Cerys Matthews

Cerys Matthews biography

Cerys Elizabeth Matthews (; born 11 April 1969) is a Welsh singer and songwriter. She is known as the lead singer of the Welsh rock band Catatonia, her more recent bilingual solo career, and for a 1998 Christmas duet with Tom Jones.

Biography

Matthews was born in Cardiff and brought up in Swansea and Pembrokeshire, and is a fluent Welsh 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. After a stint in Spain as a nanny, where she learned to speak Spanish and 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 (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.

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. On 21 September 2001, the band officially split.

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.

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.

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