Martin Smith
Martin started singing initially in a six
piece choir at secondary school; he then went on to win
various talent competitions at the famous 'Butlins'
holiday camps throughout Britain. By the age of 21 he
started
performing at Clubs and Cabaret venues as a
semi-professional guitar/vocal act. He then went on to
form his own country band and started to write original
material.
In 1978 and again in 1982 he reached the Wembley final
of the Silk Cut National Country Song Contest of Great
Britain with his band. This success inspired him to
record a second album, from which two of his original
songs won the Country section of the Fourth and Fifth
International Song Contests held in County Cavan,
Ireland in 1980 and 1981 respectively.
In 1982 he again pursued a solo career and entered the
MCSF in Nashville, Tennessee, (a Worldwide Songwriting
Contest) and was awarded a Musical Diploma for reaching
the final hundred. In 1989 in the same contest, he
attained 25th position (out of some 2 million
entries) receiving a second Musical Diploma.
In 1990 he was one of the featured acts at the Morecambe
International Festival of Country Music which was
recorded for a BBC TV Documentary.
Over the years he has continued to both write and
perform his own material, appearing alongside many top
international names of the calibre of Frank Ifield,
George Hamilton IV, Bill Anderson, Billy Walker, Guy
Mitchell, Ronnie Prophet and top British acts including
Charlie Landsborough, Poacher, Raymond Froggatt, Brendan
Shine, The Hillsiders and Dave Sheriff. |
In
2005 and 2006 he visited Nashville and Memphis and this
trip gave him new incentives and an optimistic outlook
on his songwriting career. He realises the way forwards
is to strive to be original in his musical endeavours
and to continue to promote his songs worldwide.
His title track from his third original album, "Braveface"
was his first ever single to be promoted by
Hotdisc, Europe's leading promotional CD album, and
this led to more exposure and airplay throughout Europe
and Australia.
He has just completed his fourth original album,
"Britain's Best Kept Secret", the title of which was
inspired from a quote by reviewer Stuart Cameron of
Hotdisc when writing about him. This is actually
Martin's sixth album overall. His latest collection
includes 11 brand new songs and one re-mastered track.
Once again he has attracted some of the best musicians
in the country to play on his album - people such as
Albert Lee, Richard Nelson (Daniel O'Donnell's steel
player), Tom Tyson (Gene Pitney's bass player) and
unique local musicians Charlie Hawkins, John Marcangelo,
Steve Falcon, Guy Lancaster and Duggie Gemmel.
Martin said: "Following the advice of Jim Marshall of
the British Country Music Association, and having
experienced success on the Hotdisc Charts including a
British No.1 single, I have decided to go ahead and try
to promote my music worldwide whilst continuing to write
and record my style of music and doing what I love and
do best as "Britain's Best Kept Secret!"
For all enquiries please
contact Martin using the details below.
34 Kingsway
Ulverston
Cumbria
LA12 9AX
England
Phone: 01229 585295
martinsmithcountry@hotmail.co.uk
www.martinsmith.org.uk |
