Trade Martin

Trade Martin's career has covered so many eras of music -- as a producer, arranger, songwriter, and even occasionally as a recording artist -- that he's almost impossible to pin down as a musical figure. In the late '50s, in a partnership with Johnny Power, he began recording acts such as Johnny & the Jokers and released their work on the Harvard Records label before the two formed Rome Records in 1960. Rome only lasted until 1962, weighted down by its lack of reliable distribution, which prevented the company from succeeding despite signing such talent as the Earls (who went ...