Raised in the southern suburbs of Stockholm, with his mother, father, and older brother, his father encouraged him and his brother to pursue motorsport, but Martin and his brother turned to music instead. At 13, Martin bought a guitar, formed a band, and began playing Nirvana covers. Martin began singing at 15 when the band's singer quit right before a show, and he decided that he liked it. He performed in various musical venues in his hometown.

In 2010, he was discovered by Axwell, who, at the time, was a member of the now disbanded electronic music trio Swedish House Mafia. He then recorded vocals and co-wrote for the group's song, "Save the World". The song reached No. 10 in the UK singles chart and peaked at No. 1 on the Hot Dance Club Songs in the United States. Martin then went on to collaborate with Avicii and co-wrote the song, "Fade Into Darkness", alongside Michel Zitron. He then recorded another song with the Swedish House Mafia, which he and Zitron also co-wrote called "Don't You Worry Child". The track scored a UK No. 1 earning Martin and the trio a top 10 spot on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 6.

In 2013, Martin and Swedish House Mafia were nominated for a Grammy for Best Dance Recording with "Don't You Worry Child" for the 2013 Grammy Awards. He was nominated alongside Calvin Harris and Ne-Yo, Skrillex, Avicii and Al Walser. The award went to Skrillex. 2013 also saw John Martin record vocals for Sebastian Ingrosso and Tommy Trash's single "Reload", alongside a special guest vocal on the Tinie Tempah single "Children of the Sun" which again was co-written by Martin. Trevor Guthrie had also been asked to feature on the song however John's vocals were deemed stronger.

Martin released his debut lead single, "Anywhere For You", on March 30, 2014. June 29, 2014 saw John Martin release "Love Louder" that is rumored to be a David Guetta track which missed out on his album Listen. Later that year he released a Style of Eye remix of "Love louder".

The start of 2015 saw a very quiet release program for John Martin, his first track came from providing uncredited vocals to the song "In My Blood" from the album Forever by Swedish DJ and producer Alesso. John Martin also co-wrote "Together" which was released as a single by Ella Eyre in 2015.

DJ, International DJ, Singer-Songwriter, Musician, Electronic Music, Dance Music Swedish, Sweden, Music,