Martin Stephenson

and some Daintees

All music aficionados know the name Martin Stephenson – and they also know his live performances are a must-see, exuberant tour-de-force.

The ‘restless troubadour’ from Durham formed The Daintees in his teens with the deliberate intention of showcasing a broad range of musical styles.

And from their 1982 debut single Roll On Summertime, via the breakthrough album Boat to Bolivia and on through three decades and more than 40 albums, the band – and Stephenson – have done just that.

Inspired by early Cure and the Brighton scene, Martin began his career as a busker aged 15 and then spent three years plying his trade as the guitar player in various bands in the north-east of England . But Martin wanted more, he wanted to tell stories of his own and he was quickly developing ways of doing just that.

He developed his song-writing technique by firstly learning a few licks from a Spanish guitar book and repeated the process with Jazz, Blues, Country, Skiffle, Reggae etc. Eventually, this glorious collision of styles would become the trademark which Martin has carried through his career of almost 40 years.

Martin formed his band The Daintees, that became a busking sensation and were signed by Kitchenware at around the same time as Prefab Sprout and Hurrah! The band and indeed Martin have always been known for their incredible range of styles, each album covering a multitude of genres, tempos and moods.

In the early days of The Daintees, the band toured with the likes of Aztec Camera and The Bluebells. In 1985 they became Roy Buchannan’s backing band on a month long tour of Europe and the following year joined John Martyn on his ‘Piece by Piece ‘tour. As a solo artist  Martin also toured around this time with such artists as Hothouse Flowers and Janice Ian.