Buckland was born in Islington, London, and lived there until the age of four, when his family moved to Pantymwyn, North Wales. He was encouraged to enter the music scene by his elder brother, Tim, who is a big fan of My Bloody Valentine.^[1] Buckland started playing the guitar at the age of eleven, after being spurred on by The Stone Roses. Buckland attended Alun School in the Welsh town of Mold; moving on to study astronomy and mathematics at University College London, where he also met his future band mates and formed Coldplay. While at University College London, Buckland worked as a school janitor.^[1]

Buckland's musical influences include Ride, Eric Clapton, George Harrison and Jimi Hendrix.^[1][2] He is noted for his sparse arrangements and use of slide. His stylistic chiming and ringing sound have led to some comparisons with the playing of U2's The Edge.^[3][4]

Chris Martin often refers to him as "Jonny Boy" during live concerts, particularly if Buckland is about to do a solo or a long riff. Martin has said, "There would be no Coldplay music without Jonny Buckland.”^{[citation needed]} The affection between Martin and Buckland is often evident during live concerts and interviews. Buckland is godfather to Martin's daughter, Apple, along with Simon Pegg. He is a fan of Tottenham Hotspur F.C.^[5]

As Berryman started an engineering degree at University College London, he somehow heard rough versions of Chris Martin's songs, and, drunkenly, approached him in the student bar demanding to be admitted into the "band", which then consisted of Chris Martin and his best friend Jonny Buckland.^[1] Soon after, he dropped out of his engineering course and switched to a seven-year architecture program.^[1] He dropped out of his architecture degree after one year to focus on playing bass with Coldplay. While his bandmates were still continuing their degrees, Berryman worked as a barman in a local London pub.

Berryman was educated at an independent school in Scotland, The Edinburgh Academy, and Kent, at Kent College Canterbury, before attending University College London. In 2004, Berryman married Joanna Briston, his childhood sweetheart,^[3] in a low key ceremony in the City of Westminster. They have one daughter, Nico, born on 17 September 2006.^[4][5] Briston used to run a clothing shop called Jezebell in London. The opening of the store was attended by bandmates Jonny Buckland and Will Champion, and their partners. In March 2007, Coldplay's spokesman confirmed that Guy and Joanna separated after three years of marriage.^[6]

Berryman is an avid supporter of Raith Rovers F.C., from his native town Kirkcaldy. He is also interested in fashion and electronic gadgets.^[2]

Berryman owns a vintage retro style juke box and collects Motown and Stax 7" singles to play on it. He jokes that he knows "every secondhand vinyl shop in every major U.S. city".^[2]

According to an article released by MSN UK in April 2008, Berryman has an estimated wealth of £25 million.^[7]

As a solo artist, Martin has written songs for a variety of acts including Embrace ("Gravity") and Jamelia ("See It in a Boy's Eyes"). Martin has also collaborated with Ron Sexsmith, Faultline, The Streets, and Ian McCulloch. He also sang a part of the vocals for the Band Aid 20 single, "Do They Know It's Christmas?" at the end of 2004. In 2005, Martin collaborated with Nelly Furtado on the track "All Good Things (Come to an End)", for her 2006 album, Loose. The two were once rumoured to be a couple, after they both performed at Glastonbury in 2002. Furtado joked about the situation, saying that "Yeah, he's my boyfriend — he just doesn't know it yet".^[10]

One of the bands that Martin credits with the heaviest influence on him as a musician is Norwegian pop-band a-ha. One song in particular has stayed in Martin's mind, as the following quote says: "As a 12 year old, 'Hunting High and Low' was always in my head, and a-ha still continues to be an important band to me."^{[citation needed]} In 2005 Martin said "I was in Amsterdam the other day and I put on the album Hunting High and Low. I remembered right there and then how much I loved that album. It's just unbelievable songwriting."^{[citation needed]} He has also been known to copy the style of a-ha vocalist Morten Harket: "It was the way Morten Harket used to have different things on his wrists. I do it myself, still. He is the most disarming and beautiful man you'll ever meet."^{[citation needed]}

U2 has been another important influence on Martin both musically and politically,^[12] in which he wrote for Rolling Stone magazine's "100 Greatest Artists of All Time",^[13] in the section on U2, saying: "I don't buy weekend tickets to Ireland and hang out in front of their gates, but U2 are the only band whose entire catalog I know by heart. The first song on The Unforgettable Fire, "A Sort of Homecoming", I know backward and forward -- it's so rousing, brilliant, and beautiful. It's one of the first songs I played to my unborn baby." Martin also comments on Bono's effect on his own charity and political involvement he is even known to joke with friends referring to himself as "Crono".^[12]

Martin and Coldplay guitarist Jon Buckland made cameo appearances in the film Shaun of the Dead as supporters of the fictional charity ZombAid.^[19][20] Martin has a second cameo in this film as a Zombie.^[19][20] In 2006 Martin had a cameo role in the second series episode four of the Ricky Gervais- and Stephen Merchant-created comedy Extras. Martin also played one gig with the "Sid James Experience"

Martin has been particularly outspoken on issues of fair trade and has done a great deal of campaigning for the charity Oxfam's Make Trade Fair campaign. He personally traveled to Ghana and Haiti to meet farmers and view the effects of unfair trade practices.^[21] When performing, he usually has variations of "Make Trade Fair", "MTF" or an equal sign written on the back of his left hand and the letters "MTF" can be seen emblazoned on his piano.

He was a vocal critic of President George W. Bush and the war in Iraq. Martin was a strong supporter of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, most notably during his acceptance speech for the 2004 Grammy Awards Record of the Year, accepting for "Clocks". Martin also supported the Democratic Party candidate for President in 2008, giving a shout-out to Barack Obama at the end of a performance of "Yellow" on 25 October 2008 episode of Saturday Night Live.

Martin met American actress Gwyneth Paltrow in 2002 backstage at a Coldplay gig after the death of the actress' father, Bruce Paltrow. The couple embarked on a whirlwind romance that saw them wed a year later on 5 December 2003.^[24] Their daughter, Apple Blythe Alison Martin, was born on 14 May 2004 in London.^[25] Their second child, Moses Bruce Anthony Martin, was born on 8 April 2006 in New York City.^[26] Simon Pegg is one of Apple's godfathers.^[27][28] Martin is a longtime friend of Pegg, having met him in 2001, and appears in Shaun of the Dead,^[19][20] one of Pegg's movies. Apple's other godfather is guitarist Jonny Buckland.^[28]

Martin is a vegetarian^[29] and practices yoga. He does not drink alcohol or smoke.^[30] He is also very good friends with Matthew Bellamy of Muse.

In a 2005 Rolling Stone magazine interview, Martin said of his religious views: "I definitely believe in God. How can you look at anything and not be overwhelmed by the miraculousness of it?"^[31] In the same interview he spoke of going through a period of spiritual confusion, stating "I went through a weird patch, starting when I was about sixteen to twenty-two, of getting God, religion, superstition, judgment all confused".^[31] In an interview with NME, he also stated "I'm always trying to work out what 'He' or 'She' is."^[32]

Martin was arrested for attacking a photographer's car in Australia during a 2003 world tour. He reportedly "lost it" after he was photographed at a public beach by a paparazzo.^[33]

The members of the band met at the University College London (UCL) in September 1996.Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland were the first members of the band, having met one another during their orientation week. They spent the rest of the college year planning a band, with their efforts culminating in a group called Pectoralz.^[9] Later, Guy Berryman, a classmate of the two, joined. By 1997, the group, who had renamed themselves to Starfish, performed gigs for local Camden promoters at small clubs.^[10] Martin also had recruited his longtime school friend Phil Harvey, who was studying classics at Oxford, to be the band's manager.^[11] (To this day, Coldplay consider Harvey to be the fifth member of the group.^[12]) The band's lineup was complete when Will Champion joined the band to take up percussion duties. Champion had grown up playing piano, guitar, bass, and tin whistle; he quickly learned the drums, despite having no previous experience.^[9] The band finally settled on the name "Coldplay" which was suggested by Tim Crompton, a local student who had been using the name for his group.^[12] By 1997 Martin had also met then Classics student Tim Rice-Oxley. During a weekend on Virginia Water, they asked each other to play off their own songs on the piano. Martin, finding Rice-Oxley to be talented, asked him to be Coldplay's keyboard player but Rice-Oxley refused as his own band (Keane) was already operational. Days after, this event would shape the second line-up of Keane and keep Coldplay's unaltered, thus leaving both bands as quartets.^[13]

In 1998, the band released 500 copies of the Safety EP.^[14] Most of the discs were given to record companies and friends; only 50 copies remained for sale to the public. In December, Coldplay signed to the independent label Fierce Panda.^[14] Their first release was the three-track Brothers and Sisters EP, which they had quickly recorded over four days in February 1999.^[14]

After completing their final examinations, Coldplay signed to Parlophone for a five-album contract in the spring of 1999.^[15] After making their first appearance at Glastonbury, the band went into studio to record a third EP titled The Blue Room.^[16] 5,000 copies were made available to the public in October,^[17] and the single "Bigger Stronger", received Radio 1 airplay. The recording sessions for The Blue Room were tumultuous. Martin kicked Champion out of the band but later pleaded with him to return, and because of his guilt, went on a drinking binge. Eventually, the band worked out their differences and put in place a new set of rules to keep the group intact. First, the band declared an all-for-one approach: Coldplay was a democracy, and profits were to be shared equally, taking a page from bands like U2 and R.E.M. Second, the band would fire anyone who used drugs.^[18]

-thanks Wikipedia..haha..to tired to edit.