Marty Willson-Piper

Martin Howard Willson-Piper (born 7 May 1958) is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter best known as a former long-time member of the Australian psychedelic rock band The Church.

Willson-Piper was born in Stockport, Cheshire, on 7 May 1958 and grew up as a teenager in Thingwall.

He has a brother and an adopted sister.

When he was 3 years old the family moved from Compstall where his parents had a pub called The Commercial.

Around 1970, the family moved to Birch Vale in Derbyshire, a small village between New Mills and Hayfield, where his parents took on another pub.

They later moved back to Thingwall.

At 14 he was taught the guitar by his brother, who was a member of a cabaret band.

Willson-Piper soon started his own band with school friends.

After leaving school at 16, Willson-Piper had worked various jobs.

He soon travelled to mainland Europe busking outside train stations and working odd jobs such as grape collecting.

His music archive, the In Deep Music Archive (named after Argent's 1973 album In Deep), is an eclectic collection of music in many forms.

An historical and contemporary library of various physical formats: vinyl, CD, cassette, reel to reel tape, 8 track, 78 rpm, VHS, DVD, Laser discs, reference books, encyclopedias, catalogues, biographies and magazines.

The archive's digital presence is the In Deep Music Archive website with regular posts about both popular and more obscure artists included in the collection.

Collected by Willson-Piper over the past 50 years, the archive has grown into a collection through a life of scouring the record stores around the world, but also through donations from friends, fans and record labels.

It currently holds an estimated 50,000 vinyl records and is located in Penzance, Cornwall, UK.

Willson-Piper is married to violinist Olivia Willson-Piper and was married before to Australian Lucy Stewart in the early eighties.

He speaks English and Swedish.

He lives in Porto, Portugal.

He joined in 1980 after seeing an early gig where they were performing as a three-piece.

He was an integral member of the band for 33 years.

He moved to Australia in April 1980.

Willson-Piper went along to see an early performance of The Church and was asked to join the band a few days before his 22nd birthday in May 1980.

On 6 May 1980, Willson-Piper joined The Church on guitar, vocals and bass guitar, alongside Steve Kilbey, Peter Koppes and Nick Ward.

Willson-Piper's sound was influenced by guitarists such as Tom Verlaine and Bill Nelson.

Willson-Piper contributed to most of the Church's studio releases and was a member almost continuously from 1980 to 2013.

Willson-Piper has maintained a steady solo output since the mid-1980s, releasing six solo studio albums and three live solo albums.

Four of his albums are collaborations with long-time friend Dare Mason (who has produced and played on Willson-Piper's solo releases) under the name Noctorum.

He was also the guitarist for the English alternative rock band All About Eve from 1991 to 1993 and again from 1999 to 2002.

He has also worked with Swedish progressive rock band Anekdoten.

The only exception is the 1997 album Pharmakoi/Distance-Crunching Honchos with Echo Units, which only featured Kilbey, Koppes and drummer Tim Powles and was released as by "The Refo:mation".

In 2013, Kilbey announced on the band's Facebook page that former Powderfinger guitarist Ian Haug had replaced Willson-Piper.

In September 2015, Willson-Piper's band Acres Of Space embarked on a tour of the United States.

During the spring and summer of 2016, Acres of Space toured the Eastern half of the United States.

In December 2016 / January 2017 Acres Of Space played four shows in Chile.

Marty and his wife have toured as an acoustic duo, playing shows in Uruguay, Argentina, the United States, Germany and the UK.

Willson-Piper is an avid record collector.