Martha Quinn

Biography

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). Prior to joining MTV, Quinn graduated from Ossining High School in 1977 and NYU in 1981. 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". 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 on the 1989 movie Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives! She 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. 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". (Coincidentally, 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.