Obituary
This is sad. A beautiful woman and a great talent, and much abused by John Martyn. She should have been much more appreciated. I hope she found peace and contentment.
Beverley Martyn
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Sorry to read this, Vincent. I can only echo your comments. As a John Martyn fan of some years, I was appalled to read how he treated Beverley – and it would be a shame if that was how she was defined and remembered, as a victim. She was a talent in her own right, and subjugated it under the force that was JM. RIP, Bev.
Totally. I want to remember her as herself. I will explore her albums today.
I love JM’s music, but loathed him as a person even before I knew about this. Friends who’d worked with him as crew told me about the thuggery and intimidation even then. Beverley’s mother was similarly mistreated, and children exposed to abusive men early in their lives sometimes conflate the abuse, arousal, and charisma into seeing it as normative. This is destructive for both boys and girls.
Obit from the Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/apr/28/beverley-martyn-spirited-british-folk-singer-dies-aged-79
Yeah not just Beverley. I recounted an appalling anecdote from Chris Frantz of Talking Heads from Nassau
He nicked songs of hers didn’t he ? I never found out which ones.
A beautiful song, sung by a beautiful lady.
I hovered over a copy of that in a charity shop on Monday, but they obviously knew what it was worth – priced way over my five quid budget.
RIP. Glad she outlasted that c*nt she was married to at one time.
There was no doubt that he was a monster but his behaviour was as a result of drink/drugs and his own demons. Not excusing that but she did attend and perform at his tribute concert at Birmingham Symphony Hall. There was obviously some love there at one time. He obviously needed help, of that there is no doubt.
This might be of interest:
https://klofmag.com/2014/04/an-interview-with-beverley-martyn/
Excellent interview. Thanks @fitterstoke.
Je vous en prie…
Thanks for sharing that @fitterstoke. A really interesting article and I wasn’t aware she had written her own book. I will try and seek that out.
See also –
Banger of a song.
Donovan invented bangers.
And mash.
Always liked this one
I had this picture as my avatar for a brief spell…
Another mid-sixties lost gem (I wonder if deram has a copy?)
Not an original unfortunately, but on 1 January every year of the last thirty, it’s got played several times in my house.
This should have been a hit of some sort but it was a ‘very’ crowded marketplace.
I like Beverley, John far less so. Am I the only person who doesn’t like that guitar echoplex (I think?) invention of his?
I think the echoplex thing has dated rather badly.
I remember seeing and hearing it for the first time at one of those early BBC Peel Sessions (you know, the ones where only Jimi, Burt and me were invited). Honestly, for the first three or four songs I thought “Where’s the backing band?”
Indeed. And I still like it, especially on the One World album…
Me too..
At the memorial concert in Birmingham Ian McNabb did the echoplex and did it very well.
This is quite decent. Excellent band.
And this was an interesting tribute.
https://peterkurtz.wordpress.com/tag/rock-and-roll/