Martin Bright is a British journalist. He worked for the BBC World Service and The Guardian before becoming The Observer's education correspondent and then home affairs editor. From 2005 to 2009, he was the New Statesman's political editor.

Bright was the presenter of Channel 4's 30 Minutes film, Who Speaks For Muslims? He is the author of When Progressives Treat with Reactionaries, on British state funding of political Islam, published by the right-of-centre British thinktank Policy Exchange.^[1] In 2001, he wrote a controversial article in the New Statesman about the work of Islamic scholars John Wansbrough, Michael Cook, Patricia Crone, Andrew Rippin and Gerald Hawting entitled The Great Koran Con Trick.^[2] He has since publicly disowned the headline on the article, which he has described as irresponsible. Some of the scholars involved were unhappy with the article.^{[citation needed]}

Bright is married to Vanessa Thorpe, the arts correspondent of The Observer, with whom he has two children.

Bright left the New Statesman in January 2009. He now writes an online blog entitled "The Bright Stuff – Dispatches from Enemy Territory" for The Spectator. Bright was on the journalism long list for the Orwell Prize in 2009.

In January 2009, Bright formed New Deal of the Mind, a coalition of artists, entrepreneurs, academics and opinion formers working to boost employment in Britain's creative sector during the recession. The organisation was launched formally at Number 11 Downing Street on 24 March 2009. The launch seminar was attended by over sixty of Britain's leading creative industry figures, as well as several ministers and politicians from across the political spectrum. Lord Puttnam called the event "a remarkable moment in history".^{[citation needed]}

The New Deal of the Mind coalition has since founded a charitable company that is now based at the Southbank Centre in London. New Deal of the Mind continues to work closely with government, all political parties and leading cultural institutions to find ways of boosting employment in the creative sector.

Bright joined the Jewish Chronicle as political editor in September 2009.

References[link]

External links[link]

• The New Statesman Special Report – The great Koran con trick, by Martin Bright, 10 December 2001

Billie Ray Martin is a German singer known for her elegant voice and avant garde persona.

Career[link]

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (February 2009)

Billie Ray Martin has had dance and pop hits in various collaborations and as a solo artist. Initially a guest singer for S'Express (she appears in the video for the song "Hey Music Lover"), she went on to work with the electronic/pop/house-music group Electribe 101. The group's only album was Electribal Memories because it disbanded. Many songs recorded for a planned second album made it onto Martin's solo album—these include “Hands up and Amen” and “Running around Town.”

Billie Ray Martin went on to forge her own solo career. Her first single for WEA was the worldwide hit “Your Loving Arms.” Originally the song only managed to peak at #38 in November 1994,^[where?] however on re-release the song peaked at #6 in the UK Singles Chart in May 1995, the song struck the Billboard Hot 100 twice, peaking at #87 in 1995 and at #46 a year later. The song was also a success across Europe, reaching #1, and remained on European charts for many weeks. It also topped the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. Follow-up singles included "Running Around Town," "Deadline for My Memories," "Imitation of Life", "Space Oasis," and "You & I (Keep Holding On)." All six songs are featured on her album Deadline for My Memories. The album was followed by the single "Honey." Originally released in the UK in 1999, it debuted stateside courtesy of Nervous Records four years later. The song peaked at #1 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play despite sporadic radio airplay. Her UK deal with React Records, the record label that originally released "Honey," included plans for a follow-up, "Don't Believe A Word," but a deal fell through. More encouraging chart success was to be found in Italy with her collaborations with Italian dance producers Datura: "Mystic Motion," "The Passion," and "Devotion."

Since then, Martin worked with Ann Peebles, Carla Thomas, and members of Aretha Franklin's band on her album 18 Carat Garbage, performed her "Repulsion" show (a live score to the Roman Polanski film) at both the Electric Cinema on Portobello Road and at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts, and she continues to release electronic music, such as her releases "No Brakes on My Rollerskates" and "Dead Again." In 2005–06 she released collaborations with DJ Hell and Slam.

In 2002, Sonnenstahl Records released the 12-track CD Recycled Garbage, a compilation of remixes of selected tracks from 18 Carat Garbage. Most prominently, the album featured the Junior Vasquez remix of "Systems of Silence," a song that included a quintessential Martin line: "I just want to dance all the way right down to the core of the black and the white."

Another single, "Undisco Me," was released on Rebirth Records in April 2007, and reached #6 in the UK Dance Chart. She also began a second career as a disc jockey. Her current nightclub, Komputerliebe, in Frankfurt (and soon to be launched in Berlin, where she now lives) is flourishing.

In 2008, Martin formed a new project. Recording as the Opiates, she (and Robert Solheim on production) finished an album titled Hollywood under the Knife. The Opiates made its live debut at Rough Trade, Brick Lane, London, in March, to coincide with the group's first release, the "Anatomy of a Plastic Girl" EP, which was releasaed on Kudos UK.

Discography[link]

Albums and EPs[link]

• Electribe 101 - Electribal Memories (1990)
• Persuasion Ep (with Spooky - 1993, reissued 2003)
• Four Ambient Tales EP (1993, 4 Ambient Tales, re-released 2000 as Four Ambient Tales)
• Deadline for My Memories (1996) - #47 UK^[1]
• 18 Carat Garbage (2001)
• 18 Carat Garbage Demos (2002)
• Recycled Garbage (2002)
• Brm New Demos (2003)

Singles[link]

• "Persuasion" (Billie Ray Martin featuring Spooky) (1993)
• "Your Loving Arms" (1995) - #6 UK;^[1] #46 US
• "Running Around Town" (1996) - #29 UK^[1]
• "Imitation Of Life" (1996) - #29 UK^[1]
• "Space Oasis" (1996) - #66 UK^[1]
• "You And I Keep Holding On" (1997)
• "Pacemaker" (1998)
• "Honey" (1999) - #54 UK^[1]
• "I'm Not Keen" (Mikael Delta featuring Billie Ray Martin) (2002)
• "Systems Of Silence" (2001)
• "I've Never Been to Memphis" (2001)
• "Where Fools Rush In" (2001)
• "18 Carat Garbage" (2002)
• "Honey '03" (2003)
• "Disco Activisto - The First Two Singles" (2004)
• "No Brakes On My Rollerskates" (Hot Skates 3000 featuring Billie Ray Martin) (2005)
• "Undisco Me" (2007) #20 U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play
• "The Crackdown" (2010)
• "Sweet Suburban Disco" (2011)

Remixes[link]

"Imitation Of Life" was remixed by Grammy Award winning remixer David Morales. Brian Transeau (aka BT) produced remixes for the singles "Space Oasis" and "Running Around Town". Almost all of Billie Ray Martin's singles have been remixed by Junior Vasquez, including "Your Loving Arms", "Running Around Town", "Space Oasis", "Systems Of Silence", and "18 Carat Garbage". "Your Loving Arms" and "Imitation Of Life" were remixed by Brothers In Rhythm. Roger Sanchez and Todd Terry both remixed "Your Loving Arms" edits - it was hoped the latter would replicate the stateside success enjoyed by Everything But The Girl's #2 hit "Missing." "Honey" was remixed by Above & Beyond, Chicane, and Deep Dish. "Pacemaker" was remixed by E-Smoove.

See also[link]

• List of number-one dance hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Disco Activisto

Chris Martin
Chris Martin playing the guitar during Coldplay's Viva la Vida Tour in 2008.
Background information
Birth name	Christopher Anthony John Martin
Born	(1977-03-02) 2 March 1977 (age 35) Exeter, Devon, England
Genres	Alternative rock, art rock, post-Britpop
Occupations	Musician, producer
Instruments	Vocals, piano, guitar, mandolin, clarinet, trumpet, harmonica, bass, organ, glockenspiel, Keyboards
Years active	1996–present
Labels	Parlophone, Capitol
Associated acts	Coldplay
Website	Coldplay.com

Christopher Anthony John "Chris" Martin (2 March 1977) is an English singer-songwriter, who is the lead vocalist, pianist and rhythm guitarist of the band Coldplay. He is well known by fans for his distinctive tenor voice. He is married to actress Gwyneth Paltrow.

Early life[link]

Chris Martin was born in Exeter, Devon and is the eldest of five children. His father, Anthony Martin, is a retired accountant, and his mother, Alison Martin, is a music teacher.^[1][2] Martin started his education at the pre-preparatory Hylton School and then went on to preparatory Exeter Cathedral School.^[3] It was at the prep school that Martin formed his first band, The Rocking Honkies, with Nick Repton & Iwan Gronow. Their debut performance was met with boos from the crowd.^[4] After Exeter Cathedral, Martin boarded at Sherborne School, a boys' independent school in Dorset. He also met future Coldplay manager Phil Harvey at the school.^[5] Martin continued his studies at University College London, staying at Ramsay Hall where he read Ancient World Studies and graduated with First Class honours in Greek and Latin.^[2][6] It is here he met future Coldplay bandmates Jonny Buckland, Will Champion and Guy Berryman.^[7]

Recording career[link]

Coldplay[link]

While studying at University College London, Martin met Jonny Buckland, Will Champion and Guy Berryman. In January 1998, they formed the rock band Coldplay. The band has had internationally recognised fame and success since their debut album, Parachutes, in 2000. Since then, they have released several further albums/EPs including: A Rush of Blood to the Head, Live 2003, X&Y, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, Prospekt's March, LeftRightLeftRightLeft and Mylo Xyloto.

Solo work[link]

Martin sitting at his piano for a 2005 concert

As a solo artist, Martin has written songs for a variety of acts including Embrace ("Gravity") and Jamelia ("See It in a Boy's Eyes", co-written with Coldplay producer Rik Simpson). Martin has also collaborated with Ron Sexsmith, Faultline, The Streets, and Ian McCulloch. He also sang a part of the vocals for the Band Aid 20 single, "Do They Know It's Christmas?" at the end of 2004. In 2005, Martin collaborated with Nelly Furtado on the track "All Good Things (Come to an End)", for her 2006 album, Loose. The two were once rumoured to be a couple, after they both performed at Glastonbury in 2002. Furtado joked about the situation, saying that "Yeah, he's my boyfriend — he just doesn't know it yet".^[8]

Martin's fascination with hip hop was shown in mid-2006 when he collaborated with rapper Jay-Z for the rapper's comeback album Kingdom Come after the two met earlier in the year. Martin put some chords together for a song known as "Beach Chair" and sent them to Jay-Z who enlisted the help of hip hop producer Dr. Dre to mix it (contrary to popular opinion it was Coldplay producer Rik Simpson and not Dre who conceived and performed the drum beats). The song was performed on 27 September 2006 by the two during Jay-Z's European tour at Royal Albert Hall. In 2007, Martin appeared on a track titled "Part of the Plan" for Swizz Beatz' debut solo album One Man Band Man. Martin has also worked on a solo collaboration with Kanye West, with whom he shared an impromptu jam session during a 2006 concert at Abbey Road Studios.^[9] He performed the chorus of "Homecoming", from West's album Graduation.

Influences[link]

Martin's and Coldplay's main influence is the Scottish rock band Travis, with Martin crediting the band for the creation of his own group.^[10] U2 has been another important influence on Martin both musically and politically,^[11] on whom he wrote for Rolling Stone magazine's "100 Greatest Artists of All Time",^[12] in the section on U2, 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." Martin also comments on Bono's effect on his own charity and political involvement he is even known to joke with friends referring to himself as "Crono".^[11]

Martin is very vocal about his love for Norwegian new wave/Synthpop band a-ha. In 2005 he stated the following 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."^[13] Martin has also performed live together with Magne Furuholmen of a-ha. In November 2011, he stated that "back when we didn't have any hits of our own we used to play a-ha songs."^[14]

He also is known to be a fan of artists such as English alternative rock bands Oasis & Muse,^[15] Irish pop group Westlife,^[16] English band Radiohead, British pop groups Girls Aloud^[17][18] and Take That,^[19] and Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire. Solo artists Martin likes include Leona Lewis,^[20] Noel Gallagher, Kylie Minogue,^[21] Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan and Hank Williams.^[15]

Coldplay performed R.E.M.'s "Nightswimming" with Michael Stipe on their Austin City Limits performance. During the show, Martin called "Nightswimming" "the greatest song ever written".^[22]

Other endeavours[link]

Martin playing "Trouble" on his piano during a concert in Brazil, February 2007

Martin and Coldplay guitarist Jon Buckland made cameo appearances in the film Shaun of the Dead as supporters of the fictional charity ZombAid.^[23] Martin has a second cameo in this film as a Zombie.^[23] In 2006 Martin had a cameo role in the second series episode four of the Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant created comedy Extras. He also appears singing in the closing credits of the 2009 film Brüno alongside Bono, Sting, Slash, Snoop Dogg, and Elton John.^[24] Martin also played one gig with the "Sid James Experience".

Martin has been particularly outspoken on issues of fair trade and has campaigned for Oxfam's Make Trade Fair campaign. He traveled to Ghana and Haiti to meet farmers and view the effects of unfair trade practices.^[25] 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. ^[26]

He was a vocal critic of President George W. Bush and the war in Iraq. Martin 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". Martin also supported the Democratic Party candidate for President in 2008, giving a shout-out to Barack Obama at the end of a performance of "Yellow" on 25 October 2008 episode of Saturday Night Live.^[27]

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".^[28][29] This was later revealed to be an April Fool's joke. Whilst 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 bushfires and floods in Victoria and Queensland.

Personal life[link]

Martin met American actress Gwyneth Paltrow in 2002 backstage at a Coldplay gig after the death of the actress's father, Bruce Paltrow. The couple married a year later on 5 December 2003.^[30] Their daughter, Apple Blythe Alison Martin, was born on 14 May 2004 in London.^[31] Their second child, Moses Bruce Anthony Martin, was born on 8 April 2006 in New York City.^[32] Simon Pegg and Martin's bandmate Jonny Buckland are Apple's godfathers.^[33][34] Martin is a longtime friend of Pegg, having met him in 2001, and appears in Shaun of the Dead,^[23] one of Pegg's movies.

Martin does not smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol.^[35]

Martin was raised as a Catholic but has since lapsed. In a 2005 Rolling Stone magazine interview, Martin said of his religious views: "I definitely believe in God. How can you look at anything and not be overwhelmed by the miraculousness of it?"^[36] In the same interview he spoke of going through a period of spiritual confusion, stating "I went through a weird patch, starting when I was about sixteen to twenty-two, of getting God, religion, superstition, judgement all confused".^[36] However, in a 2008 interview he stated:

"I'm always trying to work out what 'He' or 'She' is. I don't know if it's Allah or Jesus or Mohammed or Zeus. But I'd go for Zeus."^[37]

Following said interview, he released a text message declaring himself an "alltheist", a word of his invention meaning that he believes in "everything".^[37]

Martin often suffers from insomnia and has undergone sleep therapy.^[38] He has said in interviews that ideas for songs most often come to him at night, and that he also often has nightmares about performances going wrong.^[38]

Martin is a supporter of the Liberal Democrats.^[39]

In a 2012 interview with the British tabloid Daily Mail, Chris Martin revealed that he has had tinnitus for the past ten years and he developed it from listening to loud music when he was a teenager. He brings strong awareness to this condition and warns youngsters to avoid the same fate, while also protecting his own children's hearing with 'Peltor Kid' headphones.

Filmography[link]

Television[link]

Films[link]

Solo discography[link]

See Coldplay discography for his work with said group.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Chris Martin

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Chris Martin

• Coldplay.com
• Chris Martin at the Internet Movie Database

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2009)

John Wesley Martin (28 July 1931, Wingham, New South Wales – 16 July 1992, Burrell Creek, New South Wales) was an Australian cricketer who played in 8 Tests from 1960 to 1967. Martin grew up on the central coast, near Taree, one of 10 children of the manager of Burrell Creek's post office and general store, which Johnny himself ended up managing. He died on 15 July after a heart attack, having survived one 20 years earlier, and had bypass surgery in 1984. He was 60.

Background[link]

Born in Wingham of 28 July 1931, John Wesley Martin (whose mother was related to 1890s Surrey and England fast bowler Tom Richardson) first went down to Sydney at 15, and saw Bradman and Barnes score 234 each against England in December 1946. His imagination was fired. Over the next few years his local reputation spread, and in 1953-54 he joined Sydney grade club Petersham, catching the overnight train to the match each Saturday and returning home that evening. Buzzing his curving chinaman (googly), appealing alternately softly and urgently, bustling quickly back for the next one, and batting with great vigour (he hit 166 sixes for his grade club), Martin was eventually chosen for NSW in 1956-57. A promising Rugby League career was shelved.

He was to play through to 1967-68, trying his luck in one season ( 1958–59) with South Australia, for whom he took 7 for 110 against Peter May's MCC side without earning Test selection. Lindsay Kline, the Victorian of similar style, was preferred. He had toured New Zealand with the young 1956-57 Australian (non-Test) side, returning there three years later, again under Ian Craig's captaincy, and in . 1961 his travels were extended with a season at Colne, in Lancashire, where he took 70 wickets at 12 and hit 706 runs at 35.

By now he had become a Test cricketer, having played in three of the exciting 1960-61 Tests against West Indies (and substituted in the field in the tied Test at Brisbane), his first, at Melbourne, being the 500th Test match, and bringing him poignantly what were to remain best batting and bowling performances in an eight-Test career. Going in at No. 10, he raced to 55 off the bowling of Hall, Watson, Worrell (whom he hit for six) and Ramadhin, before Valentine bowled him as he went for another big hit. He and MacKay put on 97 in 72 minutes, extending Australia's total to 348, which proved enough for a seven-wicket victory after West Indies failed to avoid the follow-on.

Martin's greatest achievement came in West Indies' second innings. They were 97 for 2, still 70 behind, when he bagged three of the most illustrious wickets Test cricket has ever had on offer in the space of only four balls. Kanhai made a mess of an attempted pull and was caught; resuming next over, Martin found the edge as a languid Sobers propped forward, to be caught by Simpson at slip; and after playing the hat-trick ball, Worrell was also caught by Simpson, completing a `pair'. These were the only wickets Martin took in the match, but his allround contributions would probably have earned him the Man of the Match award had such been on offer in those days.

He failed to take a wicket at Sydney in the next Test, and helped Gibbs to a reciprocal three wickets in four balls by falling to the first he received. Dropped for the Adelaide Test, he returned for the final contest, at Melbourne, where 90,800 attended on the second day, and though he did little of note, he was with MacKay at the end as Australia scraped in by two wickets.

'Little Fav' had to wait three years before his next Test appearance, though he continued to bamboozle many a batsman in domestic cricket. In 1962-63 he took a career-best 8 for 97 for NSW v Victoria at Sydney. Next season, when he made his sole first-class century (101 against WA at Perth), he played in the Second Test against South Africa, at Melbourne, and took four wickets. Disappointment at further omission was offset by selection to tour England in 1964, though he played in none of the Tests, and was troubled by a recurring shoulder injury. His 35 tour wickets came at 32.40, and he averaged 19 with the bat, his top-score 70 coming at Taunton.

Martin played in two Tests in India and one in Pakistan on the way home, in front of massive crowds, picking up eight further wickets and playing a few useful tailend innings; but there was only one Test appearance to come, and that was at Port Elizabeth on the 1966-67 tour, the final Test, after Martin had taken 11 wickets in the Griqualand West match and six in the South African XI match at Pietermaritzburg preceding the Test. A duck (his third in Tests) and 20, and no wickets in 22 overs came as a muted farewell, even if all in attendance had Graeme Pollock's three-hour century to remember the match by.

Johnny Martin, the ideal tourist, had gone on the Cavaliers' tour of India and South Africa in 1962-63. When he retired in 1968, he had spun out 445 batsmen at 31.17, 17 times taking five or more wickets in an innings. His 17 Test wickets had cost almost 50 apiece, though he had not been an extravagance, conceding no more than 2.7 runs per six-ball over. His 3970 - mainly breezy - first-class runs had come at 23.77. So much for figures. He was one of cricket's precious characters, whose skill was rare and whose attitude was just what the game has always needed.

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