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Cerys Matthews

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Cerys Matthews
Background information
Born (1969-04-11) 11 April 1969 (age 55)
Cardiff, Wales
GenresAlternative rock
Britpop
Indie rock
Folk rock
Pop rock
Occupation(s)Singer, songwriter
Years active1990–present
Websitecerysmatthews.co.uk

Cerys Elizabeth Matthews (/[invalid input: 'icon']ˈkɛrɪs/; born 11 April 1969) is a singer, songwriter, broadcaster and author from Wales. She is known as a BBC 6 music DJ, a documentary maker for BBC Radio 2 and 4, being a judge for the Dylan Thomas Literary Prize, for her 1998 Christmas duet with Tom Jones, and for formerly being the lead singer of the Welsh rock band Catatonia.

Biography

Matthews was born in Cardiff and brought up in Swansea and Pembrokeshire, and is a fluent English, Welsh, Spanish and French speaker and multi-instrumentalist. She has cited her childhood heroes as being Pippi Longstocking and writers WB Yeats and Dylan Thomas. She learned to play the guitar at the age of nine, teaching herself blues and Irish folk songs. She was a member of the West Glamorgan Youth Orchestra. After a stint in Spain as a nanny, where she learned to speak Catalan, Matthews worked for the Pembrokeshire County Council. She later moved back to Cardiff and became involved with the local music scene, meeting Mark Roberts. She currently resides in London with her children Glenys Pearl y Felin (born 10 August 2003), Johnny Tupelo Jones (born August 2005), and Red Owen (born 23 November 2009). Her son Red was born eight weeks premature.

Catatonia

Catatonia was formed in 1992, reputedly after Roberts heard Cerys Matthews busking in a street in Cardiff city centre. This later turned out to be a story fabricated by the band, as Matthews had known Roberts for some time, although they did often go busking. She subsequently sang lead vocals on, and co-wrote the music and lyrics for, the band's hits. Songs she co-wrote included "You've Got a Lot to Answer For", "Mulder and Scully", "Dead From the Waist Down", and "Road Rage". Matthews also played guitar on the earlier material before second guitarist Owen Powell joined the band. She also performed a single with the band Space named "The Ballad of Tom Jones", which tells the story of two lovers who want to kill each other, but then hear a Tom Jones song that defuses their homicidal feelings. Matthews later collaborated with Jones to record a version of Frank Loesser's "Baby, It's Cold Outside" on Jones' album Reload. Matthews was voted the "Sexiest Female in Rock" in a 1999 readers' poll in the now defunct magazine Melody Maker.[1]

Catatonia's split

After Catatonia's rise to fame with their second album International Velvet, and subsequent success with Equally Cursed And Blessed, the band returned in 2001 with their fourth studio album Paper Scissors Stone. During promotional appearances for this album it became clear that Matthews was not happy.[citation needed] On 21 September 2001, the band officially split.[2]

Sali Mali cartoon series

In December 2001, Matthews returned to the recording studio for the first time since Catatonia split up. She recorded a song in both English and Welsh for the pre-school cartoon series Sali Mali.[3]

Mink Car

Matthews provided guest vocals on the track "Cyclops Rock", from US alternative rock band They Might Be Giants 2001 album Mink Car. Her line was originally supposed to be provided by Joe Strummer of The Clash.[4]

Nashville

Matthews moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 2002. On her arrival she began playing with Bucky Baxter, who had played lap steel guitar for Bob Dylan and Ryan Adams. She had already collected seventy-six traditional folk songs with the idea of making an album of folk covers. Her debut album, Cockahoop, ended up consisting mainly of her own songs. It was recorded in seven months and appeared on Blanco y Negro Records in the UK in May 2003. Whilst recording this album she met Seth Riddle, whom she married in Pembrokeshire in February 2003.[5] She toured the album around Britain with minimal promotion as she was several months pregnant at the time. The album's Stateside Records release followed in October 2004.

In December 2005, Matthews recorded a new version of Len Barry's 1960s UK top 10 hit "1-2-3" in Nashville. She released it as a download-single with all profits going to a children's charity.[6][7]

In spring 2006, Matthews introduced material from her upcoming album at SXSW in Austin, Texas.[citation needed]

Never Said Goodbye

In July and August 2006 Matthews conducted a short tour of the UK to promote her new second solo album, Never Said Goodbye. The new album was preceded by the single "Open Roads" (released 7 August 2006). Band members included Kevin Teel on guitar, Ben Elkins playing keyboards, Mason Neely on drums, and Jeff Irwin playing bass. She headlined Cardiff's Big Weekend festival on 6 August 2006.

During September and October 2006, Matthews embarked on a UK and Ireland tour, during which she played tracks from her first two solo albums as well as three Catatonia hits. She also embarked upon a short acoustic Welsh tour in November 2006 before returning to Nashville for Christmas.

Matthews appeared at the live 'Guilty Pleasures' concert at the Hackney Empire, London on 20 March 2007. She performed the Bonnie Tyler hit "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and the Dolly Parton/Kenny Rogers duet "Islands in the Stream" along with Terry Hall and the BBC Concert Orchestra

In an interview on the eve of the launch of her Welsh mini-album Awyren = Aeroplane, Matthews confirmed she had divorced from Riddle and temporarily moved back to her farm in Pembrokeshire.[8][9] Awyren = Aeroplane won her the 'Contemporary Composition' award in the National Eisteddfod. The award had been resurrected and presented for the first time since 1936.

In 2007 Matthews became Vice-President of the Welsh homelessness charity Shelter Cymru.[10] She also accepted a role of Performing Arts Ambassador for Linden Lodge School, Surrey in the same year.

NME Shockwaves Awards and Big Gig 2008

Matthews joined the Welsh band Manic Street Preachers onstage at The O2 on 28 February 2008 to sing the female vocals of their 2007 hit "Your Love Alone Is Not Enough". She replaced Nina Persson in both the awards ceremony (within indigO2) and at the following 'Big Gig' live show (within The O2 arena).

Radio

From November 2008, Matthews sat in for Stephen Merchant and Marc Riley on BBC 6 Music and went on to present George Lamb's slot in April 2009. In May 2009 she presented show A Month of Sundays With... Cerys Matthews. She then covered for Nemone on 6 Music from July 2009 while Nemone was on maternity leave. Her show Cerys on 6 included virtual radio roadtrips[clarification needed], musical challenges and back-to-school features on subjects including the boll weevil, the Vietnam War, the Bo Diddley beat and Hildegard von Bingen. Matthews began maternity leave from November 2009 and had to finish presenting the show a month early. On 4 April 2010, Matthews returned to 6 Music to present a weekend show on Sunday mornings. She spoke out in 2010 after the (now-abandoned) proposed closure of BBC 6 Music, calling for the decision to be reversed. She produces and presents radio documentaries and shows, her most recent being 'Hook,line and singer', where she shared her love of fishing on Radio 4.

Don't Look Down: Paid Edrych i Lawr

Matthews released her first CD in two years on 5 October 2009. The album, entitled Don't Look Down, was released in two versions, one in English and the other in Welsh (the title of the Welsh edition was Paid Edrych i Lawr). It was recorded in Providence, Rhode Island, Nashville, Seattle and London, and coincided with a two week UK tour in October.

Other

Cerys covered Glastonbury Festival for both BBC Television and BBC 6 Music, she wrote and presented a BBC Two programme on poetry, and presented TV documentaries on singer Dorothy Squires, the Mississippi River and Cuba. She wrote and presented a documentary on early blues players such as Memphis Minnie, also Pippi Longstocking, Mahalia jackson, iconic British blues label 'Blue Horizon' and 'Hook, Line and singer ' taking the listener on both salmon and shark fishing trips, all for BBC Radio 4. She has presented a documentary for BBC radio2 on Maida Vale studios. Matthews appeared as a celebrity guest mentor on the first series of the UK version of The Voice for Tom Jones's Team broadcast on 21 and 22 April 2012.[11] Cerys frequently contributes to BBC Radio 4 programmes such as Feedback, Frontrow, Loose Ends and Saturday Live, writes a column for world music magazine 'Songlines' and has formed playlists, and curated festivals for the likes of the Tate Modern, the Shetland theatre and Womex. She is an ambassador for the Prince's Trust, the Dylan Thomas Society, and Linden Lodge - a specialist sensory and physical college and is Vice president for Shelter. Cerys presented a Classical Brits award to the winner of the ' best male artist' category in 2012. 'Tales from the deep' is a duo of stories written by Cerys in verse with paintings by Fran Evans, published by Gomer. It was nominated for a People's Choice Award. It's follow up 'Gelert, a man's best friend', again on Gomer, and is due out in 2013.

Cerys sang Patsy Cline's 'Crazy' and Dylan's 'Blowin' in the wind' as part of the memorial service for esteemed War correspondent Marie Colvin, May 2012.

Tir

On 21 June 2010, Matthews released Tir (Welsh: 'territory, land'), a collection of traditional Welsh songs, and of photographs from her family archive from the 1880s to 1940s of people at work and play.[12] They included "Calon Lân", Cwm Rhondda, Migldi-Magldi (sung as a duet with Bryn Terfel), Myfanwy and Sospan Fach.[13] This is the third release on her own label, Rainbow City.

Explorer

Explorer was the title of Matthews' fourth solo album, released on 2 May 2011, through the online store Earthquake.[14] In both selecting and writing the songs she delved into the influence of both the music she has heard round the globe, and the places she had visited. Recorded over seven days, the album from the outset had no pre-determined sound or calculated format.[15] On the album she incorporates a little Spanish, Scottish, Irish, Welsh, and American sensibilities, styles, and genres.[16]

On 28 April 2011, a video was released through Matthews' official YouTube Page[17] of the Lead single from Explorer, Sweet Magnolia.

Solo discography

Albums

Compilation albums

Singles

Appearances on other original recordings

  • 1998 Space - Tin Planet, duetting on "The Ballad of Tom Jones"
  • 1999 Tom Jones - Reload, duetting on "Baby, It's Cold Outside"
  • 2001 They Might be Giants - Mink Car, guest vocals on "Cyclops Rock"
  • 2007 Aled Jones - Reasons to Believe, duetting on "Some Kind of Wonderful" (Universal)
  • 2008 The Fron Male Voice Choir - Voices of the Valley: Home, singing "Calon Lan"
  • 2010 MAVIS presents Candy Staton & Cerys Matthews, singing "Nemesis Required" (!K7 Records)

Catatonia discography

Studio albums

Year Details Peak chart position Certifications
(sales thresholds)
UK
[18] 		AUS
[19] 		GER
[20] 		IRL
[21] 		NZL
[22]
1996 Way Beyond Blue 32 — — — —
1998 International Velvet
  • Released: Feb 1998
  • Label: Blanco y Negro/WEA
 1 27 — 39 32
1999 Equally Cursed and Blessed
  • Released: 28 March 2000
  • Label: Blanco y Negro/Atlantic
 1 48 — — 28
2001 Paper Scissors Stone
  • Released: 6 August 2001
  • Label: Blanco y Negro
 6 — 55 37 —
"—" denotes releases that did not chart.

Compilation albums

Year Details Peak chart position Certifications
(sales thresholds)
UK
[18] 		AUS
[19] 		GER
[20] 		IRL
[21] 		NZL
[22]
1995 The Sublime Magic of Catatonia
  • Released: 1995
  • Label: Nursery
 — — — — —
1998 The Crai-EPs 1993/1994
  • Released: 19 October 1999
  • Label: Crai/M.I.L. Multimedia
 — — — — —
2002 Greatest Hits
  • Released: 15 October 2002
  • Label: WEA
 24 — — 43 —
2006 Platinum Collection
  • Released: 21 March 2006
  • Label: WEA
 — — — — —
"—" denotes releases that did not chart.

Singles and EPs

Year Title Peak chart positions Album
UK
[18][24] 		AUS
[19] 		IRL
[25] 		NZL
[22]
1993 May "For Tinkerbell" (EP) — — — — Non-album EP
1994 Jun "Hooked" (EP) — — — — The Sublime Magic of Catatonia
Sep "Whale" (vinyl-only) — — — —
1995 Jan "Bleed" 158 — — —
Dec "Christmas '95" (fan club vinyl)1 — — — — Non-album single
1996 Apr "Sweet Catatonia" 61 — — — Way Beyond Blue
Jul "Lost Cat" 41 — — —
Oct "Bleed" (re-issue) 46 — — —
1997 Feb "You've Got A Lot To Answer For" 35 — — —
Oct "I Am the Mob" 40 — — — International Velvet
1998 Jan "Mulder and Scully" 3 — 17 —
May "Road Rage" 5 40 29 —
Jul "Strange Glue" 11 — — —
Oct "Game On" 33 — — —
1999 Apr "Dead From the Waist Down" 7 — — 44 Equally Cursed and Blessed
Jul "Londinium" 20 — — —
Oct "Karaoke Queen" 36 — — —
2000 Mar "Storm the Palace" (EP) — — — —
2001 Sep "Stone by Stone" 19 — — — Paper Scissors Stone
"—" denotes releases that did not chart.
  • 1 - The A-side being "Blow the Millennium, Blow".

Miscellaneous and promos

References

  1. ^ A star is reborn The independent
  2. ^ Troubled Catatonia split up BBC News
  3. ^ Cartoon Sali Mali joins Channel 4 BBC News 28 July 2009 Retrieved 23 November 2009
  4. ^ "Cerys Matthews - TMBW: The They Might Be Giants Knowledge Base". TMBW. Retrieved 2012-04-15.
  5. ^ Cerys arrives for wedding on tractor BBC Wales - 22 February 2003
  6. ^ http://www.jmcreative.net/ "1-2-3" download
  7. ^ "1-2-3 (For a Very Good Reason)" commercial film
  8. ^ Divorced Cerys returns to Wales BBC Wales - 15 October 2007
  9. ^ "Cerys and Marc in Pembrokeshire". BBC. 8 December 2007.
  10. ^ Morton, Cole (14 October 2007). "Cerys Matthews: 'My marriage is over. I'm coming home'". The Independent.
  11. ^ Digital Spy Article, Cerys Matthews appears as guest on The Voice.
  12. ^ EccentricUK - Cerys Matthews Retrieved 19 February 2012
  13. ^ WalesOnLine - Cerys Matthews: The tracks of my life Retrieved 19 February 2012
  14. ^ "Earthquakeweb".
  15. ^ CerysMatthews.co.uk = Explorer Biography Retrieved 19 February 2012
  16. ^ InsideWorldMusic - CD Review: Cerys Matthews' 'Explorer' Retrieved 19 February 2012]
  17. ^ a b "cerysofficialYoutube".
  18. ^ a b c "British chart positions". chartstats.com. Retrieved 3 March 2010.
  19. ^ a b c "Australian chart positions". australian-charts.com. Retrieved 3 March 2010.
  20. ^ a b "German album positions". musicline.de. Retrieved 3 March 2010.
  21. ^ a b "Irish chart positions". irish-charts.com. Retrieved 3 March 2010.
  22. ^ a b c "New Zealand chart positions". charts.org.nz. Retrieved 3 March 2010.
  23. ^ a b c "British certificates: searchable database". bpi.co.uk. Retrieved 3 March 2010.
  24. ^ "UK Chartlog: Chris C. – CZR". zobbel.de. Retrieved 3 March 2010.
  25. ^ "Irish singles positions". irishcharts.ie. Retrieved 3 March 2010.

Other sources

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