Sir George Martin: To be Honored by the Music Producers Guild

The legendary George Martin celebrates his 87th birthday this week and next month he'll be celebrated himself.

He was born in London, England on January 3, 1926, and of course was extensively involved with the Beatles' albums as their producer, helping them develop their musical ideas, sometimes adding his distinctive classical touch to their work.

Record producer, arranger and composer, as well as a musician in his own right, The Music Producers Guild will pay homage to him on February 7th at the Cafe de Paris in London, giving him their award for Outstanding Contribution to U.K. Music.

Martin's influence reaches well outside what he did so brilliantly with and for the Beatles, because after they split up, he continued to push the creative boundaries with other artists, including Jeff Beck, Jimmy Webb, America and the Mahavishnu Orchestra.

Sir George also scored several films, including the "A Hard Day's Night" and "Yellow Submarine", and worked on the title tracks to the Bond movies "From Russia with Love" and "Goldfinger" and the title and score for "Live and Let Die."