Sir Walter Raleigh

b. Dewey Martin, 30 September 1942, Ottawa, Canada. Martin worked as a drummer in various semi-professional bands before moving to Nashville, Tennessee, USA, in 1960. He replaced Roger Miller as the drummer with Faron Young’s band and subsequently toured with Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison and Patsy Cline. In 1963 Martin secured work with the houseband in a Californian club, the Palomino, before joining Lucky Lee And The Diamonds and moving north to Seattle, Washington, USA. Here he was spotted by Jerry Dennon of Jerden Records who recorded Martin as a vocalist under the name Sir Walter Raleigh, an allusion to the ‘British Invasion’ of 1964. With his backing group the Coupons, Raleigh/Martin had a regional hit with ‘The White Cliffs Of Dover’. However, he continued to tour as a pick-up drummer, notably with the Modern Folk Quartet. As Sir Walter Raleigh he recorded several other singles with a sound influenced by Paul Revere And The Raiders and Don And The Goodtimes. ‘Tell Her Tonight’, was picked up from Jerden by Tower Records of Los Angeles when the singer moved to that city in 1966. Martin then abandoned his group and stage-name and having drummed briefly with the Dillards, secured fame as a member of Buffalo Springfield. Martin’s vocals were heard to the fore on the up-tempo soul influenced ‘Good Time Boy’ on Buffalo Springfield Again. When this highly-talented outfit broke up in 1968, Martin formed Medicine Ball with Randy Fuller, late of the Bobby Fuller Four. One average album Medicine Ball (1970) followed, before the group split up.