Philip Martell became a fully-fledged orchestral player at the age of fourteen, when he played the violin in the Hackney Pavilion orchestra. Two years later he got his first job as a band leader. During this time he was studying at the Guildhall School of Music, to which he won a scholarship at the age of eleven. Martell played for the Gaumont-British circuit for some three years, and in 1936 formed the Forum Orchestra.
He started broadcasting with the Forum Band in April, 1937. After touring the provincial theatres of Associated British Cinemas, he spent three months with Gaumont-British in London,' subsequently joining the London Hippodrome as conductor of its orchestra. He is at present conducting for Black and Blue.