George Martin dead: Beatles producer dubbed 'Fifth Beatle' dies aged 90

Sir George Martin, the Beatles
record producer, has died aged
90, Ringo Starr confirmed today.
Dubbed the 'Fifth Beatle', Martin
supervised most of the band's
era-defining recordings from
"Love Me Do" through the
psychedelia of "Sgt. Pepper's
Lonely Hearts Club Band" to their
final collaborations on "Abbey
Road".
Beatles drummer Starr shared the
sad news of Martin's death in a
Twitter message in the early
hours of Wednesday morning.
God bless George Martin
peace and love to Judy and
his family love Ringo and
Barbara George will be
missed xxx
— #RingoStarr
(@ringostarrmusic) March 9,
2016
Thank you for all your love
and kindness George peace
and love xx pic.twitter.com/
um2hRFB7qF
— #RingoStarr
(@ringostarrmusic) March 9,
2016
John Lennon's son, Sean Ono
Lennon, said he was "gutted" by
the news as he shared a picture
of Martin on Instagram.
R.I.P. George Martin. I'm
so gutted I don't have
many words. Thinking of
Judy and Giles and…
https://t.co/3Nc8sCgRpN
— Sean Ono Lennon
(@seanonolennon) March 9,
2016
R.I.P. George Martin. I'm so gutted
I don't have many words. Thinking
of Judy and Giles and family. Love
Always, Sean

Martin was an EMI staff producer
who had the foresight and the ear
to sign a band that had been
turned down by virtually every
other major label in London in
1962, before Starr was a full-
fledged member.
Martin signed the group from
Liverpool before meeting the
members on the strength of demo
tapes shopped by manager Brian
Epstein.
Martin was a huge influence on
the group's sound - he famously
suggested they speed up the
tempo of "Please, Please Me,"
turning a Roy Orbison-esque
ballad into a rocker that marked
the Beatles' first No. 1 record in
Britain.
Hey day: Martin with Paul
McCartney and John Lennon
Perhaps most significantly, he
expressed his faith in John
Lennon and Paul McCartney as
songwriters by conceding to their
demand to record their own
material and rebuffing his
suggestion that the pop tune "How
Do You Do It" be their first single.
Through the band's ups and
downs in the late 1960s, Martin
remained a constant for the
Beatles, a figure who commanded
respect from Lennon, McCartney,
Starr and George Harrison no
matter how fierce the in-fighting
was among the foursome.
The band's major collaboration
with a producer other than Martin
came on the tracks that
comprised the 1970 album "Let It
Be," which by many accounts was
a frustrating experience as
producer Phil Spector applied his
"Wall of Sound" formula to songs
such as the title track and "The
Long and Winding Road."
Fifth Beatle Sir George Martin
dies aged 90
Martin's skill as a producer and
arranger allowed the band to
flourish as they evolved from
recording the material they'd
worked out on stage for years in
clubs to the more intricate
recordings found on the 1965
album "Rubber Soul" and 1966's
"Revolver."
He helped them arrange strings
for "Yesterday" and work with
more exotic instruments such as
the Indian sitar that Harrison
began experimenting with on such
songs as "Norwegian Wood."