Martin Briley is an English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

, guitarist

Guitarist

A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

 and keyboardist

Keyboardist

A keyboardist is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more...

.

He has recorded with and written for a variety of well-known musicians, as well as releasing four solo albums in his own right.

Beginnings and early bands

Briley began playing and writing music when he was ten years old.

At the age of seventeen, he and his band "Mandrake Paddle Steamer" (later shortened to Mandrake) signed their first record deal with Parlophone/EMI, and subsequently recorded at the legendary Abbey Road Studios

Abbey Road Studios

Abbey Road Studios is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, its present owner...

.

Briley was later signed to George Martin

George Martin

Sir George Henry Martin CBE is an English record producer, arranger, composer and musician. He is sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle"— a title that he often describes as "nonsense," but the fact remains that he served as producer on all but one of The Beatles' original albums...

's AIR group of companies and went on to become an important part of the London studio scene as an arranger

Arranger

In investment banking, an arranger is a provider of funds in the syndication of a debt. They are entitled to syndicate the loan or bond issue, and may be referred to as the "lead underwriter". This is because this entity bears the risk of being able to sell the underlying securities/debt or the...

, vocalist and sought-after session guitarist

Session musician

Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...

. He also had a brief stint with the British progressive rock

Progressive rock

Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...

 band Greenslade

Greenslade

Greenslade is an English progressive rock band. It was originally formed in the autumn of 1972 with the following line-up:* Dave Greenslade - keyboards...

.

Session work in America

Briley moved to New York, where he found work as a touring and session musician for numerous artists, including Meat Loaf

Meat Loaf

Michael Lee Aday , better known by his stage name, Meat Loaf, is an American hard rock musician and actor...

, Julian Lennon

Julian Lennon

John Charles Julian Lennon is an English musician, songwriter, actor, and photographer. He is the son of John Lennon and Lennon's first wife, Cynthia Powell. Beatles manager Brian Epstein was his godfather. He has a younger half-brother, Sean Lennon. Lennon was named after his paternal...

, Bonnie Tyler

Bonnie Tyler

Bonnie Tyler is a Welsh singer, most notable for her hits in the 1970s and 1980s including "It's a Heartache", "Holding Out for a Hero" and "Total Eclipse of the Heart".-Early life:...

, the Modern Jazz Quartet

Modern Jazz Quartet

The Modern Jazz Quartet was established in 1952 by Milt Jackson , John Lewis , Percy Heath , and Kenny Clarke . Connie Kay replaced Clarke in 1955...

, Engelbert Humperdinck

Engelbert Humperdinck (singer)

Engelbert Humperdinck is a British pop singer, best known for his hits including "Release Me " and "After the Lovin'" as well as "The Last Waltz" .-Early life:...

, Lulu

Lulu (singer)

Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, OBE , best known by her stage name Lulu, is a Scottish singer, actress, and television personality who has been successful in the entertainment business from the 1960s through to the present day...

, Mick Jones

Mick Jones (Foreigner)

Michael Leslie "Mick" Jones is an English guitarist, songwriter, and record producer best known as the founding member of the rock band Foreigner.-Life and career:...

, Donna Summer

Donna Summer

LaDonna Adrian Gaines , known by her stage name, Donna Summer, is an American singer/songwriter who gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s. She has a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Summer is a five-time Grammy winner and was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach...

, Cliff Richard

Cliff Richard

Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....

, Olivia Newton-John

Olivia Newton-John

Olivia Newton-John AO, OBE is a singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles and 14 of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA...

, the Hollies

The Hollies

The Hollies are an English pop and rock group, formed in Manchester in the early 1960s, though most of the band members are from throughout East Lancashire. Known for their distinctive vocal harmony style, they became one of the leading British groups of the 1960s and 1970s...

, Tom Jones

Tom Jones (singer)

Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...

 and Albert Hammond

Albert Hammond

Albert Hammond OBE is a British singer, songwriter and record producer from Gibraltar.-Birth and early success:Hammond was born in London, England, where his family had been evacuated to from Gibraltar during World War II. His family returned to Gibraltar shortly after his birth, and there he grew...

.

Solo work

Briley signed a deal with Mercury Records as a solo artist, releasing three self-written albums. Of his solo work, his single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 "Salt in My Tears" is probably the best known. It is for this song that Briley is generally known in the US to be a one-hit wonder

One-hit wonder

A one-hit wonder is a person or act known mainly for only a single success. The term is most often used to describe music performers with only one hit single.-Characteristics:...

, as it reached #36 on the Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 in the summer of 1983, making it his biggest pop single.

Songwriting

Briley has received orchestral commissions, and has written songs for such artists as Céline Dion

Celine Dion

Céline Marie Claudette Dion, , , is a Canadian singer. Born to a large family from Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record...

, *NSYNC, Dream, Michael Bolton

Michael Bolton

Michael Bolton is an American singer and songwriter. Bolton originally performed in the hard rock and heavy metal genres from the mid 1970s to the mid 1980s, both on his early solo albums and those recorded as the frontman of the band Blackjack...

, Mietta

Mietta

Daniela Miglietta , is an Italian singer. She released 10 albums in all and two million copies of her records were sold.-Biography:She started her career as a model and as a radio actress....

, Kenny Loggins

Kenny Loggins

During the next decade, Loggins recorded so many successful songs for film soundtracks that he was referred to as, King of the Movie Soundtrack.He began with "I'm Alright" , "Mr. Night", and "Lead the Way" from Caddyshack...

, Pat Benatar

Pat Benatar

Pat Benatar is an American singer and four-time Grammy winner. She had considerable commercial success particularly in the United States...

, Jessica Andrews

Jessica Andrews

Jessica Danielle Andrews is an American country music singer. At age 15 in mid-1999, she made her debut on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts with the single "I Will Be There for You", from her debut album Heart Shaped World, released in 1999 on DreamWorks Records Nashville.Andrews...

, 5-Star, Jeff Healey

Jeff Healey

Norman Jeffrey "Jeff" Healey was a blind Canadian jazz and blues-rock vocalist and guitarist who attained musical and personal popularity, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s.-Early life:...

, Rebecca St. James

Rebecca St. James

Rebecca St. James , is a Christian pop rock singer, songwriter, musician, author, and actor. She began performing in Australia in the late 1980s and released her first full-length studio album in 1991. In 1993 she was signed to the record label ForeFront Records and released her major label debut a...

, Nana Mouskouri

Nana Mouskouri

Nana Mouskouri , born Ioánna Moúschouri on October 13, 1934, in Chania, Crete, Greece, is a Greek singer who has sold about 300 million records worldwide in a career spanning over five decades, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time. She was known as Nána to her friends and...

, Willie Nile

Willie Nile

Willie Nile is an American singer-songwriter. In 1980 Nile released his self-titled debut album which according to one critic remains “one of the most thrilling post-Byrds folk-rock albums of all time”...

, Gregg Allman

Gregg Allman

Gregory Lenoir Allman , known as Gregg Allman, is a rock and blues singer, keyboardist, guitarist and songwriter, and a founding member of The Allman Brothers Band. He was inducted with the band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Georgia...

, Nightranger, David Hasselhoff

David Hasselhoff

David Michael Hasselhoff is an American actor, singer, producer and businessman. He is best known for his lead roles as Michael Knight in the popular 1980s US series Knight Rider and as L.A. County Lifeguard Mitch Buchannon in the series Baywatch...

, Patrick Swayze

Patrick Swayze

Patrick Wayne Swayze was an American actor, dancer and singer-songwriter. He was best known for his tough-guy roles, as romantic leading men in the hit films Dirty Dancing and Ghost, and as Orry Main in the North and South television miniseries. He was named by People magazine as its "Sexiest...

, Michael Monroe

Michael Monroe

Matti Antero Kristian Fagerholm , best known by his stage name, Michael Monroe, is a Finnish rock musician, and multi-instrumentalist who rose to fame as the vocalist for the glam punk band Hanoi Rocks, and has served as the frontman for all-star side projects, such as Demolition 23...

, Chastity Bono

Chastity Bono

Chaz Salvatore Bono is an American transgender advocate, writer, actor, and musician. Bono is the only child of American entertainers Sonny and Cher, though each had children from other relationships...

, Peter Tork

Peter Tork

Peter Tork is an American musician and actor, best known as a member of The Monkees.-Early life:Tork was born Peter Halsten Thorkelson in Washington, D.C.. Although he was born in 1942, many news articles report him as born in 1944 in New York City as this was the date and place given on early...

, Nikki Webster

Nikki Webster

Nikki Webster is an Australian pop performer. She is best known for her starring role in the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony and her single "Strawberry Kisses".-Recording career:...

, Hope Partlow

Hope Partlow

Hope Partlow is an American pop singer from Drummonds, Tennessee.-Biography:Partlow grew up singing gospel and country songs in her native town. She was a popular act at the local Strand Theatre. While still in her early teens, a demo she and her family had self-produced, made its way to an aunt...

, Natascha Sohl, Ballas Hough, Phil Stacey

Phil Stacey

Joel Philip "Phil" Stacey is an American singer who first gained national attention on season 6 of the television talent show American Idol. After being eliminated from the competition on May 2, 2007, he was signed to a recording contract with Lyric Street Records...

, Orianthi

Orianthi

Orianthi Panagaris , better known simply as Orianthi, is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter and guitarist. She is perhaps best known for being Michael Jackson's lead guitarist for his ill-fated This Is It concert series. Her debut single "According to You" has peaked at No. 3 in Japan, No. 8...

, The Maine

The Maine (band)

The Maine is an American rock band from Tempe, Arizona. They were formed in January 21st, 2007, they released EP Stay Up, Get Down in the same year. On December 11 2007, The Maine made their debut with a five song EP called The Way We Talk produced by Matt Grabe...

 and Barry Manilow

Barry Manilow

Barry Manilow is an American singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, producer, conductor, and performer, best known for such recordings as "Could It Be Magic", "Mandy", "Can't Smile Without You", and "Copacabana ."...

.

Personal life

Briley lives in New York with his wife, Dana Calitri, and has two daughters, Vanessa and Olivia.

Discography

• Fear of the Unknown
  Fear Of The Unknown
  Fear of the Unknown was the debut solo album by British musician Martin Briley. It was released in 1981 on Mercury Records.- Artwork :The artwork for Fear of the Unknown was painted by Norman Walker. Briley himself had a lot of input on the artwork, having studied graphic design, and wanted the...
  
  (1981)
  1981 in music
  See also:* Timeline of musical eventsThis is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1981.-January–April:*January 10 – A revival of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Pirates of Penzance opens at Broadway's Uris Theatre, starring Linda Ronstadt and Rex Smith.*January 24 –...
  
  
• One Night with a Stranger
  One Night With A Stranger
  One Night with a Stranger, Martin Briley's second album, was released in 1983. This album became probably the most successful of Briley's solo works, as it featured his big hit single "The Salt in My Tears" and the minor follow-up, "Put Your Hands on the Screen."The album cover is mostly...
  
  (1983)
  1983 in music
  This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1983.-January-April:*January – ZTT Records is founded.*January 8 – The UK singles chart is tabulated from this week forward by The Gallup Organization...
  
   ( includes the hit single "The Salt in My Tears" )
• Dangerous Moments
  Dangerous Moments
  Dangerous Moments, Martin Briley's third album, was released in 1985.-Track listing:All tracks composed by Martin Briley# "Dangerous Moments"# "Think of Me"# "Ghosts"# "It Shouldn't Have To Hurt That Much"# "Alone At Last"# "Before the Party Ends"...
  
  (1985)
  1985 in music
  This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1985.-January–March:*January 1 - The newest music video channel, VH-1, debuts on American cable. It is aimed at an older demographic than its sister station, MTV...
  
  
• It Comes in Waves
  It Comes in Waves
  - Track listing :# It Comes in Waves 5:21# Church of Disney 3:00# Big Sun 3:20# I Don't Think She Misses Me At All 4:43# Me and My Invisible Friend 3:4# The Massage 4:01# In the Dim Light of a Brand New Day 4:06# Invisible 3:24# Pray for Rain 3:54...
  
  (2006)
  2006 in music
  This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 2006.-January:*January 10 – Eric Burdon releases his album Soul of a Man and begins touring with a new band....
  
  

External links

• Martin Briley's official website