Jules De Martino
Julian "Jules" De Martino is an English musician and a member of the indie pop duo the Ting Tings.
Early life
De Martino was born in West Ham, the son of Northern Irish mother, Rosemary, and Italian father, Benito De Martino. Jules has one older sister, Maria. He began playing drums at the age of 13.Musical projects
Babakoto
When he was 17, De Martino was the drummer and songwriter in a band called Babakoto, who once played as a backing group for Bros and released a single at the end of 1987 called "Just to Get By", which failed to chart.Mojo Pin
After Babakoto broke up, De Martino became the lead singer in another indie band called Mojo Pin, named after the first song on Jeff Buckley's 1994 album Grace. Mojo Pin released two singles, "You" in 1995 and "My Imagination" in 1996.TKO
In March 2001 Katie White's father David White brought in De Martino as a songwriter and he wrote four songs for her group TKO.Dear Eskiimo
De Martino moved to Manchester and formed a band with Katie White and DJ Simon Templeman, which they called Dear Eskiimo. In explaining the choice of the name, De Martino noted the genre-crossing nature of their music, and that the name was intended "to be as nomadic, tribal and independent as possible" ; he goes on to note that "there were already several bands called Eskimo", and that "some of our songs told such good stories that it felt... we were writing... a letter. As a beginning, 'Dear Eskiimo' just fitted."The first performance of Dear Eskiimo was as a support act between two rock bands. Reporting in April 2010 states that they were signed by Mercury Records, "ust over two years" earlier. "reative differences" and the "heavy handling" of the record label led to the split.