Matthew Bellamy

By: Dylan Drew

Biography

• Matthew Bellamy is the lead vocalist, guitarist, and pianist of English rock band “Muse”.

• He writes most of all the songs and string arrangements.

•Matthew James Bellamy was born on June 9, 1978 in Cambridge and later moved to Devon, England where he grew up.

• His father was a musician. He was in a band called “The Tornadoes”.

• He learned how to play the piano at age 6 but it wasn’t until the age of 10 or 11 that Bellamy had a desire to learn the piano.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c02gBveKq70

• He fell out of playing the piano for a while as he turned his interest to guitar.

The Early Days• The beginning of the band was formed by Matt Bellamy, Dominic Howard, and Chris Wolstenholme, they were called “Rocket Baby Dolls”.

• Bellamy described them looking like “The Cure” but sounding like “Rush”.

• He learned to write music and wrote hundreds of songs.

• Philip Glass, Rachmaninoff, Lizst, and Chopin were his

introduction to discovering the mystery side of music.

• The band changed their name to “Muse.”

• In October 1995 a guy by the name of Dennis Smith (owner of Sawmills Recording Studio) discovered them.

• Their first recording and a self- titled EP was released on the Dangerous label in 1998.

• Another EP followed but in spite of their success no English label record wanted to sign Muse on due to Bellamy’s “vibrato-laden” high pitched vocal.

• The American label Mave ric k Re c o rd s decided to take a chance on the band, giving them a number of gigs in the US and in the end signed them on.

• John Leckie, the producer of Radioheads’ hit album “The Bends” produced Muse’s first album “ Showbiz”.

• Their first single from the first album “Plug in Baby” hit number 11.

• Their second single “New Born” was in the top 20.

Musical Influence

• Bellamy is inspired by pianists from the Romanticism period.• Jimi Hendrix • Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine• Queen• Freddy Mercury

• Won “Best Live Band” at the Kerrang Awards.

• They have also been featured on all three of the Twilight soundtracks.• Their third album “Absolution” topped the charts in the U.K. and France.• They recently received “Best Rock Album” for “The Resistance,” their latest album.