Christopher Anthony John Martin (born 2 March 1977) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist, pianist, rhythm guitarist and co-founder of the rock band Coldplay. Born in Exeter, Devon, he went to University College London, where he formed the band with classmates Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman and Will Champion. They found worldwide fame with the release of the song "Yellow" in 2000, receiving acclaim for albums such as A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002), Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008) and others. He won seven Grammy Awards and nine Brit Awards as part of the band. They have sold over 100 million albums worldwide as of 2021,[a] making them the most successful group of the 21st century.[3] Martin appeared on Debrett's 2017 list of the most influential people in the United Kingdom.
Martin was responsible for co-founding the band along with Buckland; they met each other during UCL's orientation week in 1996.[22] The pair spent the rest of the year planning a band and started to write their first songs together in early 1997, practising every night as well.[23] Berryman joined the group in the following months and they recorded numerous demos without a drummer.[24] By November, the trio was known as Big Fat Noises.[24] In 1998, they became Starfish "in a panic", as Champion scheduled their debut live performance at The Laurel Tree only a few days after he joined the line-up.[25] Weeks later, the band settled on the name Coldplay,[25] which came from UCL friend Tim Crompton.[24] He originally considered it for his own band after finding a copy of Philip Horky's Child's Reflections, Cold Play (1997), but the idea was ultimately discarded.[24]
Since the release of their debut album Parachutes in 2000, the band have achieved internationally recognised fame and success. Their song "Yellow", from Parachutes, entered the charts at Number 4 and carried Coldplay to their aforementioned fame.[26] To date, they have released nine studio albums in total including Parachutes, A Rush of Blood to the Head, X&Y, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, Mylo Xyloto, Ghost Stories, A Head Full of Dreams, Everyday Life, and Music of the Spheres. They also released several EPs, including Safety and The Blue Room.
Martin has written songs for a variety of acts including Embrace ("Gravity") and Jamelia ("See It in a Boy's Eyes", co-written with Coldplay producer Rik Simpson). Martin has also collaborated with Ron Sexsmith, Faultline, the Streets, and Ian McCulloch. He also sang a part of the vocals for the Band Aid 20 single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" at the end of 2004. In 2005, Martin collaborated with Nelly Furtado on the track "All Good Things (Come to an End)", for her 2006 album, Loose. The two were once rumoured to be a couple, after they both performed at Glastonbury in 2002. Nelly Furtado joked about it, saying, "Yeah, he's my boyfriend — he just doesn't know it yet".[27]
Martin's fascination with hip hop was shown in mid-2006 when he collaborated with rapper JAY-Z for the rapper's comeback album, Kingdom Come, after the two met earlier in the year.[28] Martin put some chords together for a song known as "Beach Chair" and sent them to JAY-Z who enlisted the help of hip-hop producer Dr. Dre to mix it. Coldplay producer Rik Simpson conceived and performed the drum beats. The song was performed on 27 September 2006 by the two during JAY-Z's European tour at Royal Albert Hall. Martin has also worked on a solo collaboration with Kanye West, with whom he shared an impromptu jam session during a 2006 concert at Abbey Road Studios.[29] He performed the chorus of "Homecoming", from Kanye West's album Graduation.
In 2015, Martin collaborated with DJ Avicii to work on two new tracks for his album Stories. Their first collaboration was officially named "Heaven". Martin wrote the lyrics, Avicii did the production, and Simon Aldred of Cherry Ghost was the vocalist.[30] He also provided the vocals for Avicii's True Believer, also in Stories. In February 2017, Martin performed "A Different Corner" at the 2017 Brit Awards in tribute to George Michael.[31]
A song he co-wrote called "Homesick" appears on Dua Lipa's self-titled debut album, which was released in June 2017.[32] In 2019, Martin was featured on Avicii's posthumous album Tim.[33] The song "Heaven" features vocals by Martin and was written by Avicii and Martin prior to Avicii's death.[34]
On 12 December 2012, Martin performed three songs, including "Losing My Religion" with Michael Stipe, as a part of the "12 12 12 Concert" which was held as a fundraiser for Hurricane Sandy relief.[35] On 15 November 2014, Martin joined charity group Band Aid 30, performing alongside British and Irish pop acts on the latest version of the track "Do They Know It's Christmas?" at Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill, London to raise money for the 2014 Ebola crisis in Western Africa — this was the second time Martin has contributed to a Band Aid recording having performed in the 2004 version.[36] Martin became the creative director of the newly established Global Citizen Festival in 2015, a role he plans to fulfil for 15 years.[37]
Martin and Coldplay guitarist Jonny Buckland made cameo appearances in the film Shaun of the Dead as supporters of the fictional charity ZombAid,[38] with Martin having a second cameo in the film as a zombie.[38] In 2006, Martin had a cameo role in the second series, episode four, of the Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant comedy Extras. He also appears singing in the closing credits of the 2009 Sacha Baron Cohen film Brüno, with Bono, Sting, Slash, Snoop Dogg and Elton John.[39]
In March 2015, Martin attended the televised launch of music streaming service Tidal via a video link, and revealed himself, along with other notable artists, as a shareholder in the company.[40] In June 2015, Martin performed "Til Kingdom Come" at the funeral Mass of Beau Biden, son of United States Vice-president Joe Biden, after learning that Biden was a fan of his.[41] In August 2017, Martin performed a live solo piano rendition of "Crawling" by Linkin Park. The performance was a tribute to Linkin Park's lead singer Chester Bennington, who died by suicide the previous month.[42]