Martin Slavin

Who was Martin Slavin?

Martin Slavin was a British composer and music director.

Slavin was born in London. He served in the army as a Band Sergeant, and after demobilization formed his own seven piece band, working with musicians such as Eddie Calvert and Kenny Baker. In 1958, he had a UK #18 in Record Mirror's Top 20, as Martinas & His Music, with the song "Cha Cha Momma Brown", a take on the old party favourite "Knees Up Mother Brown".

In the 1960s, Slavin composed the musical Nancy Wake and was a prolific session musician and music arranger and composer for television and cinema. He worked on such diverse productions as The Cool Mikado and The Shadow of Fear.

One of his music pieces, "Space Adventure" was used in the "Doctor Who" serial, "The Tenth Planet" as the Cybermen's theme. It was later used in "The Moonbase" and "Tomb of the Cybermen."

Slavin emigrated to Canada and then Hollywood, continuing to work on film productions He became a musical director on a cruise ship before returning to London in the 1980s.

He was killed in a road accident.