![\"John](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/John-Lennon-Paul-McCartney-George-Harrison-Ringo-Starr-1967-George-Martin-The-Beatles-Far-Out-Magazi.jpeg\")
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(Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy)<\/p>\n
Thu 18 September 2025 13:00, UK <\/p>\n
George Martin<\/a> will forever be the golden example of what the \u2018Fifth Beatle\u2019 was supposed to be.<\/p>\n It took a small army to make the Fab Four who they were, but without Martin at the helm, they would have never had the adventurousness or the confidence to evolve past the scruffy bar band they started out as in the Cavern Club. But while Martin could spark their musical imaginations all the time, he knew that the day would come when he would have to gracefully bow out of the Beatles\u2019 world.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not to say that he lived and breathed The Beatles until his untimely passing. He knew rock and roll better than anyone else, thanks to his work with them, but outside of working with the lads, he was always interested in seeing what other creative avenues he could dabble in. He had hard rock under his belt with Cheap Trick, fusion with the Mahavishny Orchestra, and even folksy music like America, but it was always going to be something special when he reunited with his old friends.<\/p>\n Martin may have been like the musical older brother of the group, but every time he turned up in one of their solo careers, he was able to get the best out of them. His string arrangement for John Lennon\u2019s \u2018Grow Old With Me\u2019 is one of the most stunning pieces of his solo catalogue, and he helped Paul McCartney get one of the greatest albums of the 1980s in Tug of War, but after the redone version of \u2018Candle in the Wind\u2019<\/a> for Princess Diana, it felt like Martin had officially fallen silent.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not like he didn\u2019t have a good reason to retire. He had excused himself from working on The Beatles Anthology due to his hearing loss, and even if he had found a way to work in some new arrangements alongside Jeff Lynne, no one wanted to see one of the greatest producers in the world attempt to recapture his old magic. It made sense to stop at the top, but there were always going to be exceptions.<\/p>\n Because when the band unveiled their plans to work on the Love project for Cirque de Soleil, Martin at least had some help from his son, Giles. Both of them served as the producers for the record, and while it did make for some interesting mashups of different Beatles masterpieces, one of the most touching moments came from one of George\u2019s final collaborations with the band on \u2018While My Guitar Gently Weeps\u2019.<\/p>\n