Martin Bliss

Born in Birmingham, the youngest of three, Martin got his first guitar at the age of 12. It is rumoured that his interest in the instrument goes back further than that when, at the age of 9, he entered a competition on the back of a Kelloggs Cornflakes packet to win a 'Hank Marvin' guitar, needless to say he didn't win!

In 1973 Martin followed his elder brother, Paul, into the music industry, fronting his own band Bliss for the next 7 years. He started working with David Essex in 1981 and has toured with him consistently since then. During this time he also toured with George Michael on the British and European legs of the Cover to Cover tour, 1990/91, however he turned down the opportunity of the US leg of the tour, feeling that his talents as a lead guitarist were being under-used, and he continued touring with David.

He has played on 4 albums with David, Stagestruck (with big brother Paul on keyboards & backing vocals), The Whisper, Here We Are All Together (he did backing vocals on this one) and I Still Believe. Martin is the only member of the band to have appeared on both 'live' videos; on Live at the Royal Albert Hall he can be seen playing bass along with Rod Demick on Rock On. Anyone who hasn't seen this video should try to do so if only to see Martin's amazing hairstyle! Martin played guitar in all David's productions of Robinson Crusoe between 1991-97. He has also played in the Rocky Horror Show and has toured with Bucks Fizz.

Martin says that his inspiration comes from guitar greats such as Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Rory Gallagher and Lowell George (American slide guitar player). If asked to name his all time musical hero it would probably be Paddy McAloon, singer/songwriter of Prefab Sprout (after consultation with the man himself this has been amended to Neil Finn, Paddy lost out by a short head!).

One of Martin's other interests is psychology so be very careful what you say to him! He enjoys reading psychology texts and for light relief will read authors such as Henry Miller.

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