Paul L Martin

Published Thursday 13 April 2006 at 11:00

After appearing in New York last year, cabaret singer Paul L Martin was hailed a “British cabaret icon”. But he might never have come this far because his career began by accident, he explains.

“When I was 15 I started putting on variety shows with Bryony Black to raise money for a friend who had leukaemia. It was a revue show with comedy sketches and songs from the musicals. We raised £5,500 over four years.”

Pretty impressive for a teenager you might think but by then Paul was already an old hand. Although he comes from a family of “secretaries, postmen and cooks”, he says performing is something he always wanted to do. “My mother said that I used to sing before I could talk. I was in plays and pantos by the time I was seven and I’ve never done anything else.”

After attending Mountview Theatre School, Paul wrote and performed in his own one-man show that incorporated his poetry and singing. Later, perhaps unexpectedly for a Mountview graduate, he became a drag queen. “My name was Trinity Million. I was very glamourous,” he remembers. He embodied her for five years, often at Madam Jo-Jo’s, and then hosted cabaret nights called Trinity’s in London’s West End for another four.

But life after Trinity is far from dull. As well as hosting a monthly talent show, Cheese ‘n’ Crackers on the Battersea Barge, he does a guest cabaret spot with Duckie at the Vauxhall Tavern. He says, laughing: “I’m the person making variety come back.”

Paul’s show this year is titled Suburban Glitter and he recently made his Australian debut at the Butterfly Club in Melbourne. On April 21 he will be taking it to cabaret venue Don’t Tell Mama in New York, snappily dressed in Jasper Conran. He owns up: “I’m lucky that I’ve got a friend who works there so I was able to deck myself out from the sample rail.”

Paul recently launched the monthly Cabaret Lounge at the Zetter in Clerkenwell and weekly New York piano-style bar at Sopranos in High Street Kensington. He says: “At Cabaret Confidential held at Covent Garden’s Theatre Museum we ask, ‘What is cabaret?’, and showcase four different performers every month.”

But where did this talent and style come from? Paul says: “The artistic and musical person in my family was my father’s mother, who used to sing a lot and play the piano.

“I don’t really take my inspiration from other artists but I’ve learnt a tremendous amount about comedy and talking to an audience from watching Victoria Wood. And my biggest influence cabaret-wise is Bette Midler.”

Paul will appear at the Brighton Festival at the Marlborough Theatre on May 14 and 16.