Martin Orford

Martin Orford (born 10 June 1959, Bitterne, Southampton^[1]) is an English keyboard player best known as the keyboardist and founder member of progressive rock bands IQ and Jadis. He also worked with former King Crimson, UK and Asia bassist John Wetton, and released a solo album, Classical Music and Popular Songs in 2000.^[2] Orford appeared on two Big Big Train albums, Goodbye To The Age of Steam and English Boy Wonders.

Orford won the "Best Keyboard Player" category at the Best of the Year Classic Rock Society Award in 2004.^[3]

Orford's latest solo album The Old Road (GEPCD1037) was released in October 2008. The album features guest appearances from John Wetton, Nick D'Virgilio and Dave Meros (Spock's Beard), Steve Thorne, John Mitchell (It Bites/Arena), Gary Chandler (Jadis), Dave Oberle (Gryphon), David Longdon and Andy Edwards (IQ)

Orford announced that he would quit the music industry completely at the end of 2008, citing disillusionment with internet piracy and the 'free music' culture as the principal reason (source Orford 16 October 2008). However, he continues to perform live occasionally, most recently at MelloFest 2009^[4] where he performed tracks from The Old Road as well as some IQ numbers.

References

1. ^ "Martin Orford". IQ official website. http://www.gep.co.uk/iq/martinorford.html. Retrieved 2008-03-08. ^{[dead link]}
2. ^ "Martin Orford". Giant Electric Pea. http://www.gep.co.uk/martinorford.html. Retrieved 2008-03-08. 
3. ^ Hudson-Lee, Kris (2004-11-28). "BOTY Awards Winners 2004". Classic Rock Society. http://theclassicrocksociety.blogspot.com/2004/11/boty-awards-winners-2004.html. Retrieved 2008-03-08. ^{[dead link]}
4. ^ "MelloFest '09". http://www.mellofest.com/. 

External links

• IQ official website
• Giant Electric Pea

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Name	Orford, Martin
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Date of birth	1959-06-10
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