Gregg Martinez is Making a Scene

July 6, 2020

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Making a Scene Presents an interview with Gregg Martinez

Gregg Martinez is an American rhythm and blues singer and purveyor of the south Louisiana genre called Swamp Pop. He is also referred to as “Mac Daddy” and is a member of the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. His vocal style has been inspired and influenced by the soul crooners of the 60’s/70’s including Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, Al Green, and Louisiana artists G G Shinn, T K Hulin, Big Luther Kent, and Johnny Adams. He is the leader of and tours regularly with Gregg Martinez and the Delta Kings.

Martinez began singing in public at the age of eight in his home church in Carencro, Louisiana. He began his professional music career after graduating from Teurlings Catholic High School in Lafayette, Louisiana in 1974 by performing in the local nightlife scene of South Louisiana.

From 1981 through 1984 Martinez was frontman and bandeader of Gregg Martinez and Kingfish. In 1985 he began to tour nationally with a new backing group called the Heat. Within a few months he landed an exclusive contract with the casinos in Atlantic City, NJ, where he would appear regularly through 1988 and relocated to in 1986.

In 1990 Martinez began a new chapter in his musical journey in the Contemporary Christian Music field. He released three Christian albums from 1991-1997. With the releases of For the Ages and All the Days, 1999, 2001, he began to blend the Christian music with the Rhythm and Blues of his earlier days. He formed Gregg Martinez Outreach in 1998 which most notably consisted of a public school anti-drug program which reached many thousands of students around the country.

By 2006 Martinez had relocated back to his native Louisiana and had also returned to the R&B/Blues/Swamp Pop genre with the release of Big Bad Daddy. At this time he also joined the legendary blue-eyed soul group the Boogie Kings. He wrote the title song for The Boogie Kings’ 2007 release Never Go Away. Martinez’ CD, Soul of the Bayou, was released April 30, 2016 on Louisiana Red Hot Records. It reached #2 on the national soul chart and #4 on the national R&B chart. It was also voted #8 of the top 50 albums in Louisiana 2016 by Offbeat Magazine. Martinez has been nominated five times for Best Male Vocalist by Offbeats’ Best of the Beat Awards. On February 9, 2019 he was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.