Beverley Martyn, a singer-songwriter with a versatile, bluesy voice who was a star of the vibrant London folk scene in the late 1960s, has died aged 79. She was best known for two albums, Stormbringer! and The Road to Ruin, recorded in 1970 with her then husband, guitarist John Martyn. After these releases, she endured a long absence from the studio while raising a family and dealing with the fallout from their troubled marriage.
Early Life and Career
Born Beverley Kutner, she arrived in London at age 15 from Broad Heath School in Coventry to study drama at the Corona Theatre School. However, she found herself more attracted to singing in Soho folk clubs than acting, turning down an offer from the Royal Shakespeare Company to pursue a singing career.
She worked with the jug band the Levee Breakers, releasing the single Babe I'm Leaving You in 1965 at age 18. She also began writing songs and performed at Les Cousins, an all-night basement club in Greek Street, where regulars included guitarist Bert Jansch. She and Jansch were a couple for a time; he taught her guitar, and she appeared on the cover of his 1965 album It Don't Bother Me.
Signed to Decca's Deram label as a soloist under the name Beverley, she released Happy New Year in 1966, backed by session musicians Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones. The song, a Randy Newman composition, was, she complained, chosen for her and was too dark for the time, failing to catch on. Two further singles followed, including Donovan's Museum in 1967.
Monterey and Collaboration with John Martyn
A brief relationship with Paul Simon led to her performing at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival alongside Simon & Garfunkel, Jimi Hendrix, and the Who. She featured on the 1968 Simon & Garfunkel album Bookends, providing a short spoken section on Fakin' It, then toured the US with them, living for a time in San Francisco.
Returning to London, she met and married John Martyn, and they decided to record together. Producer Joe Boyd, known for his work with Fairport Convention and Nick Drake, sent them to Woodstock to record Stormbringer! with musicians including Levon Helm of the Band. Boyd felt John wasn't his cup of tea, but when Beverley announced they wanted to make an album together, he had no choice.
The album was dominated by John's songs, with only three by Beverley, including her thoughtful Can't Get the One I Want and Sweet Honesty. A similar scenario unfolded with The Road to Ruin, released later in 1970, though it opened with her charming, breezy Primrose Hill. Boyd was frustrated that there were no real duets. Both albums are regarded as folk-rock classics but were not commercially successful at the time.
Marriage and Later Life
After the albums, John, who Boyd recalled was against sharing a stage with his wife, returned to a solo career. For Beverley, marriage meant her career was over. She stayed home raising three children—Spenser and Mhairi from her marriage to John, and Wesley from an earlier relationship—while also helping care for the reclusive Nick Drake, feeding him home cooking and sometimes doing his laundry, according to Boyd.
Over the years, Beverley suffered increasingly abusive behavior from her husband, who struggled with drink and drugs. This reflected her childhood in Coventry, where her father, a watchmaker, had been violent toward her mother. In her 2011 memoir Sweet Honesty, written two years after John's death, she wrote that he gave her a broken nose, fractured inner ear, and hairline skull fractures, and smashed a chair over her, damaging her arm. He refused to let her call a doctor or go to the hospital. Boyd described Beverley as a lovely person who fell for a bad guy.
By 1980, the marriage was over, and Beverley moved to Brighton, East Sussex, living on social security and financial help from friends. She gradually revived her career in the 1990s, playing shows with Jansch and the re-formed Levee Brothers, and touring with Loudon Wainwright III. In 1998, she released the low-key solo album No Frills, accompanying herself on acoustic guitar.
Later Years and Legacy
In 2013, she performed at the Royal Festival Hall in London for a Jansch tribute concert. The following year, she released her finest solo album, The Phoenix and the Turtle, which included Reckless Jane, a song she began writing in the 1970s with Drake. A 2018 album, Where the Good Times Are, revived her Deram recordings from the 1960s, including impressive, previously unreleased songs. In 2024, she was included on the compilation album Les Cousins, alongside major stars who had appeared at the club.
Beverley Martyn is survived by Wesley and Mhairi. She was born on 24 March 1947 and died on 27 April 2026.
