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Matt Willis

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For other uses, see Matt Willis (disambiguation).
Matt Willis

Mathew James Willis (born 8 May 1983) is a British singer-songwriter from Tooting, south London. He first found fame as a member of the British band, Busted.

Personal Life

Matt was born in Tooting in London, later moving to Molesy, Surrey, where he grew up. He soon moved to Woking, attending Woking High School, before leaving to attend Sylvia Young Theatre School, where he met the likes of Lee Ryan, Tom Fletcher, Amy Winehouse, Tisha Martin and Billie Piper.

Matt's parents split up when he was three years old and later gained a step-dad and a half-sister. Matt has also made it clear that he was a "problem" child, regularly sneaking out of the house by shimmying down drain pipes. He also as a child suffered from Brittle Bone disease, Bitemporal hemianopia (Tunnel Vision), Asthma and hyperactivity problems.

In August 2005, Matt had a brief stint in rehab for alcoholism. He has also admitted to drug abuse and was hooked on cannabis from the age of 13 until recently when he was made to stop. Matt has also smoked since the age of 10 and also lost his virginity to Jentina at the age of 12 on a Gypsy site where she lived.

Matt has recently got engaged to his long term girlfriend, MTV presenter Emma Griffiths. Emma is only the second girlfriend Matt has brought to the public eye. His first public girlfriend, Holly, worked within Universal Records which cause major dispute between Matt and Universal.

Busted

Busted was an English band consisting of Matt on bass guitar , James Bourne rhythm guitar and Charlie Simpson lead guitar and occasionally drums. Busted formed in 2001 and disbanded on 14 January 2005. In some countries (including The Netherlands) the band was known as Bust. Busted may also be recognised as the originating force behind the breakout act McFly. They earned a place in the Guinness World Record by selling out London's Wembley Arena six nights in a row.

Matt Co-Wrote Many Busted songs Heres a list of them:

Solo Career

Matt Willis live in London
Matt Willis live in London

On January 14th, 2005 Busted announced the departure of Charlie Simpson from the band in order to concentrate on work with his side-project Fightstar. In the same press conference, Matt and James announced they would not continue as a duo, meaning that after three years in the charts, Busted had split. Shortly prior to, and immediatley after the demise of Busted, the press reported disputes between the band members. However Matt has always stated there is no hostility between him and Charlie, and continues to support Fightstar.

Willis embarked on a solo career, and has written some tracks which he describes as stadium pop/punk. Willis' debut performance as a solo artist was at Northumbria University in Newcastle on 20 March 2006, as part of the MTV's Spanking New Music Week. He also joined good friends McFly at Wembley Arena, and at the M.E.N. Arena during their Motion In The Ocean tour, to sing "Don't Stop Me Now" (originally recorded by Queen).

Two of Willis' songs have been used in films: "Hey Kid" was used in the film Stormbreaker, and also the American comedy film John Tucker Must Die. (Two different music videos were shot for the song, a different version for each film.) "Crash", a cover version of The Primitives 1988 single Crash featured in the film Mr Bean's Holiday, and Mr. Bean also features in the video (with Matt Willis) for the song.

Matt Willis parted company with Mercury Records, in July 2007. At the V Festival in August 2007, Matt spoke of the lonliness he felt as a solo artist and how he would form a band in order to return to music. Although there are few details of the project, he suggested he will start the group some time after his marriage, likely to be summer next year.

I'm a Celebrity..

In December 2006 on ITV, Willis was crowned 'King of the Jungle' being the winning contestant on I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here! despite going into the final day as the 8-1 underdog against Myleene Klass and Jason Donovan. Weighing 13 stone 2 lbs upon entering, he discovered that he had lost 2 stone after being weighed again in the jungle.

In order to enter the jungle, Willis was required to bungee jump from a plane. During his stay, in a compulsory bushtucker trial, Willis ate a kangaroo anus, crocodile penis, crocodile eye, witchetty grub, and some mealworms to earn a cooked, luxury meal for himself and the other celebrities.


Other work

As a teenager Matt, who attended Sylvia Young Theatre School, featured on The Bill & Casualty, both times as a drug dealer, and Eastenders as an extra.

Following I'm A Celebrity, Matt featured in a succession of celebrity based TV shows. In December 2006, he took part in an episode of Ready, Steady, Cook where he beat fellow I'm A Celebrity contestant Toby Anstis. A month later, Matt finished 5th in a Music Stars Special of The Weakest Link. Bonnie Langford won the episode, having been Strongest Link in every round bar Round 2, in which Matt was the Strongest Link.

14 February 2007, Willis took his first major presenting role, when he was one of the presenters of ITV2's coverage of the BRIT Awards, alongside Lauren Laverne, Russell Howard and Alesha Dixon. Following his success in this he hosted the MTV Hits night of MTV's Spanking new Music Tour 2007 with his fiancée Emma Griffiths, live from the Anson Rooms in Bristol on March 21st.

On 13th March 2007, Matt was a special guest on the Glasgow leg of the Radio 1/Chris Moyles Rallyoke in aid of Comic Relief. He performed Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice. Other Celebrities to take part in the night included Fran Healy and Dougie Payne of the band Travis, Reggie Yates and Fred MacAulay.

As a fan of Big Brother Matt has also featured on various spin off programmes for the 7th and 8th series of the show, including BBLB and BBBM.

Matt has appeared twice on The Friday Night Project. Once in 2006 in an episode hosted by Ross Kemp, and again in August 2007 on an episode hosted by fellow I'm A Celebrity contestant David Gest.

In the Summer of 2007, he was a guest at the weddings of both Shane Ritchie and Holly Willoughby

Matt contributed to Ant and Dec's game "Bounce Baby Bounce" on the new series of Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway on September 8th 2007.

There are rumours that Matt will present I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here Now! for ITV2 alongside his fiancée Emma Griffiths for the 7th series in 2007. However these are as yet unconfirmed.

Also has recently done work with Ant and Dec and other famous people such as David Gest and Alan Carr.

Solo Discography

Year Title Chart positions Album Label
UK IRE EU
2006 Up All Night 7 - - Don't Let It Go to Waste Mercury
Hey Kid 11 - -
Don't Let It Go to Waste 19 - -
2007 Crash 31 - -
Official sites


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