Cerys Matthews

At 55 years old, Cerys Matthews has this physical status:

Cerys Elizabeth Matthews (born 11 April 1969) is a Welsh singer, writer, editor, and broadcaster.

She was a founding member of Welsh rock band Catatonia and a central figure in the late 1990s' "Cool Cymru" movement. MATTHEWS broadcasts and hosts a weekly music show on BBC Radio 6, BBC Radio 2 Music, a weekly blues show on BBC Radio 2, produces documentaries for television and radio, and is a roving reporter for The One Show.

In 2014, she co-created 'The Good Life Experience,' a celebration of culture and the great outdoors in Flintshire, with Charlie and Caroline Gladstone, who is also the author of Hook, Line and Singer, A Man's Best Friend, Gomer.

Early life

Matthews was born in Cardiff, the second of four children. When she was seven years old, the family moved to Swansea. She went to Bryn Y Mor Welsh language school until 11 years old, then moved to St Michael's School, Llanelli. She attended Ysgol Bro Gwaun comprehensive school in Pembrokeshire, England, where she lived in Trefin and Bryanston School, an independent school in Dorset, England. She is fluent in English, Welsh, Spanish, and French. Pippi Longstocking and writers William Butler Yeats and Dylan Thomas are among her childhood heroes, according to her.

She learned to play the guitar at the age of nine, performed Welsh folk songs, and taught herself traditional songs from around the world, including blues and Irish folk songs. She was a member of the West Glamorgan Youth Orchestra. She worked in Spain as a nanny, where she learned to speak Catalan.

Personal life

Matthews married Steve Abbott in 2012 and the two families now live in West London.

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Career

Catatonia were established in 1992 after Matthews met Mark Roberts. She performed lead vocals and co-wrote the song and lyrics for the band's hits later. "You've Got a Lot to Answer for," "Mulder and Scully," "Dad from the Waist Down" and "Road Rage" were among the songs she co-wrote. Matthews performed guitar on the earlier recordings before being joined by second guitarist Owen Powell. "The Ballad of Tom Jones," the band Space's first album, tells the tale of two lovers who intend to murder each other while also defusing their homicidal feelings, but then hears a Tom Jones song that defies their homicidal feelings. On Jones' 1999 album Reload, Matthews later collaborated with Jones to record a version of Frank Loesser's "Baby, It's Cold Outside." In a 1999 readers' poll in the now defunct publication Melody Maker, Matthews was named the "Sexiest Female in Rock."

After Catatonia's rise to fame with their second album, International Velvet, and their subsequent success with Equally Cursed and Blessed, the band resurfaced in 2001 with their fourth studio album Paper Scissors Stone. The band officially split in September 2001.

Matthews appeared on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury in June 2000, performing a duet of their hit "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" For the first time since Catatonia split up in December 2001, she returned to the recording studio for the first time since Catatonia had ceased operations. Sali Mali, a pre-school cartoon series, made a song in both English and Welsh. On the track "Cyclops Rock," from the US alternative rock band They Might Be Giants' 2001 album Mink Car, she sang as a guest vocalist. Her line was supposed to be provided by Joe Strummer of the Clash, according to her. Cerys went on to co-write "Gypsy Song" with Strummer on her Cockahoop album, which was released by Rough Trade in 2003.

In 2001, Matthews moved to Nashville, Tennessee. On her arrival, she began playing with Bucky Baxter, who had played lap steel guitar for Bob Dylan and Ryan Adams. With the intention of making an album of folk covers, she had already collected seventy-six traditional folk songs. Cockahoop's debut album, which consisted mostly of her own songs, ended up consisting mainly of her own songs. It was recorded in seven months and appeared on Blanco y Negro Records in the United Kingdom in May 2003. Seth Riddle, who was married in Pembrokeshire on February 22, 2003, was on the radio when recording this album. She toured the country with little advertising as she was only months pregnant at the time. Stateside Records' compilation was released in October 2004.

Matthews produced a version of Len Barry's 1960s UK and US top ten hits "1-2-3" in Nashville in December 2005. She sold it as a download-single, with all proceeds going to a children's charity. Matthews performed excerpts from her then-upcoming album at SXSW in Austin, Texas, in early 2006.

Matthews appeared on a short tour of the United Kingdom in 2006 to promote her second solo album, Never Said Goodbye. The album was preceded by the single "Open Roads." Kevin Teel, Ben Elkins on keyboards, Mason Neely on drums, and Jeff Irwin playing bass were among the band's members. She was the host of Cardiff's Big Weekend festival. Matthews performed tracks from her first two solo albums as well as three Catatonia hits between September and October 2006. In November 2006, she began a short acoustic Welsh tour before returning to Nashville for Christmas.

Matthews appeared on ITV's "I'm a Celebrity" -- Get Me Out of Here!, which aired from 12 to 29 November. She was voted off one day before the final episode, placing fourth behind Jason "J" Brown, Janice Dickinson, and eventual champion Christopher Biggins. Following the show, Matthews and fellow contestant Marc Bannerman were involved, but they parted four months later. In 2007, Matthews appeared at the Hackney Empire, London, as a live Guilty Pleasures performance. "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and the Dolly Parton/Kenny Rogers duet "Islands in the Stream" were performed by Bonnie Tyler, as well as Terry Hall and the BBC Concert Orchestra.

Matthews confessed to divorce from Riddle and temporarily relocated to Pebble, Pepeshire, in an interview on the eve of the unveiling of her Welsh mini-album Awyren = Aeroplane. In the National Eisteddfod, Awyren = Aeroplane earned the 'Contemporary Composition' award. The award had been revived and unveiled for the first time since 1936. Matthews, the vice president of the Welsh homelessness charity Shelter Cymru, became Vice President in 2007. In the same year, she accepted the position of Performing Arts Ambassador for Linden Lodge School, Wimbledon.

Matthews appeared onstage at Manic Street Preachers on February 28th, 2008, to perform the female vocals of their 2007 hit "Your Love Alone Is Not Enough." Nina Persson appeared at both the awards ceremony (within indigO2) and the upcoming 'Big Gig' live show (within The O2 Arena).

Matthews appeared on BBC 6 Music from November 2008 to May 2009, and then went on to present George Lamb's slot. Cerys Matthews performed A Month of Sundays in May 2009. On 6 Music from July 2009, she performed for Nemone while Nemone was on maternity leave while Nemone was playing.

Matthews took maternity leave from November 2009 and had to finish presenting the show a month early. Matthews returned to 6 Music in April 2010 to host a weekend concert on Sunday mornings. On Radio 4, she produces and broadcasts radio documentaries and shows, including Hook Line and Singer, where she told her love of fishing on Radio 4.

In October 2009, Matthews released her first CD in two years. Don't Look Down was released in two versions, one in English and the other in Welsh (the Welsh version was named Paid Edrych i Lawr). It was recorded in Providence, Rhode Island, Nashville, Seattle, and London, and it was timed with a two-week UK tour in October.

Matthews has covered Glastonbury Festival for both BBC Television and BBC 6 Music, she has written and presented a BBC Two programme on poet Dorothy Squires, the Mississippi River, and Cuba. She produced and presented a documentary on early blues players such as Memphis Minnie, children's character, Mahalia Jackson, and the legendary British blues name 'Blue Horizon'. On Maida Vale studios, she has produced a documentary for BBC Radio 2 in Maida Vale. She has written a column for international music publication Songlines, contributing to BBC Radio 4's programmes such as Feedback, Frontrow, Loose Ends, and Saturday Live. She has curated festivals for the Tate Modern, the Shetland theatre, and Womex.

In 2010, Matthews published Tir (in Welsh: "territoritory" or "land), a collection of traditional Welsh songs as well as photographs from her family archive from the 1880s to the 1940s, a work and play. "Calon Lân," "Cwm Rhondda," "Migldi" (sung as a duet with Bryn Terfel), "Myfanwy" and "Sosban Fach" were among them. Rainbow City is her third release on her own name.

Explorer is Matthews' fourth solo album. She delves into the popularity of both the music she has heard around the world and the places she has visited in both choosing and writing the songs. The album from the outset had no pre-determined sound or calculated format, despite being recorded for over seven days. On the album, she incorporates a little Spanish, Scottish, Irish, Welsh, Welsh, and American sensibilities, colors, and genres. A video of Explorer lead single "Sweet Magnolia" was posted in April 2011.

Matthews performed at the Isle of Wight and Hay festivals in 2012, the latter with a Woody Guthrie tribute exhibition, and collaborated with artists including Arun Ghosh, Tunde Jegede, Attab Haddad, Frank Moon, and the London Bulgarian Choir. Tir, a Welsh traditional music collection by Ballet Cymru, was also included in a show in Sadler's Wells, as well as a nomination for a Theatre Critics Award in 2012. Baby, It's Cold Outside (2012), her first and arranged Christmas album, has received acclaim from the Sunday Times as a "essential seasonal collection." Matthews performed at Dartington, Chester, Hay, and Edinburgh, and Hullabaloo, a collection of traditional Welsh reels and songs, was released. As part of the memorial service for departed War correspondent Marie Colvin, Matthews performed "Crazy" and Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" on Patsy Cline's "Blowin' in the Wind" on May 2012. On the first series of The Voice for Tom Jones' Team broadcast in the United Kingdom, Matthews appeared as a celebrity guest mentor.

Matthews co-founded The Good Life Experience with Charlie and Caroline Gladstone in Hawarden, Flintshire, which is close to the Cheshire border. It is a festival that celebrates the great outdoors, with abseiling, campfires, axe throwing, foraging, and discussion of surviving, as well as cultural pursuits, crafts, and music.

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