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Bassist / songwriter / record producer / Berlin-resident Martin Gordon began his career with eccentric Californian pop band Sparks, after they ditched their fellow countrymen and moved to London to acquire some musical muscle and a little Englishness. Their treacherous move paid off handsomely with the monster success of the album 'Kimono My House' and singles 'This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us' and 'Amateur Hour'. Martin played bass, provided most of the arrangements and was dismissed shortly thereafter for obstreperousness. No matter - he picked himself up, dusted himself off and climbed aboard the 'sparkly bandwagon of glam-rock just before the wheels fell off and deposited the occupants in the cosmic ditch'. Less cynical observers today describe the band Jet, his vehicle of the time, as the seminal oompah-glam supergroup; Jet's sole (Roy Thomas Baker-produced) LP is today available on CD and has been hoisted into the musical firmament as 'a near-perfect slice of fun', to quote one enamoured listener.

Following a disagreement with the record company of the time (over Martin's proposal to record all the songs on the second LP as a single continuous piece of music, admittedly not the most sensible idea), the band were shown the door. Pausing at the threshold for the briefest of moments to change their name to Radio Stars, they found a home at Chiswick Records and found instant acclaim. 'Radio Stars stick out from the fetid morass of garage bands like Nureyev's whatsit through his leotard. Jeez, not only do these guys play real good'n'snappy bop-a-long rock, they've got a fistful of ace tunes and there's not a whiff of pretension about them. Their synthesis of all that was right and proper in the T.Rex / Lennon-McCartney / Neil Innes scale of things makes for laudable and laughable (as in loveable) listening'.

Upon his return to the UK, he released 'Pop Sensibility' as the Blue Meanies and then hit upon the considerable more lucrative concept of working for other people. Among those who used Martin's services as keyboard player, programmer, producer, co-writer, arranger and washer-up are Kylie Minogue, George Michael, Boy George, Blur, Primal Scream, Robert Palmer, S'Express... the list continues. In the early Nineties, Martin was invited to Bombay to work with Boy George, a plate of blancmange and assorted queens on a project recorded in the music studios of Bollywood. And so he found himself working with such stellar figures as Asha Bhosle and Sultan Khan. Their status was unbeknown to him at the time however, coming as he did from the closeted, mono-cultural world of European rock'n'roll. Bombay opened his eyes and ears to a wider musical world, and he and his career took a turn towards 'world music'.

Since that time, he has worked with a dazzling array of talented musicians from around the globe (not least his own world/pop project Mira). A recent high point was a stint with Turkey's iconic Sezen Aksu, with whom he made the CD 'Sarki Soylemek Lazim'; he then played bass on her European tour. Live performance was not something he had entirely left behind, both with English proto-punks John's Children (who, in their reincarnated '90s form, enlisted his bass-playing skills) and with an astonishing 21st century revival of Jet, who briefly toured Europe and recorded the live CD 'Music for the Herd of Herring'. Not to be outdone, John's Children still emerge once a year for a quick retirement gig, whether it be in San Diego in the US, Cattolica in Italy or London's Camden Town. When lengthier periods of performance with Sezen Aksu proved to be an enjoyable and evocative experience, Martin decided to dive nose-first back into the stinking morass of rock'n'roll with a series of solo CDs. His vocal foil is Swedish vocalist Pelle Almgren; drums are played by John's Children/Jook/Jet drummer Chris Townson and guitars are by Berliner Ralf Leeman and Italian salami heir and stiletto broker Enrico Antico.

The Baboon in the Basement was released in Japan in March 2003 and in the rest of the world two months later. The world was ecstatic. So much so that he soon began work on a follow-up - The Joy of More Hogwash, released in June 2004. The third - God's On His Lunchbreak - was released in September 2005. A mid-price box set featuring the first three solo CDs was released in March 2006, entitled The Mammal Trilogy, and a mid-price best of, called How Am I Doing So Far?, was released in August 2006. The fourth part of the Mammal Trilogy released itself on June 17 2007, entitled The World Is Your Lobster. Martin's debut as a solo performer took place in Boston, Mass. on August 2 2007. Well, you don't want to rush people, do you...... The gig was later released as a free second CD along with Radio Stars' 'Somewhere for the Weekend', recorded live in the UK and released by Radiant Future Records.

Recording of the fifth part of the Mammal Trilogy is currently underway in Berlin and Stockholm. Watch this space. If you want to, I mean it's not mandatory. You do have free will, after all. No determinism here, I should think not.