Martha Quinn

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Martha Quinn
Born May 11, 1959 (1959-05-11) (age 49)
Albany, New York
Occupation cable television and Radio personality from the 1980's
Spouse Jordan Tarlow
Website
Martha Quinn Presents

Martha Quinn (born May 11, 1959 in Albany, New York) is best known as one of the original video jockeys on MTV (along with Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter, and J. J. Jackson).

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[edit] Early life

Prior to joining MTV, Quinn graduated from Ossining High School in 1977 and NYU in 1981.

[edit] MTV

She got the MTV job even though her prior on-camera experience had been limited to a few television commercials. Rolling Stone magazine readers selected her as "MTV's Best-Ever VJ" years later. Quinn's petite, girl next door personality made her extremely popular among viewers.

Coincidentally, she looked quite a bit like a model in the J. Geils Band's "Centerfold" video, prompting her to remark on air several times that it was not, in fact, her dancing in the video in her underwear.

Singer Mojo Nixon created a song that was both a tribute to Martha Quinn and a criticism of MTV. It was titled "Stuffin' Martha's Muffin". Aztec Two-Step featured the tune I'm In Love With The Girl on MTV on their 1986 album Living in America as a tribute to Quinn.

[edit] Acting roles

In 1990, Quinn appeared on the short-lived Brady Bunch sequel The Bradys. Quinn played Tracy, who married Bobby Brady (played by Mike Lookinland). She joined Ed McMahon as a co-host for Star Search in 1994. She was a bi-weekly correspondent on The Early Show in 1999. She also appeared in the 1988 film Tapeheads, the 1989 movie Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives! and had a recurring role on Full House. She was also featured in a series of commercials for Neutrogena in the mid-1990s.

[edit] Career in the 2000s

In 2005, Quinn joined SIRIUS Satellite Radio network. From her home in Malibu, she hosts a one-hour weekly show on the Big '80s channel called Gods of the Big '80s. (Indeed, all of the other original MTV VJs also have shows on Big '80s, with the exception of J.J. Jackson, who is deceased.) On the September 22, 2005 episode of Comedy Central's new series The Showbiz Show with David Spade, Quinn appeared as herself in mock archival footage (dating back to 1983) from her MTV days. In two separate bumper skits, Quinn sarcastically foretold considerably bizarre behavior from stars Michael Jackson and Sting. Subsequent episodes took shots at Whitney Houston and Tommy Lee.

In 2007, Quinn lent her name, face and voice to The '80s Game with Martha Quinn, a PC trivia game developed by Funkitron. The game featured multiple-choice questions about '80s culture in categories including music, politics, television, sports, movies and celebrities.[1]

[edit] Personal

Quinn is the step-daughter of Jane Bryant Quinn, a personal finance columnist. In 1993, she married musician Jordan Tarlow (ex-Fuzztones); they have two children and live in Malibu, California.

[edit] References

[edit] External links