Martin Brammer (born 13 May 1957) is an English singer, songwriter, composer and record producer. He is best known as the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' ( ...

trio

Kane Gang The Kane Gang were an English pop trio formed in Seaham in 1982. The group comprised Martin Brammer, Paul Woods and Dave Brewis. They scored several UK and US hits in the 1980s. Named alluding to the movie ''Citizen Kane'', the trio recorded fo ...

. Brammer later developed his songwriting abilities to pen many successful tracks for a variety of notable musicians. Brammer has been nominated for an

Ivor Novello Award The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and composing. They have been presented annually in London by the Ivors Academy (formerly the BASCA) since 1956, and over 1,000 statuettes have been ...

, and has been involved in the making of records that have sold over 20 million copies worldwide. He is currently the manager of the British punk rock band Vant.

Career

Brammer was born in

Seaham Seaham is a seaside town in County Durham, England. Located on the Durham Coast, Seaham is situated south of Sunderland and east of Durham. The town grew from the late 19th century onwards as a result of investments in its harbour and ...

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

, England. Part of a trio of local

North East The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...

musicians, Brammer was a founding member of the

, which started in late 1982. Brammer was their main songwriter and penned their smooth

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or '' ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

"Closest Thing to Heaven", a UK top 20

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent ...

hit in 1984. He also wrote other chart successes for them, including "Smalltown Creed" (1984), "Gun Law" (1985) and "Motortown" (1987). Kane Gang broke up in 1991. Brammer then continued his career as a songwriter to the present day. Songs he has written or co-written have been recorded by

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the " Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue before ...

, James Morrison,

Marco Mengoni Marco Mengoni (; born 25 December 1988) is an Italian pop singer-songwriter who rose to fame in 2009, after winning the third season of Italian talent show ''X Factor''. Since that he has sold over 2.8 million records in Italy, peaking the I ...

, Josh Kumra,

James Bay James Bay (french: Baie James; cr, ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, Wînipekw, dirty water) is a large body of water located on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Canada. Both bodies of water extend from the Arctic Ocean, of which James Bay is the southernmost p ...

Olly Murs Oliver Stanley Murs (born 14 May 1984) is an English singer, songwriter, and television presenter. He was runner-up on the sixth series of '' The X Factor'' in 2009 and was subsequently signed to RCA Records and Sony Music in the United Kingdom ...

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, Julian Velard,

Melanie C Melanie Jayne Chisholm (12 January 1974 - 25 December 2022), better known as Melanie C or Mel C, is an English singer-songwriter and media personality. She is best known as one of the five members of the Spice Girls, during which time she was ni ...

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, Jack McManus,

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, Nick Carter,

Lighthouse Family Lighthouse Family were a British musical duo that rose to prominence in the mid-1990s and initially remained active until the early 2000s. Singer Tunde Baiyewu and songwriter Paul Tucker formed the act in 1993 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, a ...

Roland Gift Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the ...

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and Stevie McCrorie. In addition, Brammer has contributed as record producer on various albums including ''Good Things Come to Those Who Don't Wait'' (Josh Kumra); ''

'' and '' In Case You Didn't Know'' (Olly Murs); plus '' Now or Never'' (Nick Carter). He also sang

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

on a 1994 album by Opus III (''

Guru Mother ''Guru Mother'' is a 1994 album by Opus III. It features the dance club hit " When You Made the Mountain". The album contains positive lyrics including one track that is a Sanskrit prayer ("Guru Mother"). It integrates strands of Eastern spiri ...

''). Brammer has his own recording studio in which he both writes and records, and favours using microphones manufactured by sE Electronics. Brammer's most recent work includes writing material for John Newman,

Ella Eyre Ella McMahon (born 1 April 1994), known professionally as Ella Eyre, is a British singer and songwriter. She is known for her collaborations with Rudimental on their UK number-one single " Waiting All Night" (2013), which won the 2014 Brit Awa ...

, Joel Compass, Karen Harding and

Luke Friend Luke Friend (born 30 April 1996) is an English singer and former student from Teignmouth in Devon. He started his career in 2013 after winning ''TeenStar'' and appearing as a contestant and later a finalist on tenth series of ''The X Factor'' an ...

Personal life

Brammer has an ex-wife, Alia, and two daughters, Salma and Ella. He told

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

that he does not employ a manager.

Songwriting credits

Apart from those written for Kane Gang, Brammer's songwriting credits include:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brammer, Martin 1957 births 20th-century British male musicians 20th-century English composers 20th-century English singers 21st-century British male musicians 21st-century English composers 21st-century English singers English male singers English male singer-songwriters English pop singers English record producers Living people People from Seaham Musicians from County Durham