Sir George Martin
Known as the Fifth Beatle, Sir George surely deserved the term. Producer and advisor on all of the Beatle's records (except for "Let It Be," produced by Phil Spector), he also did all of the orchestration and performed on many of the records. Without doubt, he is the guy who took their raw talent and charisma and shaped it into something big.
When he first heard their demo in 1962, he commented "Awful," - but he liked the fellows when he met them, and enjoyed their humor. One of his early moves was to replace drummer Pete Best with Ringo, a better drummer from a competing Liverpool band.
A grown-up (born 1923), an ex-lieutenant in the British Air Force, a devotee of classical music and an experienced producer who had worked with Peter Ustinov, Peter Sellers, Spike Mulligan and Dudley Moore, it was great luck that he decided to take on the unknown Liverpool and Hamburg bar-band The Beatles. Sir George lent stability and musical sophistication to the band, and he knew his way around a recording studio. Sir George is, sadly, now hard-of-hearing and getting on in years, but Beatles afficionados (and who isn't?) can get a good sense of the Beatles' evolution, and of his role in it, on the 1996 The Beatles Anthology, a fine series to watch on a rainy Sunday afternoon while puttering around.
(In their brief, very productive 10-year life, it's hard to decide on a favorite Beatles album, but I would have to say that "Revolver" is their best. Not to disparage any of their other stuff. "Rubber Soul" is up there too, but for pure simple wholesome joyful pop, their first American release, which I still have on vinyl - "Meet The Beatles" - is great clean fun and full of memories for me and everyone else of my generation. It holds up well, too, if you don't need ugliness and evil in your pop music. But I cannot get into favorite Beatles - Hey Jude, Penny Lane, I Wanta Hold Your Hand, She Loves You, and the magical She Said She Said...it's endless. Oh, also Revolution, the B side of the single Hey Jude - the tune that corrected millions of impressionable adolescent minds. If you young pups want to Meet the Beatles, listen to all of their recordings - in chronological order. Satisfaction guaranteed.)
Frank Houston did a good piece on Martin in Salon in 2000, here. A brief intereview with him here, on his composing the score for the movie Yellow Submarine.There is a brief bio of Sir George on Wikipedia. There is a better and more extensive one here - click on Biography of Sir George Martin and it will appear. And more on him at this website. I am sure that a Knighthood is a fine and very cool thing, but Sir George has a far better reward for his work - the delight and gratitude of millions.
