robert martin

Robert "Bobby" Martin, the son of two opera singers from Philadelphia, is a conservatory-trained french horn player, a gifted athlete, and he sports a genius IQ. Bobby taught himself to play piano and all the brass instruments in elementary school; he learned all the reed instruments shortly thereafter. Although he had attracted the attention of professional baseball scouts as an all-star shortstop, he decided to pursue a career in music.

In the late 70's, Martin recorded and toured with the Pop Group "Orleans", before joining Zappa's band in the summer of 1981. He recorded and toured with Zappa until December 1984.

Bobby Martin was a band member of The Band From Utopia.

The picture on the right shows Robert Martin and Dr.Dot.
(thank you, jimmie d.)

discography

bonnie bramlett: memories (1978) - keyboards, saxophone

eric burdon: comeback (1982) - saxophone

eric burdon: unreleased eric burdon (1982) - harmonica, keyboards, saxophone

eric burdon: wicked man (1988) - saxophone

eric burdon: crawling king snake (1994) - saxophone

eric burdon: misunderstood (1995) - harmonica, keyboards, saxophone

eric burdon: f#¢k me...i thought he was dead!!! (1999) - harmonica, keyboards

eric burdon: crawling king snake/soldier of... (2000) - saxophone

eric burdon: live at the roxy/greatest hits... (2001) - harmonica, keyboards

bobby caldwell: heart of mine (1987) - sax (tenor)

belinda carlisle: belinda (1986) - synthesizer, keyboards, saxophone

belinda carlisle: her greatest hits (1992) - synthesizer, keyboards, saxophone

belinda carlisle: belinda [uk bonus tracks] (2003) - synthesizer, saxophone

phil christian: no prisoner  - keyboards, vocals (bckgr)

glenn frey: strange weather (1992) - vocals (bckgr)

graham central station: star walk (1979) - executive producer

bill haley: warner brothers years & more (1999) - organ

lynn hope: morocco  - vibraphone

inner circle: best of inner circle: the capitol... (1993) - percussion, keyboards, saxophone

the intruders: cowboys to girls: the best of the... (1995) - arranger

etta james : live from san francisco (1994) - french horn, keyboards, saxophone, vocals (bckgr)

etta james : love songs (2001) - producer

jamie james : big one (1984) - guitar (bass), keyboards, saxophone, vocals (bckgr)

norman jay: philadelphia 1973-1981 (1999) - arranger, producer

key largo: saner days  - french horn, saxophone

leo kottke: great big boy (1991) - bass, keyboards, vocals (bckgr)

doc lawrence: doc lawrence (1992) - piano, organ (hammond), sax (tenor)

mfsb: love is the message: the best of... (1995) - arranger, producer

mama roo: mama roo (1990) - horn, keyboards, vocals (bckgr)

benny mardones: benny mardones (1989) - organ, organ (hammond), saxophone

bette midler: no frills (1983) - organ, synthesizer, keyboards

stevie nicks: live at red rocks (1995) - horn, keyboards, vocals

neil norman w/ sexton: facing destiny (1990) - vocals (bckgr)

the o'jays: give the people what they want (1995) - arranger

the o'jays: let me make love to you (1995) - arranger

the o'jays: live in london (1998) - producer

the o'jays: year 2000/my favorite person (1999) - arranger

the o'jays: ultimate o'jays (2001) - arranger, producer

tony orlando: tony orlando - vocals (bckgr)

osmond boys: osmond boys (1990) - synthesizer, saxophone

joshua path: headrush (1992) - keyboards, saxophone, sax (tenor), drum programming

billy paul: let 'em in/only the strong survive (1999) - arranger

queen ida & her zydeco: cookin' with queen ida (1989) - horn, keyboards, vocals (bckgr)

queen ida : mardi gras (1994) - keyboards, vocals (bckgr)

the rippingtons with russ: curves ahead (1991) - sax (tenor)

savoy brown: make me sweat (1988) - keyboards

savoy brown: kings of boogie (1989) - keyboards

savoy brown: collection (1994) - keyboards

bunny sigler: bunny sigler (1998) - arranger

preston smith: preston smith (1989) - drums, organ (hammond)

j. spencer : chimera (1993) - strings

finis tasby: people don't care (1995) - organ, piano, saxophone, vocals (bckgr)

the three degrees: turnin' up the heat (1998) - arranger

robin trower: passion (1987) - keyboards, vocals (bckgr)

robin trower: take what you need (1988) - keyboards, vocals (bckgr)

kristen vigard: kristen vigard (1988) - saxophone

bobby vinton & george: as time goes by (1992) - saxophone

andy williams: i still believe in santa claus (1990) - synthesizer, percussion

original soundtrack: rudolph the red nosed reindeer... (1998) - saxophone

various artists: world of contemporary jazz groups (1993) - sax (tenor)

various artists: great gospel men (1995) - piano

various artists: am i black enough for you (1995) - arranger, horn arrangements

various artists: sex & soul, vol. 2 (1996) - horn, string arrangements

various artists: fish-tree-water blues (1999) - french horn, keyboards, saxophone, vocals (bckgr)

random notes 

     From: unknown

I was looking through promotional material for Leo Kottke, of all people, and it mentioned that his album Great Big Boy (1991) features "Robert Martin, conservatory-trained French horn player and FZ alumnus, on keyboards and bass."  (Bass?)  This is the only mention of him I've ever seen aside from his work with Zappa.

     From: unknown

2 weeks ago, I watched a show on TV ("Schmidteinander" for all the German ppl), where there had a live band playing. A guy named Kal Davies, playing some sort of Soul and Blues, featuring Bobby Martin on keyboards and vocals.

     From: unknown

Let us not forget that Bobby Martin can be seen and heard in mid-80's Stevie Nicks live tunes. He was doing many tours with Stevie Nicks' bands through the 80's (and 90's?).

     From: unknown

His name was indeed bandied about in the early stages of ZU. I can't help you with pre-FZ data, but I can tell you he made one solo album in the eighties (called "Bobby Martin") and currently enjoys the very enviable position of Cybill Shepherd's significant other and musical director.

      Jan van Kemenade sez:

There's a Bobby Martin on backing vocals on a track of Greg Phillinganes 'Significant Ganes' album (1981). Could this be 'our' Bobby Martin??

      From: Chris Cawthray (drumz@inforamp.net)

while channel flipping, I happened upon the sitcom "Cybill", of which Robert (Bobby) Martin is the musical director.....
anyway, there was a scene in a nightclub where Cybill sings, backed by a piano player (playing bass lines on a synth ontop of the piano), and it sure as hell looked alot like Bobby Martin, and whoever it was, wasn't "faking" the fingers, he actually looked like he was playing was what we were hearing.....

anyway, it was him, it sure as hell wasn't Stevie's Spanking, and it makes me wish even more that Bobby Martin would do a solo record or something...

     From: Patrick Neve (splat@darkwing.uoregon.edu)

I heard that Bobby used to play pro baseball before he was with Zappa.  Has anyone else heard this, or know which team?  I thought he was a pitcher or something.

     From: Hedwig&Gerhard Rutschek (h.g.rutschek@aon.at)

I found a biography of Robert Martin under http://www.cybill.com/: Robert Martin, the son of two opera singers from Philadelphia, is a conservatory-trained French Horn player. He is also a gifted athlete, and he sports a genius IQ. A classic overachiever, he taught himself to play piano and all the brass instruments in elementary school. He learned all the reed instruments shortly thereafter. In high-school, aside from being a national honor society academic student, an undefeated wrestler, and an unusually gifted gymnast, he was first chair horn in the Pennsylvania All-State Orchestra and Band and number-one bass in the All-State Choir. Although he had attracted the attention of professional baseball scouts as an all-star shortstop, he decided to pursue a career in music. He spent three years at the Temple University College of Music on a full scholarship. Then he auditioned for Mason Jones, principle horn with the Philadelphia Orchestra and was accepted into the prestigious Curtis Institute with Jones. At Curtis, he played week after week under the greatest conductors in the world. After three semesters, the lure of rock and roll drew him away from the classics and into the life of a touring musician, playing R&B, jazz, and rock. There, he utilized all his versatility as a keyboard player, sax player, vocalist, even managing to incorporate the French Horn into his performance arsenal.

In the late 1970's, he came to the attention of the group "Orleans," based out of Woodstock, New York. After a few years of recording and touring with that successful group, he auditioned for Frank Zappa and would perform on all of Frank's tours and live albums from that time on. In between tours with Zappa, he toured as Musical Director for Bette Midler, and toured or performed with Paul McCartney, Michael McDonald, Stevie Nicks, Boz Scaggs, Etta James, and many others. In 1983, he recorded a solo album for MCA Records, featuring all of his vocal, instrumental, and writing talents. He has recorded with Prince, the Moody Blues, Lyle Lovett, Gladys Knight, Glenn Frey, Bobby Caldwell, The Stylistics, The O'Jays, Sheila E, and a long list of other artists. For Wilson Pickett, Robert played keyboards and horns, did all the arrangements and backing vocals and co-produced Pickette's Grammy nominated album. Since 1986, he has owned and operated his own studio and branched out into programming, producing, and music for film and television.
He is currently the composer for the Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning television show, "Cybill," on CBS.

     From: Big G (ghenry@together.net)

This may be old hat to all the die-hard a.f.f-z'ers, but I just discovered this. In the latest People magazine, on the last page, there is an article about Robert Martin and Cybill Shepard breaking up. (Nov 98)
Apparently they'd been an item for the last four years. He lived in her home in Encino with her and all the children she'd accumulated from all of her previous relationships. According to People magazine, he abruptly moved out at the end of last October. There's even a picture of the two together. It's definetely him alright and the magazine described him as a "pianist and saxophonist". No mention of his ever playing with FZ though. Bastards.

     From: Jon Naurin (naurin@mbox300.swopnet.se)

Here's from an interview with Mr. Martin:

"[...] I was in the choir and during my final year at scool I was a bass. I had no high-range at all at that time. I was the number one low bass in the PA all state choir. Then that summer between high school and college, as I was singing in these bands and playing rock music, my range started to increase. [...] By the time I was in my early twenties, I had this ridiculous range. I could sing really high because I wasn't hurting my voice. I wasn't trying to sound like James Brown or Wilson Pickett and just go for a gravelly sound, so I wasn't hurting my throat. But I never lost my bottom, so I ended up with a four-octave range.

Q: So you were really a boy soprano in the band, no falsetto?

RM: Right (laughs). I would use the falsetto for effect, but I didn't use it because I had to. Interestingly enough, although it doesn't actually seem that unusual when I think of it, my falsetto doesn't really go any higher than my natural voice. I can sometimes squeeze out a top A, both with by falsetto and my natural voice. For most people, the falsetto range goes a lot higher."

     From: Andy Guthrie (aguthrie@ctdi.com)

During the very early 70's Bob Martin played South Jersey and Pennsylvania clubs with an amazing group of musicians called "Hereafter". I'm the privileged owner of some recordings from live performances of the group. I never would have known of his membership in Frank Zappa's band had I not tuned in a prerformance of FZ  on a local PBS broadcast in the early 90s.
Amazingly, as a goof or because his voice has such a great soulful quality, FZ featured Bob on a cover of the Allman Bros. "Whippin Post". I have recordings of BM singing background on Hereafter's versions of Allman Bros. "Whipping Post", "Dreams", lead on "Follow Your Heart" by the Sons of Champlin (I think) and Derek and the Dominos' "Layla". He plays French horn on Rod Stewart's "Handbags and Gladrags" (I think that's it) . He and other members of that group (Jerry Antonelli-bass, Jim Selesky-guitar) were an inspiration to many young players during that time. A group of us would think nothing of driving from Jersey to Lancaster, PA to listen to Bob and company play.

     From: Robert Martin (RAMusic10@aol.com)

Dear Everybody,

    I had no idea this information about me was floating around on the web until my best friend from high school e-mailed me about it. It's great to see ongoing interest in FZ's music and alumnae.

    The discography is mostly correct and includes a few things I had forgotten about. Yes, there is another Bobby Martin from Philly who arranged many of the sessions I played French horn on at Sigma Sound in the early 70's. I'm proud to have played on so many hit records from that era, songs like Backstabbers, Love Train, Money, Money, Betcha By Golly Wow, Me And Mrs Jones, etc., etc... Laura Nyro and the Osmonds never happened. That must have been the other Bobby Martin. Anyway, I've been "Robert" since the '88 Zappa tour.

    I'm currently music editoer for Baywatch...hey, it pays the bills! And I am working on a few other projects and my own music, but I'm sorry to say it won't be out anytime soon. It will include some philosophical content based on years of studying my favorite writer, Ayn Rand.
     Yes, I split with Cybill Shepherd in October of '98 (major political and philosophical differences) and a year later happily reconnnected with my former wife, Patsy Pease. I'm happy to be a full time husband and father again.  Thanks for being there, I really appreciate it!
    Having just discovered this series of web pages, I'm waxing quite nostalgic about my tenure with Frank from '81 'till the end. I particularly remember the New York Pier 11 show as being an incredibly fun show. The dependence on cheezy early digital synths was unfortunate but it was more than made up for by the best vocal band in my experience with Frank. It was the only time that I got to sing with both Ray and Ike at the same time, which cut down on my leads a bit, but we had killer range, power and blend.

    Here's some more info for the discography: I played French horn on just about everything that had horn on it that came out of Sigma studios from 1969 through 1974. I don't know exact dates or album titles, but here's the list of artists: the Stylistics, Delphonics, O'Jays, Spinners, Billy Paul, Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes, Teddy Pendergrass, Major Harris, Connie Stevens (it's true), and some others I don't remember. Records of the session dates and players probably exist, but I don't have them.

    I also arranged and overdubbed entire French horn sections and sax sections on the Moody Blues "Octave" album after moving to California. I played off and on with Etta James for 14 years in between other tours, including opening for the Rolling Stones 1978 U.S. tour. We also played at numerous jazz and blues festivals like Monterey, Atlanta, Montreux, Northsea, etc. There are probably videos and bootlegs floating around of some of those concerts. With Etta I also did Midnight Special with George Benson, Dr. John and Van Morrison, and I know there's a video of that.
    I toured briefly with Michael McDonald and did the Tonight Show, Soul Train, and American Bandstand with him in 1986 (all on video somewhere). One other major career highlight was singing "Hey Jude" with Paul McCartney at the Hollywood bowl. It was somewhere around '93 or so, and I was there singing backgrounds for Kenny Loggins, and Paul asked everyone to join him at the end. When it was over, Paul, who didn't know me from Adam, looked across the stage at me and came over and shook my hand before greeting the rest of the singers. I'm sure someone somewhere has a picture of that. It was almost as good as playing with Frank!
    I've got more information and anecdotes, but this is not the kind of keyboard I'd like to be tapping right now. I'll save more goodies for later.
Again, thanks to all for keeping the flame.

-Robert Martin

P.S. Yes, that's me on the Philinganes album.  

    on the discography:

Some of these may be incorrect.  There apparantly is another Robert Martin who arranged and produced a great many soul and R&B groups from the 60's and 70's.  To confuse matters, he worked on a number of albums dealing with the "Philly Sound", where Zappa's Robert Martin is from.  So if you can identify any of the following credits as belonging to the OTHER Robert Martin, or if I have left some out, please tell me!  Thanks, Patrick.

     From: Francis Monkman (francis@apollo.virtual-pc.com)
The RM who played on the first Curved Air album is a different guy (now living in NY). We were the two first 'members' of what became Curved Air, and I'm quite sure that was his first (and only) band. Francis Monkman.