Martyn was born near Coventry, England. While still a student, she was picked to front The Levee Breakers, a jug band featuring Mac McGann and Johnny Joyce, who played the folk circuit in south east England. At the age of 16 she recorded her first single. "Babe I'm Leaving You", which was released on the Parlophone label in 1965. Martyn was then signed as a solo artist to the Deram Records label. In 1966 she released a single, "Happy New Year", written by Randy Newman, on which she was accompanied by Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Nicky Hopkins and Andy White. "Happy New Year" was chosen as the very first single release on the brand new Deram label, distributed by Decca Records, in 1966, catalogue number DM 101. The second single was the Cat Stevens hit, "I Love My Dog" which was a UK #28 the same year. She also recorded an unreleased single in the same year, "Picking Up The Sunshine" / "Gin House Blues". These last two tracks also featured John Renbourn and Mike Lease. During that period she was taught the guitar by the folk guitarist Bert Jansch, who also encouraged her songwriting. Her follow-up single "Museum", written by Donovan and produced by Denny Cordell, was released in 1967. Closely involved with the folk scene at the time, she met Paul Simon who invited her to New York. On the Simon & Garfunkel album Bookends, she contributed to the track "Fakin' It", in the middle of which she is heard saying: "Good morning, Mr Leitch, have you had a busy day?" She later appeared at the Monterey Pop Festival on 16 June 1967, as did Simon & Garfunkel.
With John Martyn
In 1969 she met John Martyn, whom she later married. As a duo they issued two albums, Stormbringer! and The Road to Ruin both of which were released on Island Records. Following The Road to Ruin, Island persuaded John Martyn to resume his career as a solo artist because they believed that there was more public interest in solo singer/songwriters. Although she was spending more time with her children, Martyn continued to contribute to her husband's solo projects until the breakdown of their marriage. The couple divorced during the making of John Martyn's album Grace and Danger in 1980 and she retired from music for years.
Return to music
In the 1990s, with her children now grown, she was invited to join Loudon Wainwright III on his European tour. In 1998 she resumed her recording career with the release of the album No Frills. In 2004 Martyn's song "Primrose Hill", about the simple joys of domesticity, which she wrote and sang on Road To Ruin, was sampled by Fat Boy Slim for the track "North West Three" on his 2004 albumPalookaville. On 3 December 2013 she performed the song "Levee Breaks" with her band at the concert A Celebration Of Bert Jansch at London's Royal Festival Hall, alongside Robert Plant, Donovan and various members of Pentangle, amongst others. The concert was broadcast by BBC4 in the UK on 28 March 2014 under the name The Genius of Bert Jansch: Folk Blues and Beyond. Martyn released a new album in 2014 entitled The Phoenix and The Turtle. It contains a previously unrecorded Nick Drake and Martyn song, "Reckless Jane". The album features bass by Matt Malley, drums by Victor Bisetti, acoustic guitars by Mark Pavey, electric guitars by Jakob Nebel and Michael Watts, and strings by Owain Roberts.
