his first album, Love's Shadow in 2012.
Martin's PhD thesis, published in 2012, is titled "Yodelling boundary riders : country music in Australia, 1936–2010".
In 2017, Martin released his second solo album, entitled Songs from Northam Avenue. The album was written in Bankstown, and features musical accompaniment by several locals to the area.
Martin was born in Melbourne and grew up in the Frankston area. At 15, he moved to Canberra attending school at Narrabundah College with Cameron Emerson-Elliott, (a future co-member of the band Youth Group), where they wrote songs together as The Morris Brothers. Martin moved to Sydney some years later, joining the band Poxsii Barccs with Andy Strachan, Gary Hopper and Paul Inglis. In 1996 he formed Youth Group and the band later achieved success with their cover version of "Forever Young" by Alphaville which made no 1 on Australian record charts.
Martin is currently a lecturer at the University of Huddersfield in the UK, where he teaches songwriting to BMus music students, as well as Popular Composition and Arranging to BA Music Technology and Popular Music students.
With Youth Group, Martin has toured extensively in Australia, as well as the US, Canada and UK. In 2012, he toured solo down Australia's East Coast supporting Seeker Lover Keeper.
Martin's band Youth Group were nominated for four Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Music Awards in 2006.