Cerys Matthews's Biography

Cerys Matthews was born in Cardiff on 11 April 1969.

Cerys went to Bryn-y-Mor primary school near Swansea, and she was called 'Squeaky' at school because of her high voice.

The family moved to Pembrokeshire and after finishing school she became a nanny in Barcelona, before returning to Wales, where she met Mark Roberts.

They created the band Catatonia. Cerys Matthews told The Observer that:

"I got the name for my band Catatonia from Aldous Huxley's The Doors of Perception. I really did think it meant 'nirvana'. Later someone told me it meant a stupor, which says so much really."

Catatonia formed in 1992 and had hits with songs including "Road Rage" and "Mulder and Scully", but they split up in 2001.

Catatonia's split was partly provoked by Cerys Matthews having problems and she went into rehab.

In May 2003, Cerys Matthews released her debut solo album, Cockahoop, which was recorded in Nashville, where Cerys Matthews had moved to.

Over there, she married musician Seth Riddell and they had two children, Glenys Pearl Y-Felin and Johnny Tupelo Jones. Cerys Matthews arrived at her wedding on a tractor.

However, the marriage ran into problems and Riddell and Matthews divorced with Cerys Matthews returning to Pembrokeshire on October 3, 2007.

Cerys Matthews released the mini-album Awyren = Aeroplane, recorded entirely in Welsh, and before long, she was chosen to be one of the celebrities on I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here.

Cerys did well on I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here only just missing out on being in the last three. She was the eighth person to leave the jungle.

Cerys was caught up in controversy in I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here due to her closeness with Marc Bannerman, which continued after the series finished.

Cerys Matthews and Marc Bannerman broke up in February 2008.

On 18 August 2009, the BBC reported that Cerys Matthews was pregnant with her third child and was expecting the baby in January 2010 with her 49-year-old partner and manager Steve Abbott.

In August 2010, Cerys Matthews told The Observer about some of her recent projects:

"I have my own show on BBC 6 Music, which has been just brilliant. I wrote and presented a documentary for the BBC poetry season called My Life in Verse. I was invited to do a lecture for the National Library of Ireland celebrating the work of WB Yeats. I sang at the Womad festival. I've also got my own record label, so I've put out a double release: an album of my own songs in English, with a Welsh version too, and a collection of traditional Welsh songs I've recorded."

In 2010 BBC Two commissioned Goldie's Band – By Royal Appointment, in which Cerys Matthews, along with Guy Chambers and Soweto Kinch, was lined up to be a mentor.

In May 2011, Cerys Matthews released the album, Explorer.

Although not a hoarder, she collects books, guitars and records.