Martin Barre

Martin Lancelot Barre (/bɑːr/; born 17 November 1946) is an English rock musician best known for his work with progressive rock band Jethro Tull, with whom he recorded and toured from their second album in 1969 to the band's dissolution in 2014. In early 1990's he initiated a solo career that now spawned four studio albums plus several guest appearances.

He has also played the flute and other instruments such as the mandolin, both on-stage for Jethro Tull and in his own solo work.

Early career

Martin Barre was born in Kings Heath, Birmingham, West Midlands, England on November 17, 1946. His father was an engineer who had wanted to play clarinet professionally. In grammar school Barre played flute. When Barre bought his first guitar his father gave him albums by Barney Kessel, Johnny Smith and Wes Montgomery to broaden his musical perspectives.

In college he studied architecture at Lanchester Polytechnic (now Coventry University) for three years, but did not complete his studies after failing Spanish and Atomic Science, subjects that he found to have little to do with designing buildings. After designing a road junction in Birmingham, England, he decided that a career in architecture was too boring, and switched to music.

Ian Anderson

Ian Scott Anderson, MBE (born 10 August 1947) is a Scottish-born musician, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist best known for his work as the lead vocalist, flautist and acoustic guitarist of British rock band Jethro Tull. Anderson plays several other musical instruments, including keyboards, bass guitar, bouzouki, balalaika, saxophone, harmonica, and a variety of whistles. His solo work began with the 1983 album Walk into Light, and since then he has released another five works, including the sequel of Jethro Tull album Thick as a Brick (1972) in 2012, entitled Thick as a Brick 2.

Early life

Ian Anderson was born the youngest of three siblings. His father, James Anderson, ran the RSA Boiler Fluid Company in East Port, Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. Anderson spent the first part of his childhood in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was influenced by his father's big band and jazz records and the emergence of rock music, though disenchanted with the "show biz" style of early American rock and roll stars like Elvis Presley.