Early life

Martin Lee Gore was born in Dagenham, Essex in England. Gore's biological father was an African-American G.I. stationed in Britain. Gore was raised by his stepfather and biological mother. He believed his stepfather was his biological father until age thirteen. When he was 13, he learned that his biological father was an African-American serviceman and, as an adult, later met him in the American South. Gore responds to the source's information and is quoted in Miller's book saying, "It brings up family traumas" and "It's one of those things I'd rather not talk about".

He left Nicholas Comprehensive, Basildon in 1977 and took a job as a bank cashier. During evenings, weekends and any other spare time, he was involved with the local band Norman and the Worms with school friend Phil Burdett who later went on to become a singer/songwriter himself.

Gore has two younger half sisters, Karen, born in 1967, and Jacqueline, born in 1968.

Career

In 1980, Gore met Andy "Fletch" Fletcher at the Van Gogh club. Fletcher recruited Gore into his band Composition of Sound along with Vince Clarke. Soon the band drafted Dave Gahan to be the lead singer after hearing him sing "Heroes" by David Bowie. Gahan is credited with the name "Depeche Mode" after seeing the phrase as a title of a French fashion magazine, which later considered taking them to court, but thought it would be good publicity for the magazine to let the band have the name.

Clarke left Depeche Mode in late 1981, shortly after the release of their debut album Speak & Spell. Clarke wrote most of the album, with Gore contributing two tracks, "Tora! Tora! Tora!" and the instrumental "Big Muff". "Any Second Now (voices)" features Gore's first lead vocals for the band. Gore sings lead vocals on several of the band's songs, notably ballads, his tenor voice providing a contrast to Gahan's dramatic baritone. When Clarke announced his departure from Depeche Mode in 1981, citing the pressures of fame and creative differences, Gore took over songwriting. Gore had been writing material since the age of twelve.

Songs Gore wrote for Depeche Mode's second album, A Broken Frame (1982) differed musically and lyrically from Clarke's. Gore's writing became gradually darker and more political on subsequent Depeche Mode albums.

Gore sometimes plays guitars, typically his Gretsch White Falcon or Gretsch Double Anniversary on Depeche Mode songs. The first time guitar was used as the main instrument was on "Personal Jesus", although he used small guitar parts on previous songs, such as "Behind the Wheel" and "Love, in Itself". Gore's guitar playing developed even more on Songs of Faith and Devotion. However, in live performances, he switches his keyboards for his guitar on some older Depeche Mode songs, such as "Never Let Me Down Again" and "A Question of Time". In mid 1990 Gore stated -

“

I think in a way we've been at the forefront of new music; sort of chipping away at the standard rock format stations.

”

NME - July 1990

On 27 May 1999, Gore was presented with an award by Daniel Miller for "International Achievement", by the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors, at the 44th Ivor Novello Awards, at The Grosvenor House Hotel.

Gore remains the primary songwriter for Depeche Mode.

Personal life

Gore lives in Santa Barbara, California. He started dating lingerie designer and model Suzanne Boisvert after meeting in Paris in 1989. They married in August 1994. He has three children with Boisvert: daughters Viva Lee Gore (born 1991) and Ava Lee Gore (born 1995), and son Calo Leon Gore (born 2002). Gore and Boisvert divorced in 2006.

Gore married Kerrilee Kaski in June 2014. In October 2015 Kerrilee Gore updated her Facebook profile photo showing her to be pregnant. On February 19, 2016, Kerrilee gave birth to a baby girl named Johnnie Lee, his third daughter and fourth child.

Vegetarianism

Gore became a vegetarian for health and moral reasons in 1983.

Solo discography

Studio albums

Title	Details	Peak chart positions
		UK	DEN	FRA	GER	ITA	SWE	SWI	US Dan
Counterfeit²	Release date: 29 April 2003 Label: Mute Records Formats: CD, music download	102	32	52	12	25	23	79	3
MG	Release date: 24 April 2015 Label: Mute Records Formats: LP, CD, music download	50	—	90	7	—	—	28	1

Extended plays

Title	Details	Peak positions
		UK	GER	US
Counterfeit e.p.	Release date: 12 June 1989 Label: Mute Records Formats: CD, LP album, cassette	51	41	156
MG remix EP	Release date: 9 October 2015 Label: Mute Records Formats: 12" vinyl, digital bundle	-	-	-

Singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions						Album
		UK	DEN	FRA	GER	ITA	US Alt
1989	"Compulsion"	—	—	—	—	—	18	Counterfeit e.p.
2003	"Stardust"	44	16	92	29	28	—	Counterfeit²
	"Loverman"	—	—	—	53	—	—
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Other appearances

Year	Song	Album	Notes
1995	"Coming Back To You"	Tower of Song: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen	Gore sings lead vocals on a cover version of the Leonard Cohen song.
2004	"Overdrive"	City	Recorded with female duo Client. Gore sings backing vocals on this track.
2009	"Master and Servant (feat. Martin Gore)"	3	Cover of the 1984 Depeche Mode hit, recorded with French band Nouvelle Vague. Lead vocal by Melanie Pain, with Gore on backing vocals.
2010	"Once You Say"	Industrial Complex	Recorded with Nitzer Ebb. Gore sings backing vocals on this track.
2011-12	"Man Made Machine"	Man Made Machine	Recorded with Motor. Gore sings lead vocals on both EP version (2011), and on the album of the same name (2012).
2012	All tracks	Ssss	All songs co-written and performed with Vince Clarke as the duo VCMG (see below).
2016	TBA	TBA	In February 2013, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Dave Gahan announced that Gore had recorded a song with Frank Ocean for Ocean's upcoming album.

VCMG

Former Depeche Mode colleague Vince Clarke collaborated with Gore for the first time since 1981 as techno duo VCMG on an instrumental minimalist electronic dance album called Ssss, released on 12 March 2012. The first EP entitled Spock was first released worldwide exclusively on Beatport on 30 November 2011. The second EP Single Blip was once again first released exclusively on Beatport on 20 February 2012. Their third EP Aftermaths was released on 20 August 2012.

MG

In late February 2015, several teaser images were displayed on Martin Gore's official Facebook page, citing a hashtag "MGxMG" which was later revealed to be a promotional tool for his new solo studio album, titled MG (named after his previous collaborative album, VCMG, with Vince Clarke from 2012). In a news post on his official website and various social media on March 2, this confirmation of his new studio album announced its release will be on April 27 or 28th, and previewed a track, Europa Hymn, from the new album.

Other collaborations

• Gore played keyboard on two tracks by Annette & Inga Humpe (Humpe and Humpe), called "Happiness Is Hard to Take" & "Don't Know Where I Belong" from their 1985 album Humpe Humpe
• He played guitar on the Gwen Stefani song "Wonderful Life" on her 2006 album The Sweet Escape.
• Gore collaborated on the band Onetwo's track "Cloud Nine" by playing the guitar and as songwriter of the song, which can be found on their 2007 album called Instead.
• In 2010, Tim Simenon's Bomb the Bass album Back to Light was published, which is containing the instrumental "Milakia", co-written by Martin Gore during the Ultra sessions. Gore also played synthesiser on the track.
• Compact Space's album Nameless (2011) includes the track "The Unstoppable Collision" with Gore on guitar. Compact Space is formed by Depeche Mode's collaborators Christian Eigner, Daryl Bamonte and singer Florian Kraemmer.
• Also in 2011, Gore created the sound "Siren-synth - Mutesound" on the track "Uni Rec" on the album Univrs by German glitch and minimalist techno artist Alva Noto.

Remixes

• 1994 Spirit Feel - "Rejoice" (Mystic Span Mix)
• 1995 Garbage - "Queer" (The Most Beautiful Woman in Town Mix)
• 1999 ON - "Soluble Words" (Sublingual Remix)
• 2003 Señor Coconut And His Orchestra - "Smooth Operator" (In-Disguise Remix)
• 2013 Diamond Version - "Get Yours" (Martin L. Gore Remix)

Depeche Mode songs with Gore on lead vocals

Depeche Mode's lead vocals are generally handled by Dave Gahan, but on occasion Gore will sing lead. These are all the songs he sings, in chronological order:

• Speak & Spell
  • "Any Second Now (voices)"
• Construction Time Again
  • "Pipeline"
• Some Great Reward
  • "It Doesn't Matter"
  • "Somebody"
• Black Celebration
  • "A Question of Lust"
  • "Sometimes"
  • "It Doesn't Matter Two"
  • "World Full of Nothing"
  • "Black Day"
• Music for the Masses
  • "The Things You Said"
  • "I Want You Now"
  • "Route 66" (cover of a song by Bobby Troup
• Violator
  • "Enjoy the Silence" (Harmonium version only)
  • "Sweetest Perfection"
  • "Blue Dress"
• Songs of Faith and Devotion
  • "Death's Door"
  • "Judas"
  • "One Caress"
• Ultra
  • "Home"
  • "The Bottom Line"
• Exciter
  • "Comatose"
  • "Breathe"
• Playing the Angel
  • "Macro"
  • "Damaged People"
• Sounds of the Universe
  • "Jezebel"
  • "The Sun and the Moon and the Stars" (bonus track)
• Delta Machine
  • "The Child Inside"
  • "Always" (bonus track)

Duets

These are songs where Gahan and Gore have around equal singing time, in chronological order. In some instances, both sing at the same time (ex: "Behind the Wheel"), and in others, Gahan sang the verses while Gore sang the chorus (ex: "Everything Counts").

• A Broken Frame
  • "Shouldn't Have Done That"
• Construction Time Again
  • "Everything Counts"
  • "Shame"
• Some Great Reward
  • "Something to Do"
  • "People Are People"
• The Singles 81→85/Catching Up with Depeche Mode
  • "Shake The Disease"
  • "Fly On The Windscreen"
• Black Celebration
  • "Here Is the House"
  • "Dressed in Black"
  • "Breathing in Fumes" (the transformed voice throughout the song is the one of Martin Gore)
• Music for the Masses
  • "Never Let Me Down Again"
  • "Behind the Wheel"
  • "Pleasure, Little Treasure"
• Violator
  • "Waiting for the Night"
• Songs of Faith and Devotion
  • "Higher Love"
• Ultra
  • "Insight"
  • "Surrender", albeit only towards the end of the track.
• Exciter
  • "Dream On"
  • "The Sweetest Condition"
  • "I Feel Loved"
• Playing the Angel
  • "The Sinner in Me"
  • "Nothing's Impossible"
  • "Newborn"
  • "Free"
• Sounds of the Universe
  • "Hole to Feed"
  • "Wrong"
  • "Little Soul"
  • "Peace"
  • "Corrupt"
  • "Oh Well"

Sources

• Malins, Steve. Depeche Mode : Black Celebration : The Biography. Andre Deutsch, 2007. ISBN 978-0-233-00178-4
• Miller, Jonathan. Stripped: Depeche Mode 2003, 2004, Omnibus Press ISBN 1-84449-415-2
• Tobler, John. NME Rock 'N' Roll Years (1st ed.). London: Reed International Books Ltd, 1992. CN 5585. ISBN 0-600-57602-7

[ Source: Wikipedia ]