
Martyn Ware
Acting
Biography
Martyn Ware (born 19 May 1956) is an English musician, composer, arranger, record producer, and music programmer. As a founding member of both the Human League and Heaven 17, Ware co-wrote hit songs such as "Being Boiled" and "Temptation". Ware has also worked as a record producer, notably helping to revitalise Tina Turner's career in 1983 with her cover of "Let's Stay Together", launching Terence Trent D'Arby's career by co-producing his solo debut, Introducing the Hardline According to... in 1987, and producing Erasure's I Say I Say I Say album in 1994. He is also noted for work in surround sound technology and, more recently, for creation of sound installations.
Known For

Take a musical odyssey through five weird and wonderful decades with brothers Ron & Russell Mael, celebrating the inspiring legacy of Sparks: your favorite band’s favorite band.
The Sparks Brothers

A brand new take on the most transformative force in British popular music history.
Punk Britannia

Forty years on from the release of the hit single by charity supergroup Band Aid, this documentary unearths 75 minutes of rare and previously unseen film footage from the day of recording
The Making of Do They Know It's Christmas?

Hardly any other world star has left such a profound mark on people's hearts and on music history. This documentary traces the influence of an exceptional artist and follows the paths she paved for a new generation of Black artists.
Tina Turner - My Songs. My Life

Well-known fans celebrate Stevie Wonder and his music by selecting some of his best-loved songs. Wonder is one of the dominant figures in American music, a multi-faceted genius whose music has permeated popular culture, and he is not short of celebrity fans. His musical achievements are lauded in this anthology of his greatest hits. Contributors include actor Martin Freeman, singers Alexander O'Neal, James Morrison, Beverley Knight and Corinne Bailey Rae, New Order's Gillian Gilbert and Stephen Morris, DJs Ana Matronic, Trevor Nelson and Norman Jay, Heaven's 17's Glenn Gregory and Martyn Ware, journalist Sian Pattenden and presenter Emma Dabiri.
Stevie Wonder: A Musical History
This is the story of the band, the city and the album that gave birth to the UK electronic pop movement in late 70s Sheffield. Against a backdrop of economic decline, art students Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh experimented with early synthesisers to create sounds which would inspire a new generation of pop music with their first band The Human League. When this fractured, Ian and Martyn recruited singer and old friend Glenn Gregory to form Heaven 17. Penthouse and Pavement, their first album, was released in 1980 and was a landmark in UK pop history, combining electronica with pop hooks.
Heaven 17: The Story of Penthouse and Pavement

Documentary exploring the music of rock band Roxy Music, who have a good claim to be one of the UK's most influential bands. Led by charismatic front man Bryan Ferry, their striking style and great songs won them an army of fans who would go on to make their own mark in the world of music. In this celebration of the music of both Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music, insights and anecdotes are provided by household names from Sadie Frost to Glenn Gregory & Martyn Ware, Gaz Coombes, New Order's Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert, Shaun Ryder and Alan McGee, Ana Matronic and more.
Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music: A Musical History

Documentary on the independent Edinburgh record label Fast Product and Postcard Records and associated bands like Fire Engines, Scars and Josef K
Big Gold Dream: Scottish Post-Punk and Infiltrating the Mainstream

Filmed at the Scala, London in 2011, Claudia Brucken, using the nucleus of her current Onetwo band, performed an exciting 98 minute live set playing 19 song selections from her 27-year career aided by a host of special guests, including Andy Bell (Erasure), Glenn Gregory & Martyn Ware (Heaven 17), Susanne Freytag and Ralf Dorper (Propaganda) and Andrew Poppy.
This Happened: Claudia Brücken Live at the Scala

Documentary following a generation of post-punk musicians who took the synthesiser from the experimental fringes to the centre of the pop stage.
Synth Britannia

Using previously unheard interviews, told in her own words and by those around her, this is the story of Tina Turner’s 50-year relationship with the UK since her first visit in 1966.
When Tina Turner Came to Britain

On November 25th 2005, Heaven 17 put on a rare live performance to promote the release of 'Before After', their first studio album since 'Bigger Than America' in 1996. The whole gig was released on a double CD set immediately after the gig - a quality recording taken straight from the mixing desk with no overdubs or added effects - pure H17 and the results were stunning.
Heaven 17 - At The Scala

Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the band's debut album, Penthouse and Pavement, combines the bands full live concert filmed in Sheffield in March 2010, with never-seen-before documentary and rehearsal footage. Also included is a unique collection of all the digital videos used as the back drop to the live show, set to the accompanying live audio from the performance. Each video was commissioned by a different visual artist and includes some of the biggest and talented up-and-coming artists from the worlds of digital and graphic design, fine art and film. A must for any fan, featuring 19 classic tracks, including Temptation, (We Don t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang and a cover version of the Human League s Being Boiled Penthouse and Pavement Live in Concert perfectly captures one of the most influential bands of their generation, as relevant and exciting today as they were when they first formed.
Heaven 17: Penthouse and Pavement - Live in Concert 2010
The Glamour Chase is Andrew Miller's feature length 2000 documentary on the life of maverick Scottish pop star Billy Mackenzie. With contributions from close family, friends and the 1980s pop firmament that admired him so deeply, the documentary remains definitive. Variously described as an "anarchic Bassey, sinister Pavarotti and Scotland's Sinatra", Billy Mackenzie led an extraordinary life. The story is told by Billy himself from extensive archive footage, together with his father Jim and sister Helen and informed contributions from his biographer Tom Doyle and pop star friends including fellow Associates Alan Rankine and Michael Dempsey; ABC's Martin Fry, Siouxsie Sioux, Marc Almond and members of Heaven 17, Yello and Apollo 440.
Billy Mackenzie: The Glamour Chase

The music of Nigeria’s reclusive synth funk innovator William Onyeabor has reached a new level of exposure via Luaka Bop’s excellent Who Is William Onyeabor? compilation last year, yet many hard facts about Onyeabor’s biography remain elusive. In their new documentary “Fantastic Man,” Noisey speaks with musicians and champions of Onyeabor’s music, including our own Quinton Scott and Duncan Brooker who included the sublime “Better Change Your Mind” on the first Nigeria 70 compilation, about their appreciation for his music, and the search for the facts about his life.