People are only just realizing Coldplay’s Chris Martin grew up in Zimbabwe and say it makes ‘so much sense’

UNILAD

Coldplay fans are only just discovering where frontman Chris Martin spent a lot of time growing up – and they reckon it makes ‘so much sense’.

Love them or hate them, Coldplay have established themselves as one of the best-selling music acts of all-time, distributing more than 100 million albums worldwide.

Who can forget when Viva La Vida dominated both the airwaves and charts in 2008?

The four-piece, consisting of Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman, and Will Champion, are also famed for their visually stunning live shows.

But music fans are only just realizing that Martin spent quite a chunk of time growing up abroad, which helped in shaping Coldplay’s sound.

Chris Martin spent a lot of time abroad as an adolescent (Jim Dyson/Redferns)

Born in Exeter, England, Martin went on to study at University College London, where he formed Coldplay in 1997.

But the Grammy-winning musician spent a lot of his adolescence in Zimbabwe, southern Africa.

His mom, music teacher Alison Martin, is from Rhodesia – now modern-day Zimbabwe – and Martin said ‘half his family’ is from the country.

In a 2008 Rolling Stone interview, Martin spoke about the Afro-pop and high-life influences in ‘Strawberry Death,’ from the album Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends.

“My Mum comes from Zimbabwe, so I spent a lot of time there. I used to work in [Shed Studios] where people played [Afrobeat].”

And in a 2017 interview with BBC Radio 1, he shed further light on his time in Zimbabwe.

Discussing Paul Simon’s 1986 hit ‘Graceland,’ he said: “I was 10 years old and I was living in Zimbabwe, which is where half my family is from, and this record was playing.

“I was trying to get the attention of another 10-year-old girl. There was no texting in those days, but she was doing the eighties equivalent of not texting me back and I remember this song playing and thinking ‘at least the music is awesome’.”

Fans have since taken to TikTok to share the discovery.

@estduncan posted a video of herself listening to Coldplay’s Adventure of a Lifetime, writing: “It’s kinda crazy how Coldplay’s lead Chris Martin grew up in Zimbabwe in his teens and worked in a local music studio with Zim guitarists so Coldplay has African influences in their music.”

Taking to the comments, fans thought they recognized sungura music in Coldplay’s songs – a popular Zimbabwean genre, known for its upbeat rhythms, fast-paced guitar riffs, and catchy lyrics.

One fan typed: “No way. This makes this makes so much sense in terms of that guitar [riff]. Sounds like Sungura music”, as a second agreed: “I knew the guitar sounded like Sungura, you can hear it so clearly.”

A third chimed in: “I remember when this song came out, uncles on fb made edits of sungura dancers dancing to this song lol.”

The more you know!