Martin Plaza is the pseudonym of Martin Edward Murphy (born 1 January 1956), who is a vocalist/guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

ist/songwriter

Songwriter

A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

 with Australian pop

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

/R&B band Mental As Anything

Mental As Anything

Mental As Anything are an Australian New Wave–rock music band formed at an art school in Sydney in 1976. Their most popular line-up was Martin Plaza on vocals and guitar; Reg Mombassa on lead guitar and vocals; his brother Peter "Yoga Dog" O'Doherty on bass guitar and vocals; Wayne "Bird"...

. Plaza also has a solo music career and in 1986 had a #2 hit in Australia with his cover

Cover version

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 of the 1960s Unit 4+2 song "Concrete and Clay

Concrete and Clay

"Concrete and Clay" is the title of a 1965 #1 hit single recorded by the UK pop group Unit 4 + 2: the song was written by group membersTommy Moeller and Brian Parker....

". Plaza has worked in other bands and is an accomplished artist

Visual arts

The visual arts are art forms that create works which are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, and often modern visual arts and architecture...

.

Early life

Plaza was born Martin Murphy on the North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales. He attended St. Pius X at Chatswood, excelling in sporting and artistic pursuits but showing little interest in other subjects. After attending Hornsby

Hornsby, New South Wales

* Highest Maximum Temperature: 42 °C* Lowest Maximum Temperature: 4.9 °C* Warmest Month: January* Coolest Month: July* Highest Precipitation: February* Lowest Precipitation: July-Notable residents:...

 Technical College he switched with fellow student Steve Coburn to what was then known as the East Sydney Technical College (now known as the National Art School

National Art School

The National Art School is an art school in Sydney, Australia. It is a Public Company Limited by Guarantee with a board of directors. It has Institutional Registration and Course Accreditation supported by the DET Higher Education Directorate....

) in Darlinghurst in the mid-1970s where he met Chris O'Doherty. Around this time he was working part time at KFC

KFC

KFC, founded and also known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, is a chain of fast food restaurants based in Louisville, Kentucky, in the United States. KFC has been a brand and operating segment, termed a concept of Yum! Brands since 1997 when that company was spun off from PepsiCo as Tricon Global...

. With O'Doherty (later known as Reg Mombassa

Reg Mombassa

Reg Mombassa is the pseudonym of Chris O'Doherty, a New Zealand born artist and musician. Resident in Australia, he is as well known there for his musical exploits — founder and former member of the popular Australian band Mental As Anything and member of Dog Trumpet - as he is for his art...

), Coburn and another student, David Twohill

David Twohill

David Twohill is a musician formerly with Australian band Mental As Anything who is also known by the pseudonym Wayne DeLisle or as Bird.-Early life:...

, he formed the pop

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

/rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 band Mental As Anything

Mental As Anything

Mental As Anything are an Australian New Wave–rock music band formed at an art school in Sydney in 1976. Their most popular line-up was Martin Plaza on vocals and guitar; Reg Mombassa on lead guitar and vocals; his brother Peter "Yoga Dog" O'Doherty on bass guitar and vocals; Wayne "Bird"...

 in May 1976. Mental As Anything went on to become one of Australia’s most popular bands touring widely in Australia and overseas.

Art career

All early members of Mental As Anything are also artists

Visual arts

The visual arts are art forms that create works which are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, and often modern visual arts and architecture...

 and have exhibited their artworks since 1982. Whilst not being as acclaimed as Mombassa or Reg's brother Peter O'Doherty

Peter O'Doherty

Peter O'Doherty is a musician with Australian band Dog Trumpet and formerly with Australian band Mental As Anything. He is also a recognised fine artist specialising in still life and everyday suburban scenes....

, Plaza has certainly become quite prolific in recent years, holding numerous solo exhibitions working with a variety of media and has entered the Archibald Prize

Archibald Prize

The Archibald Prize is regarded as the most important portraiture prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after a bequest from J. F. Archibald, the editor of The Bulletin who died in 1919...

, notably with a self-portrait and a portrait of Mombassa. In the mid-1990s his artwork appeared on his own line of Dodgy brand clothing as well as his designs appearing on Mambo clothing. Many of Plaza's artworks have had a Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

an or Hula flavour.

Pseudonym

In the early days of Mental As Anything, band members would often invent pseudonyms for each other that combined an exotic last name with a common Australian first name. Martin Plaza was one of the products of that amusement whilst obviously being inspired by the famous Sydney pedestrian mall Martin Place. He has in the past jokingly stated that his full name is Martin DeJesus Plaza.

Solo & side projects

In 1986 Plaza performed with The Rock Party, a charity project initiated by The National Campaign Against Drug Abuse (NCADA), which included many Australasian musicians such as Crowded House

Crowded House

Crowded House are a rock band, formed in Melbourne, Australia and led by New Zealand singer-songwriter Neil Finn. Finn is the primary songwriter and creative director of the band, having led it through several incarnations, drawing members from New Zealand , Australia and the United States...

 members Neil Finn

Neil Finn

Neil Mullane Finn, OBE is a New Zealand Pop recording artist. Along with his brother Tim Finn, he was the co-frontman for Split Enz and is now frontman for Crowded House...

, Tim Finn

Tim Finn

Brian Timothy "Tim" Finn, OBE is a New Zealand singer and musician. Finn is most known for his music with New Zealand 1970s and 1980s rock group Split Enz, and later for his solo work, a temporary membership in his brother Neil's band Crowded House and his joint efforts with Neil Finn as the Finn...

, Paul Hester

Paul Hester

Paul Newell Hester was an Australian musician and television personality; he was the drummer for the related bands Split Enz and Crowded House.-The early years:...

 and Nick Seymour

Nick Seymour

Nick Seymour is a musician, painter, and record producer. He is best known for being the bass guitarist in the Australasian rock group Crowded House and brother to Mark Seymour of another successful group; Hunters and Collectors.- Biography :Born in Benalla, Victoria, Australia, Seymour studied...

; GANGgajang

GANGgajang

Gang Gajang are an Australian rock band who formed in 1984. The three principal figures in the original lineup were former Riptides frontman Mark "Cal" Callaghan and two former members of popular Australian hard rock band The Angels, bassist Chris Bailey and drummer Graham "Buzz"...

 members Geoff Stapleton, Robbie James and Mark Callaghan; Models

Models (band)

Models were an alternative rock group formed in Melbourne, Australia, in August 1978 and went into hiatus in 1988. They are often incorrectly referred to as The Models. They re-formed in 2000, 2006 and 2008 to perform reunion concerts. "Out of Mind, Out of Sight", their only No. 1 hit,...

 members Jenny Morris and Sean Kelly; Reg Mombassa

Reg Mombassa

Reg Mombassa is the pseudonym of Chris O'Doherty, a New Zealand born artist and musician. Resident in Australia, he is as well known there for his musical exploits — founder and former member of the popular Australian band Mental As Anything and member of Dog Trumpet - as he is for his art...

 (Mental As Anything

Mental As Anything

Mental As Anything are an Australian New Wave–rock music band formed at an art school in Sydney in 1976. Their most popular line-up was Martin Plaza on vocals and guitar; Reg Mombassa on lead guitar and vocals; his brother Peter "Yoga Dog" O'Doherty on bass guitar and vocals; Wayne "Bird"...

), Eddie Rayner, Mary Azzopardi (Rockmelons

Rockmelons

Rockmelons, often referred to as the Rockies, are an Australian Pop/Dance/R&B group formed in 1983 in Sydney. They are based around Bryon Jones, his brother Jonathon Jones and Raymond Medhurst. They had two Top Five hit singles in the early 1990s with "Ain't No Sunshine" and "That Word ", both sung...

), Andrew Barnum (The Vitabeats), Lissa Barnum, Michael Barclay, Peter Blakely, Deborah Conway

Deborah Conway

Deborah Ann Conway, is an Australian rock singer-songwriter and guitarist, and had a career as a model and actor. She was a founding member of the 1980s rock band Do-Ré-Mi with their surprise top 5 hit "Man Overboard"....

, Danny De Costa, Greg Herbert (The Promise), Spencer P Jones, John Kennedy, Paul Kelly

Paul Kelly (musician)

Paul Maurice Kelly is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player. He has performed solo, and has led numerous groups, including the Dots, the Coloured Girls, and the Messengers. He has worked with other artists and groups, including associated projects Professor...

, Robert Susz (Dynamic Hepnotics

Dynamic Hepnotics

The Dynamic Hepnotics were a successful Australian soul/blues/funk band during the 1980s. They had major success with their chart topping song Soul Kind Of Feeling in 1984 and 1985, followed up by Gotta Be Wrong later that year....

) and Rick Swinn (The Venetians

The Venetians (Australian band)

The Venetians were an Australian synthpop act that had several hit records in Australia during the middle 1980's.-Biography:The Venetians formed in late 1982, when Rik Swinn arrived in Australia with a 24-track master demo of a song he'd recorded in England. He read a newspaper advert placed by...

). The Rock Party released a 12" single "Everything to Live For", which was produced by Joe Wissert, Phil Rigger and Phil Beazley.

In 1986, Plaza had a #2 hit in Australia with the 1960s Unit 4+2 song "Concrete and Clay

Concrete and Clay

"Concrete and Clay" is the title of a 1965 #1 hit single recorded by the UK pop group Unit 4 + 2: the song was written by group membersTommy Moeller and Brian Parker....

", the subsequent solo album Plaza Suite also charted. Further singles were not as successful. In 1991 another planned solo album morphed into a collaboration with former member of Models

Models (band)

Models were an alternative rock group formed in Melbourne, Australia, in August 1978 and went into hiatus in 1988. They are often incorrectly referred to as The Models. They re-formed in 2000, 2006 and 2008 to perform reunion concerts. "Out of Mind, Out of Sight", their only No. 1 hit,...

, James Freud. Entitled Beatfish, it became one of the very first Australian Dance or House flavoured albums. Another surprising turn was his 1994 album Andy's Chest, which was composed almost entirely of Lou Reed

Lou Reed

Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...

 covers, it divided the critics at the time. Another collaboration with Freud in 1996 produced the Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

an inspired Moondog project however Plaza only appears on some tracks.

Albums

• Plaza Suite - CBS (March 1986)
• Andy's Chest - RCA (May 1994)

Singles

• "Best Foot Forward" - CBS (April 1986)
• "Concrete and Clay
  Concrete and Clay
  "Concrete and Clay" is the title of a 1965 #1 hit single recorded by the UK pop group Unit 4 + 2: the song was written by group membersTommy Moeller and Brian Parker....
  
  " - CBS (May 1986) AUS #2
• "Use Me All Over" - CBS (July 1986)
• "Labour of Love" - CBS (1990)
• "Satellite of Love" - RCA (May 1994)
• "Women" - RCA (August 1994)

Mental as Anything

• Get Wet - Regular/Virgin (November 1979)
• Espresso Bongo - Regular (July 1980)
• Cats & Dogs - (September 1981)
• Creatures of Leisure - Regular (March 1983)
• Fundamental (as Anything) - WEA (March, 1985)
• Mouth to Mouth - CBS (July 1987)
• Cyclone Raymond - CBS (September 1989)
• Liar Liar Pants On Fire - FMR/BMG (August 1995)
• Garage - Festival (August 1998)
• Beetroot Stains - CME/Universal (2001)
• Road Case - Barking Mad (2002)
• Plucked - Liberation Blue (2005)

The Stetsons (1987, 1997)

• The Stetsons - Mercury (1987)
• Their Most Successful Album...Ever - Larrikin (1997)

External links