Cerys Matthews is a Welsh singer, songwriter, author and broadcaster from Cardiff, Wales. Born in 1969, she is best known as the lead singer and a founding member of Catatonia, a Welsh rock band, and as a key figure in the late-1990s “Cool Cymru” movement.

Early life and Catatonia

Matthews learns guitar at the age of nine, sings Welsh folk songs, and teaches herself songs from a wide range of traditions, including blues and Irish folk. She is a member of the West Glamorgan Youth Orchestra before forming Catatonia in 1992 with guitarist Mark Roberts, after the pair begin dating and writing songs together at the end of 1991. Catatonia splits in mid-2001.

Solo work and recordings

After Catatonia, Matthews releases her first solo album, Cockahoop, in 2003, followed by Never Said Goodbye in 2006. In 2007 she issues the Welsh-language mini-album Awyren=Aeroplane. Her self-produced 2010 album of traditional Welsh songs, Tir, becomes the biggest-selling Welsh-language album of the decade, and a second volume, Hullabaloo, follows in 2013. She also duets with Sir Tom Jones on “Baby it’s Cold Outside”.

Broadcasting, writing and cultural work

Matthews hosts and programmes a Sunday morning show on BBC 6 Music, for which she wins Gold at the 2013 Sony Radio Academy Awards. She also works as a presenter and writer of radio and television documentaries on subjects including Cuba, early classical composers, shark fishing and early female blues players. She writes a column for Songlines, has written the sing-along book Hook, Line and Singer, which becomes a Sunday Times bestseller, and writes children’s books including Tales from the Deep and Gelert: A Man’s Best Friend.

Other projects and roles

Matthews curates events for theatres and the Tate Modern, and serves as artistic director for the opening ceremony of WOMEX 2013. She creates the cultural festival The Good Life Experience. She is also a judge for the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Forward Prizes for poetry, and presents a six-part television series on centuries-old folk songs in Wales.

Honours and affiliations

Matthews receives an inaugural St David Award for services to culture. She is Vice President of Shelter and the Hay Festival of Literature and the Arts, a patron of the Dylan Thomas Society and Ballet Cymru, and Arts Ambassador for Linden Lodge School.

Musical style

Her work spans alternative rock, folk, folk rock, indie rock, pop and rock.