George Martin was born in 1926 in North London, he was the son of a carpenter. He went to the Jesuit college, then his family moved to Kent and he went to Bromley County School. There was no musical talent in his family and he had no musical training growing up, but he taught himself to play the piano at at sixteen years old he was running his own school dance band.
During the war he served in the Fleet Air Arm, as a lieutenant. He was discharged in 1947, and he had nothing to do. He decidedto try for the Gildhall School of Music. He spent three years there, playing the oboe. After he graduated, he continued to play the oboe, but he didn't get too far with it.
Late in 1950, he became an assistant A and R man at Parlophone, a small EMI company. His salary wasn't too good there, so he played Sunday-afternoon concerts in the park, and held school concerts. LPs became popular with EMI in 1954, while Decca had them in 1952. Producing records was a tradition in Britain. Parlophone wasn't too popular at this time. George Martin started making comedy records, and British stars and groups started making hit records.
By May 1962, Parlophone was deperately waiting for the Beatles to turn up. George Martin was impressed by Brian Epstein, and the sound the band produced. His orginal thought was to use them as a backup for Cliff Richard and the Shadows, but he decided to see how they sounded in a recording studio.
George met the Beatles for the first time on June 6, 1962. He gave them a recording test. He took his time giving the Beatles a date since he wasn't sure if he wanted to record them. On September 11, 1962, he brought the band to London to record their first British album, "Love Me Do."
George Martin heard that Pete Best was no longer in the band, and that they had gotten a new drummer. He decided to hire a session drummer for them anyway, his name was Andy White. This recording session was the first for Ringo Starr. He was very scared, but they recorded "Love Me Do", which took seventeen takes before George Martin was pleased. He didn't like the fact that Ringo couldn't do a roll. He then decided to use Andy instead. It was very disappointing to Ringo.
"Love Me Do" was their first record and it was released on October 4, 1962. At the time, they were back in Liverpool. The Beatles' Liverpool fans bought the record, but it didn't have any affect on the the charts. The song was played on the radio, but the Beatles' goal was to make it to the Top Twenty.
Brian set the Beatles up with their first T.V show on Granada's People and Places. But at this time, they were supposed to go to Hamburg, to perform at the Star Club. This engagement had been made before the record had been made.
So the Beatles went on their fourth trip to Hamburg. Their record was slowly making its way to the top of the charts. George Martin was pleased with "Love Me Do". George Martin found another song "How Do You Do It". He sent it to the Beatles, but they didn't like it. George wanted them to record it, and he was the boss, so they had no say. The Beatles recorded it and still didn't like it so they didn't want it produced. George Martin decided to give the song to someone else, Gerry and the Peacemakers, which turned out to be a hit for them.
The Beatles' second record, "Please, Please Me" was recorded on November 26, 1962, but it wasn't released until January of 1963. They did it in Hamburg. They also did their fifth and final session in the Hamburg clubs.
At the end of the year, The New Musical Express did a popularity poll. The Beatles were down with 3906 votes, but they were in, and they finally existed.