Music
Chris Martin
Singer and songwriter of Coldplay
Born 1977
Photo: Raph_PH · CC BY 2.0
«We're just four blokes who met at university and we're still doing it.»
Chris Martin formed Coldplay with three fellow UCL students in their first week of university, and the band has since sold more than a hundred million records. He completed his degree with first-class honours while the band was already signed.
Key achievements
- Founded Coldplay at UCL in 1996
- Seven Grammy Awards and over 100 million records sold
Universities
London, Bloomsbury
Read ancient world studies and graduated with first-class honours in 1999, having formed Coldplay with fellow students in halls.
Facts
- The four members met in halls of residence in 1996 and the band was originally called Starfish.
- He studied Greek and Latin literature, and has said the discipline of translation taught him about compression in lyrics.
- Coldplay signed to Parlophone before Martin sat his final examinations, and he took them anyway.
Photographs
Photographs come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences; the author and licence are shown on each image.