[4] Eric started to make it big when he joined Stark Raving Mad (which also included future Winger guitarist/keyboardist Paul Taylor) in Santa Rosa, California.

Martin grew up listening to both soul and rock icons in the 1970s, such as Otis Redding, Paul Rodgers, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Edgar Winter, Free, and Humble Pie.

He stated, "415 played hundreds of shows at area nightclubs, beer parties, even high school and college dances, before eventually headlining San Francisco's premiere night club – the Old Waldorf.

Selling out in advance, word quickly spread about our dynamic live shows and soon we were opening for established acts like Billy Squier, Hall & Oates, Rick Springfield, Molly Hatchet, the Marshall Tucker Band, and Foreigner, to name a few.

Eventually, without yet being signed to a recording contract, we played in front of 60,000 fans at Oakland Stadium at Bill Graham's Days on the Green Concert.

), and consequently led to the band's appearance on American Bandstand and in various arena tours as the opening act for ZZ Top, Night Ranger, and Journey.

[3] In one interview, Eric mentions that they "worked thousands of shows, from clubs, to frat house parties, Bill Graham concerts, opening for anybody and everybody.

But despite continuing to land high-profile gigs as support for some of the most popular acts at the time, the band decided to split up in 1985 after returning from the ZZ Top tour.

In 1988, Martin teamed up with Billy Sheehan, Pat Torpey, and Paul Gilbert to form Los Angeles supergroup Mr. Big.

[citation needed] The group's 1991 release, Lean into It, featured two ballads that established them as a commercial success: "To Be with You" (number one song in 15 countries) and "Just Take My Heart".

In December, the band broke away from this run to play as support act for Aerosmith's three-night, sold-out stand at London's Wembley Arena.

[citation needed] In 1993, another ballad from Mr. Big's new album Bump Ahead rose to the top 10 of the charts – a cover of Cat Stevens' "Wild World".

While recording their fifth studio album, Paul Gilbert announced his decision to leave the band, and new guitarist Richie Kotzen was added to the lineup.

[14] The reunion was first officially announced on February 1, 2009, in a Japanese radio program called "Heavy Metal Syndicate by Koh Sakai".

The interviews and press conferences that followed shortly within the first two weeks of February revealed plans of the band to tour Japan in June 2009 and to release new albums.

[18] The all-star finale of "To Be With You" included, among others, Matt Sorum, Dave Amato, Ricky Phillips, Keith St John, Prescott Niles, Kelly Keagy, Jeff Scott Soto, Ace Von Johnson and Gregg Bissonette.

[citation needed] In October 2018, Eric Martin said in interview with Friday NI Rocks that the band is in the process of planning their next album.

The 10x10 album sparked interest in Eric's vocal performance and he was asked to sing the classic song "Guitar Man" with Ronnie Montrose, Denny Carmasi, and Ricky Phillips to take to the Sundance Film Festival.

[9] Martin also composed and performed a song called "Fly" for the commercial of Asahi Super Dry Beer in Japan, which was accompanied by a music video.

[citation needed] While taking his family on a stroll along the Marin County Fair, Martin was able to watch a performance by the Nelson Brothers and was later introduced to them by a common friend.

The Nelson Brothers, Matthew and Gunnar, invited Martin to join them in the new all-star band they were forming called "Scrap Metal".

The CD includes other artists such as HiFi Superstar, Doogie White, Troy Luccketta, Jeff Pilson, Randy Jackson, Rachel Barton, Rex Carroll, Derek St. Holmes, Kimberley Dahme, and The 77's.

He was also part of their 2016 world tour in support of the album Ghostlights, notably performing the guest vocal role in the songs "Dying for an Angel", "The Wicked Symphony" and "Twisted Mind".

[26] In early 2008, Martin was approached, again, by Sony Japan to do a project wherein he would cover (translated) famous Japanese Ballads sung by women.

Martin and Sony Japan lined up about 30 international ballads sung by women, such as "Hero" by Mariah Carey, "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion and "Eternal Flame" by The Bangles.

It started as an idea a few years before; Eric and Denise were figuring out how to make tours overseas cost effective and fresh per performance.

They would call promoters all around the world and book shows 5 months in advance, find the best rock musicians or the most popular bands in the big cities and have them learn 18 to 20 of Eric's tunes, send mp3's back and forth (and pray for the best).

[29] Martin was invited by the King of Tripura, Kirit Pradyot Deb Burman, to perform Mr. Big songs during the Rock Festival at Shillong.

Martin and the band members (the Road Vultures) were graciously treated as state guests and were escorted upon arrival in India and during the concert.

It features covers of Japanese songs such as "Alone" by B'z, "Honey" by L'Arc-en-Ciel and "Forever Love" by X Japan, and guest musicians such as Steve Stevens, Marty Friedman and John 5.