Martha Ladly

Martha Ladly is a Canadian musician, designer and academic.

She was the a founding member of the Canadian New Wave band Martha & the Muffins where she played keyboards and vocals.

Ladley left the band in August 1980 and relocated to the United Kingdom where she lived with designer Peter Saville[1], her painting Factus 8 was used by him for the sleeve of New Order's EP 1981 - Factus 8 - 1982. She also briefly pursued a solo career and also provided backing vocals on Roxy Music's 1982 album Avalon. In 1982 she was joined cult Scottish Post-punk act The Associates famously appearing with them on Top of the Pops when Alan Rankine fed a chocolate guitar to the audience. She left the Associates in 1986 and subsequently worked with Robert Palmer's band.

Between 1992 and 2001 she worked with Peter Gabriel as the head of Real World Design, editor of Real World Notes and a producer for Real World MultiMedia. As a key member of the Real World MultiMedia team, she was the recipient of numerous international design awards for interactive art and music projects such as Secret World Live, EVE and Ceremony of Innocence CD-ROM projects.

She is currently an associate professor of design at the Ontario College of Art and Design, where her specialty is interactive communication. She is a mentor with the Canadian Film Centre's Interactive Project Lab (IPL) and a faculty member with the Habitat Interactive Art and Entertainment Program. Prior to her appointment at OCAD, she was the creative director of HorizonZero; a bilingual internet publication dedicated to creating and showcasing the best in digital art and culture in Canada, in collaboration with the Banff New Media Institute and Culture.ca.