Born Reginald Smith on April 15th 1936 in London. Marty Wilde, then calling himself 'Reginald Patterson' was discovered by rock and roll entrepreneur Larry Parnes who quickly changed him into 'Marty Wilde'.
Marty's big break came with the advent of the UK's first rock and roll TV show, 'Six-Five Special' but following Jack Good's dismissal by the BBC, Marty transferred himself to Jack Good's new ITV show 'Oh Boy!'
Although Marty's covers of US songs continued to chart, they were in direct competition with the originals and by the early 1960s Marty was struggling to make even the top 20.
Despite the downward slide in his record sales most of his records were well made. Marty Wilde married Vernons girl Joyce Baker. He later re-established himself as a premier act at rock and roll nostalgia concerts.
Marty still tours regularly and retains that excellent singing voice that gave him such a good start in his long show business career.
