Martha Quinn was born in Albany NY, and raised in Ossining New York. After one
year at Colgate University she moved to New York City to attend New York University where she graduated with a degree in Broadcast
Journalism. It was at NYU that her journey to becoming one of the original 5 MTV VJ'S began.
It all started on July 13th 1981. Newly graduated from college, Martha woke up in her two-room
fifth floor walk-up apartment, took the subway down to Greenwich Village, and put in a day of work at NYU's Weinstein
Dormitory where she still answered phones and gave students their toilet paper, mail, and lightbulbs. At the end of her day
she headed back uptown, but made a pit-stop at WNBC Music Radio where she'd just finished up interning for her senior
year.
Coincidentally, California record company guy Burt Stein was
also visiting WNBC. Somewhere in Burt's brain the synapses fired in such a way that caused him to utter, "Hey, what's
Bob Pittman doing?"
OK let me back up here. Pittman had been
the program director of WNBC a year or so earlier, but had left to start this wacky new venture. A cable channel called MTV.
At that exact point in time, WNBC assistant program director Buzz Brindle (hey I gotta give credit where credit is due!) turned
to Martha and said the words that would ultimately change her life forever: "Hey Martha, that's what you should do,
you should be a VJ!"
Next thing you know Buzz has Pittman on
the phone, tells him about his former intern, Pittman says to get her to the MTV studios right away ‘cause it's
the last day of auditions. Before you could even say, "But I'm not even wearing any make-up!" Martha was in
a cab heading down to Hell's Kitchen for her audition.
Buzz's
idea wasn't entirely crazy. Martha spent her NYU years doing two things: TV commercials (MacDonald's first chicken
McNuggets girl, Country Time Lemonade, Clearasil, Campbell's Soup) and working at WNYU, the college radio station. Martha
would later lament that her Dad and Step-Mom, financial columnist Jane Bryant Quinn, spent good money for her to spin Peter,
Paul, and Mary vinyl as the host of "Just Plain Folk", ‘cause it sure wasn't for any classes!
Martha walked into the studio not having any idea what this MTV was all about, did
a four-minute audition where she talked about Earth, Wind, and Fire, and was immediately surrounded by executives. "Who
are you? Where did you come from? How old are you?" Martha too was stunned. Omigod. It was a job made in heaven just
for her. Two days later Martha stopped at a phone booth and held the little beeper into the mouthpiece (it was the 80's
after all!) and got the news she was an MTV VJ. And the rest is...well cable history anyway!
Martha joined Mark Goodman, Nina Blackwood and Alan Hunter and JJ Jackson as original faces and voices of MTV. Being
hosts of the nation's first music television network provided them with an in-depth and up-close perspective on the most
popular rock/pop music and artists of the 1980s.
Martha's presence
on MTV through 1991 was noted by Rolling Stone magazine readers, who voted her "MTV's Best-Ever VJ," and by
Allure magazine, which referred to the ‘80s decade as "the Martha Quinn years." In the late ‘80s, she
also hosted the MTV programs Martha's Greatest Hits, MTV Prime with Martha Quinn, and Rockline. Critics have dubbed Martha's
departure from MTV as "the day the video music died."
One
thing Martha loved was living in New York City. She grew up in New York, went to college in New York, worked for MTV in New
York, and swore she'd never ever ever leave the Big Apple. Then one day in June of 1986, she flew to Los Angeles, and
met a guitar player at a recording studio. Of that moment Martha says, "I looked up and thought, that is the cutest guy
I've ever seen." Next thing you know Martha (after breaking up with the guy she was visiting in Los Angeles!) packed
up her bags and moved to Los Angeles to spend the rest of her life with the aforementioned cute guitar-player, Fuzztone Jordan
Tarlow.
After MTV, Martha took up urging the nation towards cleaner
skin as Neutrogena's spokesperson. She became an official Brady when she said "I do" to Bobby Brady in the CBS-TV
series The Bradys. A stint with Ed McMahon on Star Search and an infomercial or two kept Martha busy until the birth of her
first child in 1997. In 1999 she partied with Bryant Gumbel on the CBS Early Show in a weekly segment she created called "Yikes,
I'm A Grown Up!"
Martha and Jordan had their second child,
son Ryder, in 2001. Martha's motherhood journey has made her somewhat of an expert in three areas, all of which she'll
delve into at some point here at MARTHAQUINNONLINE. 1. Breastfeeding 2. Preemies 3. Post-Partum Depression.
In 2004 Martha and Jordan decided to give up the malls of the San Fernando Valley
and head out to the beaches of Malibu. When they realized they had to pay their Malibu mortgage, Martha and Jordan teamed
up and joined Sirius Satellite Radio with MARTHA QUINN PRESENTS GODS OF THE BIG 80'S. Jordan produces this 60-minute joyride
through the Martha Quinn Years, and Martha spills the beans about what happened then, and what's happening now.
In 2006 Martha really went wild and decided to join the new millennium. She has
learned not only to take pictures on her phone, but, thanks to Annabelle's instruction, can text-message as well. Alert
the media! As if that wasn't enough, Martha's throwing her name into the Google search engine as she enters the web
with MARTHAQUINNONLINE. Martha wants to connect with her generation and figure out together how to raise our children, keep
ourselves together, stay married, and, while we're at it, create world peace.
