You may not recognize his name, but you recognize George Martin’s sound. The man who brought the world the Beatles revolutionized modern music in more ways than we realize.
As producer Mark Ronson tweeted, “We will never stop living in the world you helped create.”
Here are five contributions from Martin’s 90-year life:
THE BEATLES
His most obvious, lasting accomplishment (though not the only musicians he managed). He signed John, Paul, George and Ringo in the early 1960s and transformed them into the legendary Fab Four. Their albums became art forms, reaching listeners on all continents and exploring new recording techniques. Their relationship, too, broke new ground: The performers gradually took the upper hand over their producer, composing their own material in an era when that was rare, while he translated their vision into top-selling hits.