Martin Armiger

John Martin Armiger (10 June 1949 – 27 November 2019)^[2] was an Australian musician, record producer and composer. He was one of the singer-songwriters and guitarists with Melbourne-based rock band the Sports from August 1978 to late 1981, which had Top 30 hits on the Kent Music Report Singles Chart with, "Don't Throw Stones" (1979), "Strangers on a Train" (1980) and "How Come" (1981); and Top 20 albums with Don't Throw Stones (No. 9, 1979), Suddenly (No. 13, 1980) and Sondra (1981).

Armiger was musical director for Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) TV 1984 series Sweet and Sour and was record producer on the related soundtrack album as well as performing and songwriting. In 1986 he produced and composed for another ABC TV soundtrack for the miniseries Dancing Daze. At the Australian Film Institute Awards of 1986 he shared an accolade for Best Original Music Score with William Motzing for their work on Young Einstein (publicly released 1988). Armiger notably co-produced "Dumb Things" for Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls, with Kelly, on the Young Einstein soundtrack. It was later released as the fourth single from the band's second album, Under the Sun on Mushroom Records imprint White Label Records in January 1989, peaking at No. 36 on the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Singles Chart. In the US the track was released under the band name Paul Kelly and the Messengers, reaching No. 16 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart. "Dumb Things" was also in the 1989 film Look Who's Talking Too.

In 1995 Armiger's work for the TV series Cody (1994–95) won the Australasian Performing Right Association Award for Most Performed Television Theme. Armiger was Head of Screen Composition at the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS). In 2006 his portrait by John R. Walker was a finalist for the Archibald Prize.