Eric Martin (singer)

Eric Martin (born 10 October 1960, San Francisco, California), the son of Frederick Lee "Pepper" Martin, is a singer best known as the former vocalist of the hard rock band Mr. Big.

Career

Before his career in Mr. Big, he played in the rock group Kid Courage in San Francisco, California, and also the band Stark Raving Mad in Santa Rosa, California. With Walter (Herbie) Herbert (from Journey) and Sandy Einstein as managers the band 415 was formed in the late 1970s. 415 recorded one album under the name of The Eric Martin Band, entitled Sucker for a Pretty Face. The LP received a gold disc. "EMB" broke up in 1985, after which Martin recorded two solo albums, Eric Martin and I'm Only Fooling Myself.

In 1988, Martin, Billy Sheehan, Pat Torpey and Paul Gilbert formed Mr. Big, obtaining commercial success.

Eventually, Mr. Big went for a break, and 1998 saw the release of Martin's third solo album, Somewhere in the Middle, plus an accompanying tour with a new incarnation of the Eric Martin Band. After Mr. Big finally broke up in 2001, Martin pursued his solo career further, releasing another solo album I'm Goin' Sane in 2002. He has since released two more albums, Pure and his latest, Destroy All Monsters. He is also the lead singer and songwriter for the Tak Matsumoto Group, which released their first album, titled TMG I in 2004.

In 2007, Martin joined forces with Gunnar Nelson, Matthew Nelson, Kelly Keagy (Night Ranger) and Mark Slaughter (Slaughter) to perform their music under the name of Scrap Metal.

Martin is still active in the music industry, performing regularly in the United States and Japan, for which he recently sung the theme tune for the MMA series, PRIDE Fighting Championships, The Last Man Standing. Martin is married to his drummer Denise, and in 2004 became the father of twin sons, Dylan and Jake. Recently, he had one of the biggest shows yet when he headlined in Shillong, India in front of over 22,000 fans. The show was organized by the present King of Tripura Maharaja Kirit Pradyot Manikya deb Burman for the Royal Foundation. Martin also sung the Power Ranger theme with Buckethead.

Discography

Albums

• Sucker For A Pretty Face (1983)
• Eric Martin (1985)
• I'm Only Fooling Myself (1987)
• Iron Eagle Original Soundtrack (1986) "These Are The Good Times" (on soundtrack) and "Eyes Of The World" (in movie but not on soundtrack)
• Soul Sessions - The Capitol Years (1987)
• Somewhere In The Middle (1998)
• I'm Goin' Sane (2002)
• Pure (2003)
• Destroy All Monsters (2004)

Miscellaneous

• Appears on Working Man, a tribute album to Rush (Lead Vocals on "Mission") (1996)

References

External links

• Official Eric Martin site
• Eric's videos with Mr. BIG