Taking a stance as scruffy, skate-boarding kids with a love of Blink 182, Busted became big stars in the early 2000s by adding spiky guitars and heavy riffs to bubblegum pop melodies. They scored four Number 1 singles and two platinum-selling albums before bushy eye-browed hearthrob Charlie Simpson left to find his musical destiny in hardcore metal act Fightstar. The band's break-up left bass player Matt Willis (a former student of the Sylvia Young Stage School) free to go it alone and he signed a solo deal with Mercury Records in 2005. Adopting a more mature, polished rock sound, debut single "Up All Night" reached Number 7 in the UK with follow-up "Hey Kid" reaching Number 11. However, the album Don't Let It Go to Waste (2006) flopped badly and, after recording a cover of The Primitives song "Crash" for the soundtrack to Mr Bean, Willis entered the ITV show I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! Despite being the underdog, he was crowned king of the jungle and upon his departure took up presenting jobs with his wife Emma Griffiths. Willis also took to the stage performing roles in the musicals Footloose and Flashdance.
