Martha Jane Ladly is a Canadian academic, designer and musician. She is a professor of design at

OCAD University Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD U, is a public university, public art school, art university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its main campus is located within Toronto's Grange Park (neighbourh ...

. Ladly also has had a long career as a musician and became famous internationally as part of

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

Martha and the Muffins Martha and the Muffins are a Canadian rock band, active from 1977 to the present. Although they only had one major international hit single "Echo Beach" under their original band name, they had a number of hits in their native Canada, and the ...

. She had a solo career in the mid-1980s and then worked in design and education.

Musical career

A student at the

Ontario College of Art Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD U, is a public art university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its main campus is located within Toronto's Grange Park and Entertainment District neighbourhoods ...

in Toronto, Ontario, Ladly was invited to join new wave band Martha and the Muffins in 1978. She became one of two vocalists and keyboardists named Martha in the band. The other Martha was Martha Johnson, who sang lead on the majority of the group's songs, including their biggest hit, 1980's "

Echo Beach "Echo Beach" is a song by Canadian musical group Martha and the Muffins. Written by band member Mark Gane, it was released as a single from their album '' Metro Music'' in 1980 and went on to reach number five in Canada, number six in Australia ...

". Ladly played with the band from 1978 to 1980 and sang lead vocals on the group's seventh single, her composition "Was Ezo". Ladly left the band in August 1980 having been awarded an art scholarship. She subsequently relocated to the United Kingdom, releasing two solo singles ("Finlandia" and " Light Years from Love") the latter featuring

Peter Hook Peter Hook (born 13 February 1956) is an English musician. He was the bassist and co-founder of the post-punk band Joy Division and its successor New Order. He often used the bass as a lead instrument, playing melodies on the high strings wi ...

on bass. In addition to music, she worked in visual arts and design with designer Peter Saville. Her painting ''Factus 8'' was used by Saville for the sleeve of New Order's EP '' 1981–1982'' (1982). During her time in England, while pursuing her twin interests in music and visual art, Ladly became friends with a number of popular British musical acts.

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) are an English electronic music, electronic band formed in Meols, Merseyside in 1978 by Andy McCluskey (vocals, bass guitar) and Paul Humphreys (keyboards, vocals). Regarded as pioneers of electronic musi ...

credits Ladly for suggesting the titles of their 1981 hit album ''

Architecture & Morality ''Architecture & Morality'' is the third studio album by English electronic band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), released on 6 November 1981 by Dindisc. Inspired by religious music, the group sought to broaden their musical palette ...

'' and their 1984 hit single " Tesla Girls". In 1982, Ladly provided backing vocals for

Roxy Music Roxy Music are an English rock music, rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry (lead vocals/keyboards/principal songwriter) and Graham Simpson (musician), Graham Simpson (bass). By the time the band recorded their Roxy Music (album), first albu ...

and joined cult Scottish

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

act the Associates appearing with them on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

''. She left the Associates in 1986 and subsequently worked with

Robert Palmer Robert Allen Palmer (19 January 1949 – 26 September 2003) was an English singer and songwriter. He was known for his powerful and soulful voice, sartorial elegance and stylistic explorations, combining soul, funk, jazz, rock, pop, regga ...

's band. In 1991, during which time she was known as Martha Ladly Hoffnung, she managed Anta's, 'a trend setting design business' in Portland Road,

Holland Park Holland Park is an area of Kensington, on the western edge of Central London, that lies within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and largely surrounds its namesake park, Holland Park. Colloquially referred to as 'Millionaire's Row', ...

, London. Ladly was designer for the company which recoloured "authentic tartan patterns". From 1992 to 2001, she worked with

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and human rights activist. He came to prominence as the original frontman of the rock band Genesis. He left the band in 1975 and launched a solo career wit ...

as the manager of Real World Design and editor of Real World Notes.

Solo discography

* 1981 – "Finlandia" * 1983 – " Light Years from Love"

Academic career

In 2012, Ladly was appointed as associate dean of graduate studies at the

Ontario College of Art and Design Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD U, is a public art university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its main campus is located within Toronto's Grange Park and Entertainment District neighbourhoods ...

. She is an associate professor of design where her specialty is interactive communication. She is a mentor with the

Canadian Film Centre The Canadian Film Centre (CFC) is a charitable organization founded in 1988 by filmmaker Norman Jewison in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Originally launched as a film school, today it provides training, development and advancement opportunities for ...

's Interactive Project Lab (IPL) and a faculty member with the Habitat Interactive Art and Entertainment Program. Before her appointment at OCAD, she was the creative director of HorizonZero, a bilingual internet publication in collaboration with the Banff New Media Institute and Culture Canada.Martha Ladly online CV 2008

Awards

* 2007: SSHRC: Principal Investigator. ITST Mobile Nation Conference Grant * 2007: Canadian Design Research Network: Co-Principal Investigator. Mobile Nation Publications, Workshops and Dissemination Grant * 2006: Portage: Co-applicant, Canadian Heritage New Media Research Network * 2005-06: The Mobile Digital Commons Network 2: Co-applicant, Canadian Heritage New Media Research Network * 1996, 1982: British Designers and Art Directors Association (D&AD): Silver Citation for Best Multimedia Packaging Design for 'EVE. Silver Citation for Best Record Sleeve Design for New Order single "

Everything's Gone Green "Everything's Gone Green" is the third single by the English rock band New Order, released in December 1981. As usual per New Order and Joy Division's releases, the recording date and location of the music is not disclosed on the original sleeve ...

" * 1994: American Recording Academy: Grammy Award Nomination for Best Record Sleeve Packaging Design for Peter Gabriel '' Secret World Live'' * 1981: Canadian

Juno Award The Juno Awards (stylized as JUNOS), or simply known as the Junos, are awards presented by Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to recognize outstanding achievements in Canada's mu ...

: for Single of the Year with

for the single "

References

External links

The Charmed Life Of Martha Ladly
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ladly, Martha The Associates (band) members Canadian rock keyboardists Academic staff of OCAD University Canadian designers Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Canadian women designers Canadian new wave musicians Women new wave singers Place of birth missing (living people) Canadian women in electronic music Martha and the Muffins members