Lloyd Vernon 'Skip' Martin was born on May 14, 1916 in Robinson, Illinois and was an innovative jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, arranger, and composer who was involved with many important ensembles, recordings, and movie soundtracks.

Martin worked as an arranger for some of the biggest bands of the Swing Era including Count Basie, Charlie Barnet, Benny Goodman, Les Brown, and Glenn Miller. He also sat in the saxophone section with the Miller, Goodman, and Barnet bands. In the 1950s he moved to Los Angeles where he became an orchestrator and conductor for films. During this time he also arranged for pop acts including Tony Martin and The Pied Pipers.

Martin also recorded three albums as a leader and produced material for West Coast jazz and swing albums. In 1963 he joined Nelson Riddle on a dream team of arrangers working on the Sinatra-Burke compilation albums for the ambitious Reprise Musical Repertory Theatre project, featuring the singing members of the Rat Pack, plus Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, and Jo Stafford.

In Hollywood, Martin was one of the team of orchestrators contributing to Singin' in the Rain (1952) and Guys and Dolls (1955). He frequently shared arrangement credits with Conrad Salinger, such as on Summer Stock (1950), Kiss Me Kate (1953) and Funny Face (1957). He was the sole credited orchestrator for Judy Garland's comeback vehicle A Star Is Born (1954), which contains many arrangements by him of Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin ballads, principally The Man that Got Away and It's a New World.

He passed away on February 12, 1976 in Los Angeles, California.