PMC Speakers was delighted to sponsor the 2016 APRS Sir George Martin Commemorative Lunch, which took place at the Roof Gardens restaurant in London on November 3rd, 2016.
Hosted by Lady Judy Martin, the lunch provided a one-off opportunity for APRS Academy Fellows and Sir George’s friends and colleagues to reflect, pay tribute and celebrate the life of the APRS’ former president who is widely regarded as the father of modern British record production. Best known for the integral part he played in the success of the Beatles, Sir George had a career spanning more than six decades, with 30 Number One hits and over one billion records sold. He was also President of APRS and the recipient of two Ivor Novello’s, six Grammy awards and an Outstanding Contribution award from the Music Producers Guild.
Over 100 of the UK’s leading recording industry figures attended the lunch and those who couldn’t be there in person sent video tributes. Stories and anecdotes about Sir George were plentiful from the likes of Sir Paul McCartney, Peter Gabriel, Mark Knopfler, Trevor Horn, Shirley Burns, Ken Scott and many more. The duties of MC were undertaken by radio and television presenter Paul Gambacini, while the Harewood Toast, given in recognition of the Earl of Harewood, the founding President of the APRS, was proposed by his son Jeremy Lacelles.
PMC’s founder Peter Thomas hosted a table and his guests included Donaldson Romeo, the Hon. Premier of Montserrat; Janice Panton MBE (Monserrat Government, UK Office); Her Excellency, Governor of Montserrat Elizabeth Carriere; Gordon Young, CA, Trustee of the Montserrat Foundation; producer and APRS Fellow Rupert Hine; communications consultant Fay Morgan Hine, and Jim Jones and Lester Smith, long serving Technical Engineers from Abbey Road Studios.
“The lunch was a wonderful opportunity for the recording industry to meet and pay tribute to George Martin, both in the room and via video link,” Peter Thomas says. “There was a real cross-section of leading producers, musicians and engineers present and it gave everyone the opportunity to celebrate our leading light’s phenomenal career and reflect on the impact he had on our industry. It also provided an opportunity to catch up with other industry stalwarts. I had a long conversation with Rupert Hine about his recent work with Eleanor McEvoy, a fine musician and a huge fan of PMC. I was also able to catch up with Lester, who I met over 35 years ago when I was working at BBC Radio and developing a custom 78 turntable for archiving the BBC’s vast collection at material.”
As well as celebrating the life and achievements of Sir George, the lunch also raised funds for two highly worthy and important charities, the Montserrat Foundation and the Young Person’s Concert Foundation. PMC was proud to support the raffle by donating a pair of DB1 Gold monitors, which were won by Dave Robinson, the esteemed editor of the respected industry publication, PSNEurope.
About PMC
PMC is a UK-based, world-leading manufacturer of loudspeaker systems, the tools of choice in all ultra-critical professional monitoring applications, and also for the discerning audiophile at home, where they provide a transparent window into the recording artist’s original intentions. PMC products use the best available materials and design principles, including the company’s proprietary Advanced Transmission Line (ATL™) bass-loading technology, cutting-edge amplification and advanced DSP techniques to create loudspeakers that present sound and music exactly as it was when first created, with the highest possible resolution, and without coloration or distortion. For more information on our clients and products, see www.pmc-speakers.com.
