Cerys Matthews

Learning to play guitar at the age of nine, Cerys Matthews first started singing Welsh and Irish folk songs. She became immersed in the local scene in Cardiff, forming Catatonia in 1992 with Mark Roberts after he heard her busking in the streets. Her strong character and colourful vocals helped Catatonia achieve mainstream success through the late 1990s with hits like Mulder and Scully, Road Rage, Strange Glue and Dead From The Waist Down. She also collaborated with Space on The Ballad Of Tom Jones and duetted with Jones himself on the hit Baby, It's Cold Outside. Catatonia split in 2001 after their fourth album Paper Scissors Stone and the following year Matthews moved to Nashville, releasing her debut solo album of self-written songs Cockahoop in 2003. She followed it with the Never Said Goodbye album (2006), touring extensively, until marking her return to live in Wales with Welsh language recordings on the mini-album Awyren = Aeroplane. She also appeared on the reality TV show I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, finishing fourth, going on to join Manic Street Preachers on stage. Matthews then became a radio presenter on BBC 6 Music with a regular Sunday morning show, releasing two versions of new album Don't Look Down in 2009 - one sung in English and one in Welsh (titled Paid Edrych I Lawr). She also presented TV shows, including a documentary on singer Dorothy Squires, and an album of Welsh traditional songs TIR, and in 2011 she released a brand new album Explorer.