Eric Lee Martin (born October 10, 1960, Long Island, New York) is an American rock singer/musician active throughout the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s both as a solo artist and as a member of various bands. He earned his most prominent success as the frontman for the hard rock band Mr. Big, a supergroup (currently reunited) who scored a big hit in the early 1990s with "To Be with You," a song that Martin wrote during his teen years.
A local of the San Francisco Bay Area, Martin first started his career in the music industry in 1978.
Early years
Eric is the son of Frederick Lee "Pepper" Martin and Iris Martin. He has three younger siblings Dan, Joan and Laurie; and is half-Irish, half-Italian.
Musically, Eric Martin was first influenced by his father, Frederick Lee "Pepper" Martin. Pepper Martin had a gig as drummer for the band "The Buzz". This first gig would actually be an opener for Sérgio Mendes, a renowned jazz/ bossa nova artist in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s.
Martin was a drummer only for a while. Realizing it fit his personality better, he opted for the position of front man / lead vocalist in the next bands he was in. He played in a handful of teen rock groups such as "S.F. Bloodshy" and "Backhome" while attending Foothill High School in Sacramento, California. Eric performed in a punk band in the mid 70s called 'The Innocents' with Connie Champagne and Ric Walz-Smith. Also in 1974–75, Eric played a lot of college clubs with Jim Preston in a band called The J.C. Michaels Band. He started to make it big when he joined a band called "Stark Raving Mad" (which also included future Winger guitarist/keyboardist Paul Taylor) in Santa Rosa, California. Stark Raving Mad, which also included Donavan and Brian Stark, cut a Demo with Bearsville Records that was produced by Chris Nicks (Stevie Nicks' brother.)
Eric Martin is the name of:
Eric Martin (4 February 1907 — 27 January 1978) was an English cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-pace bowler who played first-class cricket in 1928. He was born in Rock Ferry and died in Chelsea, London.
Martin made two first-class appearances for Essex during July 1928, the first of which saw him take the wicket of two-time Test cricketer Charlie Hallows — and the second, that of Percy Holmes. Martin made only small contributions with the bat, however, and was dropped from the team after his second game.
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Eric James Martin (17 August 1925 – 30 September 2015) played first-class cricket for Nottinghamshire between 1949 and 1959. He was born at Lambley, Nottinghamshire) and died at Woodthorpe, also in Nottinghamshire.
Martin was a right-handed opening batsman. He was a regular player in the Nottinghamshire side in 1952, 1954 and 1955, and was awarded his county cap in 1954 when he made 977 runs at an average of more than 30 runs per innings.