Martin Plaza
Martin Edward Murphy (born 1 January 1956), commonly known by the pseudonym Martin Plaza, is an Australian singer-songwriter, musician and visual artist who is a founding member and the lead vocalist and guitarist of the new wave band Mental As Anything. He has also worked with other bands and is an accomplished artist. Plaza also has a solo music career and had a No. 2 hit in Australia in with his 1986 cover of the song "Concrete and Clay". In 2013, Martin underwent surgery for kidney cancer and is currently on chemotherapy. Early life. Plaza was born  Martin Edward Murphy on the North Shore of Sydney. He attended St. Pius X College in Chatswood, excelling in sporting and artistic pursuits but showing little interest in other subjects. After attending Hornsby Technical College he switched with fellow student Steve Coburn to the East Sydney Technical College in Darlinghurst in the mid-1970s where he met Chris O'Doherty. Around this time he was working part-time at KFC. With O'Doherty (later known as Reg Mombassa), Coburn and another student, David Twohill, he formed the pop/rock band Mental As Anything in May 1976. Mental As Anything went on to become  one of Australia's most popular bands touring widely in Australia and overseas. Art career. All early members of Mental As Anything are also artists in addition to being musicians and have exhibited their artworks since 1982. Whilst not being as acclaimed as bandmates Reg Mombassa or Peter O'Doherty, Plaza has become prolific in recent years. He has held numerous solo exhibitions working with a variety of media and has entered the Archibald Prize, notably with a self-portrait and a portrait of Mombassa. In the mid-1990s his artwork appeared on his own line of Dodgy brand clothing as well  as his designs appearing on Mambo clothing. Many of Plaza's artworks are Hawaiian in style. Pseudonym. In the early days of Mental As Anything, band members would often invent pseudonyms for each other that combined an exotic last name with a common Australian first name. Martin Plaza was one of the products of that amusement whilst obviously being inspired by the famous Sydney pedestrian mall Martin Place. He has in the past jokingly stated that his full name is Martin DeJesus Plaza. Solo and side projects. In 1986 Plaza performed with the Rock Party, a charity project initiated by  the National Campaign Against Drug Abuse (NCADA), which included many Australasian musicians such as Crowded House members Neil Finn, Tim Finn, Paul Hester and Nick Seymour; GANGgajang members Geoff Stapleton, Robbie James and Mark Callaghan; Models members Jenny Morris and Sean Kelly; Reg Mombassa (Mental As Anything), Eddie Rayner, Mary Azzopardi (Rockmelons), Andrew Barnum (Vitabeats), Lissa Barnum, Michael Barclay, Peter Blakely, Deborah Conway, Danny De Costa, Greg Herbert (The Promise), Spencer P. Jones, John Kennedy, Paul Kelly, Robert Susz (Dynamic Hepnotics) and Rick Swinn (the Venetians). The Rock Party released a 12" single "Everything to Live For", which was produced  by Joe Wissert, Phil Rigger and Phil Beazley. In 1986, Plaza had a No. 2 hit in Australia with a cover of the 1960s Unit 4+2 song "Concrete and Clay", and the subsequent solo album "Plaza Suite" also charted. Further singles were not as successful. In 1991 another planned solo album morphed into a collaboration with former Models member, James Freud. Entitled "Beatfish", it became one of the first Australian Dance or House albums. Another surprising turn was his 1994 album "Andy's Chest". Composed almost entirely of Lou Reed covers, it divided critics at the time. Another  collaboration with Freud in 1996 produced the Hawaiian-inspired "Moondog" project; however, Plaza only appears on some tracks. Awards. Australian Songwriter's Hall of Fame. The Australian Songwriters Hall of Fame was established in 2004 to honour the lifetime achievements of some of Australia's greatest songwriters.