Martin Hovden

Martin 'Hovvers' Hovden (born Sumjani Djemai Hovden, December 1941) is a well-respected figure on the Southport music journalism scene. He is the Southport and Sefton editor of the Southport Champion, but he best known for his decades of hard work promoting Southport music, and is often likened to a 'Southport version of Tony Wilson', with Mr. Southport being a regular nickname. Renowed for his hard-hitting (and sometime too honest) articles, he is perhaps best known for discovering Gomez in 1992, and has since propelled many wannabe bands to the top by his recommendation alone. Nothing is considered more intimidating in Southport's music venues than the sight of Hovvers, standing at the back, pen and paper in hand, silent, judging. His judgement can make or break a band, and he is infamous for seemingly never giving good reviews.

Surprisingly, the nickname 'Hovvers' has nothing to do with his last name; as a young lad growing up in Sefton, he was in a semi-successful band called 'Marty and the Bad Boys', whose trademark was their 'hovering' suit trousers, as was the popular mod fashion of the time. 'Marty and the Bad Boys' toured with The Jam for several years, before Martin had a serious disagreement with Paul Weller, after Paul openly mocked Martin's rapidly-receding hairline in the little known B-side, 'Bald Eagle of Britain'.