Event: Morning Melodies with Craig Martin

Craig has a strong musical background having performed with many original and cover bands in his late teens and early twenties. He developed throughout this time a keen interest in musical theatre and finally realised his ambition of performing in a big budget production, when he was offered a role in Bill Kenwright's West End production of “Ferry 'cross the Mersey”, starring alongside merseybeat legend Gerry Marsden.

Craig loved the theatre and the theatre loved him! He performed nightly, winning acclaim for his portrayal of the young Gerry Marsden. The show toured the UK, Ireland and South Africa and Craig continued to develop as an all round entertainer.
More theatre roles followed and Craig played other musical legends including John Lennon, Cliff Richard and Freddie Garrity.

One of Craig's most professionally rewarding and proudest moments came when he played to a packed Liverpool Empire for a two week run starring as Marty Wilde in another Kenwright production, “The Sound of Fury”. The show toured the length and breadth of Great Britain to packed houses for five months, Craig again winning acclaim as one of the shows principal characters.
Craig's endearing love of 1950's Rock 'n Roll was furthered when he accepted an offer to portray American rock 'n' roll star Gene Vincent. Again he received rave reviews for his performance as the troubled star, enjoying nightly standing ovations for his rendition of “Over the Rainbow”. There then followed an opportunity to tour with the "Buddy" show, performing show stopping numbers nightly to packed audiences across the country.
 
After this Craig started to diversify and decided to put all his theatre experiences into producing and directing a show of his own. The “American Legends” toured theatres from early 2002 and saw him producing, directing and starring as 50's idol Buddy Holly
A collaboration with renowned Liverpool playwright Colin McCourt followed, it saw the early career of the king of rock n roll immortalised in the production “Elvis (The Sun Sessions)”.
 
Throughout this time having spent many years paying tribute to some of the worlds top artistes Craig became even more focused on performing as himself, and bringing his wealth of experience to his own shows. With the growing popularity of numbers from the Great American Songbook, Craig developed his performances and turned his talents to contemporary swing.

Over recent years Craig has performed almost exclusively as a crooner, wooing his audiences with his renditions of some of the most enduring songs of all time. In 2008 Craig's vocal talent was further recognised when he was asked to perform with The Syd Lawrence Orchestra at The Venue Cymru, Llandudno. Craig has also guested with The Merseyside Big Band, The Norman Roy Orchestra, The Brisbane Symphonic Band, big band star Andy Prior and The Brian Ward Big Band.