The Beatles used to sing, "All You Need is Love."
Actually, all they needed was George Martin.
The man lovingly known as the '5th Beatle' died Tuesday. He was 90.
Martin was the man behind the Beatles' sound, the producer whose magic in the recording studio helped crank out 23 No. 1 hits, starting with "Love Me Do," the song Martin personally picked out to kickstart the Beatles' career.
While I knew that Martin was the magician responsible for collaborating with John Lennon and Paul McCartney on much of the Fab Four's revolutionary music, here's something I did not know.
The Beatles got turned down by one British record company after another until Martin signed them in 1962 on his tiny Parlophone label.
Martin's background in producing symphonies intertwined with the Beatles' desire to expand rock music to introduce new sounds such as flutes and other orchestral elements into their music.
This video shows how much Martin influenced the Beatles.
Paul McCartney tweeted that Martin was "like a father" to him.
He was like a father to all of us who were kids looking for something to latch onto when we sat down in front of the TV to watch Ed Sullivan to hear these kids from England everyone was talking about.
Once you got past the screaming young girls, it was the music that remained.
After you heard that music for the first time, nothing was the same.
The Beatles changed the world. And it was George Martin who was responsible for much of that sound.
Rest well, Sir George.
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