Former French American School Teacher, Poet and Musician To Be Honored At Watercolor

It wasn’t that long ago that folk-rock singer/songwriter Terence Martin was performing at the Urban H2O on the Yonkers waterfront, releasing CDs and teaching a devoted group of English students at the French American School in Larchmont.

The 65-year old Harrison resident was a consummate musician by all accounts, writing and performing all of his own songs in his soothing, yet softly gravelly voice. Martin was someone who did not court fame, but swayed under the radar of popular music as an “underrecognized talent” according to his friend Bruce Carroll, the owner of where Martin was a regular performer for years.

In August, Martin received a diagnosis that was both unexpected and sobering: Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, a disease that often goes undetected with little or no symptoms until it has progressed rapidly.

Carroll immediately went to work planning a series of concerts at the Watercolor Café to help defray the “crippling price of treatments and co-pays,” for Martin and his wife.  The benefit will be held at the Watercolor Café tonight and tomorrow and will include artists like Richard Shindell, Sloan Wainwright, KJ Denhert, Pat Wictor, Montgomery Delaney, George Wurzbach, Loretta Hagen, Clifford Carter, Ben Matusan, Tom Faure, Bruce Carrol, Pearson Constantino, and students from the French American School.

“It’s a way for the community to turn out and demonstrate their feelings for him [Martin],” said Carroll about the former Larchmont resident.

Poetry often lends itself to songwriting, and it is no surprise that Martin was also a published poet and voracious reader, by most accounts.

Martin’s longtime friend Monty Delaney—and one of the performers at the benefit—seemed unable to resolve the image of a “sensitive and thoughtful man” afflicted with “such a horrible disease.”

“It’s incongruous,” said the former South Bronx cop, analogizing his experience with hardened criminals who had committed heinous crimes, “doing push-ups in their cell now.”

Many of Martin’s former students—now living in different areas of the country including Detroit, Chicago and Maine—turned out for a benefit concert he was supposed to have played at the Katonah Lakehouse on Sept. 17.

“He’s had a profound effect on the students he’s taught,” said Delaney about the turnout at the concert he organized.

Originally from England, Martin lived in Los Angeles before moving to the east coast in 1997.  In January of this year, Martin told the , “My music is more along the lines of musicians like Steve Fobert, Greg Brown and Leonard Cohen where the poetry is the thing.” 

According to his official bio, Martin has performed as a double bassist in the Burbank Symphony, toured with several rock bands and had his CD The Last Black and White TV appear at number 35 on the Americana Top 40 Music Chart.

Martin's has released six CDs and his song "Familiar Mysteries” was the title track on the second Garland Appeal CD, the charity started in memory of Linda McCartney. Lyrics and music clips can be found on Martin's website here. 

Please call the Watercolor Café at (914) 834-2213 to make a reservation for shows on Oct. 26 and Oct. 27, both starting at 7:30 p.m. or visit the website here.  Tickets are $25; all proceeds will be donated to Terence Martin’s family.