Catatonia

Built around the rich, beguiling vocals of charismatic singer Cerys Matthews, Catatonia were one of the most successful and best-loved bands to come out of Wales, with four albums in the late 1990s/early 2000s and major hit singles with Road Rage and Mulder & Scully. Matthews reputedly met guitarist Mark Roberts while busking on the streets of Cardiff and they started writing songs together. A group gradually evolved around them and they released their first album Way Beyond Blue, mixing alternative rock with poppy melodies, in 1996. However, it was Mercury Music Prize-nominated second album International Velvet two years later which propelled them into the mainstream as one of the biggest-selling albums of 1998; including the hits Road Rage and Mulder & Scully, markedly identified by Matthews' distinctively Welsh enunciation. Their darker third album Equally Cursed & Blessed in 1999 also topped the UK album charts and included another Top 10 single Dead From The Waist Down. But the pressure of fame and touring took its toll on Matthews, who became ill with nervous exhaustion, and Catatonia split in 2001, shortly after the release of their fourth album Paper Scissors Stone. Having already had a hit duetting with Tom Jones, Matthews then embarked on a career as a solo singer and DJ.