Randy Martin
Band Leader, Vocals, Keyboards & Sax
Day Job: President of Randy Martin & Assocociates, Enviromental Consulting
For Environmental Questions: E-Mail Randy
| For three decades, Randy Martin has entertained audiences from coast to coast appearing at festivals, night clubs, corporate functions, casinos and special events of every kind. |
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Randy has led his band from Las Vegas to the Grand Ol Opry. He’s been the piano player for the legendary Drifters, the opening act for Tommy James and the Shondells, entertained members of Congress and the Vice President of the United States. He’s written, orchestrated and produced over a hundred soundtracks and commercials for major US corporations such as General Motors, McDonald's and General Electric. He brings his talents as a producer to the stage, selecting only the best musicians and singers available to appear with him. Experienced musicians and singers who have appeared with Aretha Franklin, the Temptations, George Michael and other stars. Randy has been a featured solo vocalist virtually his entire life. As a young man appearing in musicals, concerts, church productions and in front of live bands, Randy worked at perfecting his craft. His hard work payed off in a career that now spans three decades as a professional singer and musician. Randy attributes his successful career to his parents and sisters. Mom was always playing the piano, and Dad was on his guitar and singing. It was just natural for us to jump in on vocals. I don’t know how you could have been born into that family and not be a singer. Randy also gives a lot of credit to his music instructors at Indiana University’s School of Music. "When I was studying voice in college, the instructors were actually professional opera singers, including some of the best-known voices from New York’s Metropolitan Opera. I wasn’t headed for a career in the opera, but the vocal instruction was among the best in the world . . . and appearing in minor roles in operas gave me on-stage experience in singing that can’t be found in any other genre." Randy’s comments on entertaining: There are times when an audience is ready for us to get a party going . . . to hit them nonstop with fast, exciting music at a volume that gets everybody up and involved. And when that time comes, I’m ready! But if we’re asked to play an early set of smooth jazz, I know the difference between background volume and concert volume, and I sure know the difference between background music selections and party music . . . and many subtle degrees between the two. Background Randy has sung on more commercials, soundtracks and professional demos than he can possibly remember. His studio experience and ability to quickly deliver what producers (and ad agencies) want make him a popular choice in recording studios. His studio work has also brought Randy opportunities to use his ability to impersonate celebrities, such as Neil Diamond, Willie Nelson, Johnny Matthis and, of course, Elvis Presley. Usually producers will bring in Elvis impersonators to try out. And usually, they discover that the guy’s voice doesn’t sound nearly as much like Presley if you aren’t looking at the facial expressions, the hair and the clothes. These impersonators generally share a common ignorance; they don’t know why Elvis sounded like he did . . . how much air he was using, how he was hitting different notes of the scale, how to make his vibrato, and so on. Randy does an occasional live celebrity impersonation, typically during shows in night club appearances. His incredible comedy version of Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand singing "You Don’t Bring Me Flowers Anymore" is classic. "Sometimes I’ll run into someone who’s seen me do the Flowers routine; they may not remember my name, but they always remember the one-man duet." |