Matthew James Bellamy. Biography. Matthew James BellamyMatthew James Bellamy Matthew James Bellamy

Personal achievements:
1) Matthew took 29th place in the list of the 100 best guitarists in the world according to Total Guitar magazine;
2) the riff from Plug In Baby appeared at position 14 in the “Top 100 Riffs”;
3) the same riff was listed in Q-magazine's Rock and Pop anthology as one of the best riffs ever played;
4) the riff from Stockholm Syndrome according to the Australian “Top 100 Riffs of all time” was recognized as the greatest riff of all time, ahead of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and other legendary things;
5) in 2005, the magazine “Kerrang!” ranked Matt 28th on the list of “The 50 Sexiest People in Rock Music”;
6) Cosmopolitan awarded Matt the title of Sexiest Rocker of 2003 and 2004.
7) according to NME magazine, Bellamy ranks 14th as the greatest rock and roll hero of all time, above Lennon, Dylan and many other musical idols.

Passion, hysteria, pain, screaming... It seems that the creativity of Matthew Bellamy (leader, vocalist, guitarist and songwriter of Muse) is burning him from the inside. His songs are filled with sizzling passion and romantic madness. They can evoke any feelings, but not indifference. “Time flies, time rushes, you are not able to kill him, you are not able to make him not scream”...

It is not surprising that the leader of Muse himself is an eccentric person with an active psyche. He admitted that he once even suffered from hallucinations: the musician imagined that blades were piercing his head. Also, during performances, Bellamy often destroyed equipment because he didn’t like the way it conveyed his music to the audience. And once, at a concert in America, he managed to break his lip on a guitar. Matt started bleeding and was immediately taken to the hospital where he received several stitches.

But a real creative person can only be one who is not afraid to destroy stereotypes and does not care about the opinion of the average person. Only such a person will be able to create something new, talented and beautiful.

Matt's piercing vocals are an integral part of Muse's sound. This falsetto is one of the main distinguishing features of the group. In an interview, Bellamy's partner, drummer Dominic Howard, mentioned that Matt has unusually small vocal cords, which accounts for his ability to sing in a high range.

His singing style has been compared to Queen's Freddie Mercury, Radiohead's Thom Yorke, Guns N' Roses' Axl Rose, Ours' Jimmy Gnecco, Emilé Wordsworth, Bono, and especially with Jeff Buckley, who, according to Bellamy himself, had the greatest influence on his work.

Bellamy's piano playing style is inspired by the works of Romantic pianists such as Sergei Rachmaninoff, resulting in the fusion of classical romanticism and rock music that characterizes many of Muse's songs. In particular, the compositions “Space Dementia”, “Megalomania”, “Ruled by Secrecy” contain elements of the first movement of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2, and “Butterflies and Hurricanes” - the cadence of the third movement.

In his live performances, Bellamy often resorts to long, romantic piano solos. It is worth remembering his Prelude in C sharp minor, which opens “Screenager” on the part of the Hullabaloo collection that was played live.

The album Black Holes And Revelations refers us to the Russian romantic composer P. I. Tchaikovsky. In the song Hoodoo, towards the end, you can hear the beginning chords of his Piano Concerto No. 1 played in a minor key before the other parts come in.

Bellamy attributes some of his guitar playing to the influence of Jimi Hendrix and Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello. Obvious borrowings from the latter are present on the second Origin of Symmetry album in the majority of Muse's riff-based songs, and are expressed in Bellamy's extensive use of pitch-shifting effects in his solos, such as in the case of Invincible with album Black Holes And Revelations. Bellamy also shares Morello's love for unusual and exclusive accessories for his guitar.

Among the bands and musicians that influenced him, Matt at various times named: Nirvana, Rage Against the Machine, Primus, Tom Waits.

Matthew James Bellamy
June 9, 1978
Cambridge, England, UK
Twins
1.70 m
blue
varied from fiery red to white; at the moment - a burning brunette

1) Matthew took 29th place in the list of the 100 best guitarists in the world according to Total Guitar magazine;
2) the riff from Plug In Baby appeared at position 94 in the “Top 100 Riffs”;
3) the same riff was listed in Q-magazine's Rock and Pop anthology as one of the best riffs ever played;
4) the riff from Stockholm Syndrome according to the Australian “Top 100 Riffs of all time” was recognized as the greatest riff of all time, ahead of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and other legendary things;
5) in 2005, the magazine “Kerrang!” ranked Matt 28th on the list of “The 50 Sexiest People in Rock Music”;
6) Cosmopolitan awarded Matt the title of Sexiest Rocker of 2003 and 2004.
7) according to NME magazine, Bellamy ranks 14th as the greatest rock and roll hero of all time, above Lennon, Dylan and many other musical idols.

Passion, hysteria, pain, screaming... It seems that the creativity of Matthew Bellamy (leader, vocalist, guitarist and songwriter) is burning him from the inside. His songs are filled with sizzling passion and romantic madness. They can evoke any feelings, but not indifference. “Time flies, time rushes, you are not able to kill him, you are not able to make him not scream”...

It is not surprising that the leader himself is an eccentric person with an active psyche. He admitted that he once even suffered from hallucinations: the musician imagined that blades were piercing his head. Also, during performances, Bellamy often destroyed equipment because he didn’t like the way it conveyed his music to the audience. And once, at a concert in America, he managed to break his lip on a guitar. Matt started bleeding and was immediately taken to the hospital where he received several stitches.

But a real creative person can only be one who is not afraid to destroy stereotypes and does not care about the opinion of the average person. Only such a person will be able to create something new, talented and beautiful.

Matt's piercing vocals are an integral part of the sound. This falsetto is one of the main distinguishing features of the group. In an interview, Bellamy's partner, drummer Dominic Howard, mentioned that Matt has unusually small vocal cords, which accounts for his ability to sing in a high range.

His singing style has been compared to Freddie Mercury from , Thom Yorke from Radiohead, Axl Rose from Guns N' Roses, Jimmy Gnecco from Ours, Emilé Wordsworth, Bono, and mainly Jeff Buckley, who, according to Bellamy himself, had the greatest influence on his work.

Bellamy's piano playing style is inspired by the works of Romantic pianists such as Sergei Rachmaninoff, resulting in the fusion of classical romanticism and rock music that characterizes many of Muse's songs. In particular, the compositions “Space Dementia”, “Megalomania”, “Ruled by Secrecy” contain elements of the first movement of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2, and “Butterflies and Hurricanes” - the cadence of the third movement.

In his live performances, Bellamy often resorts to long, romantic piano solos. It is worth remembering his Prelude in C sharp minor, which opens “Screenager” on the part of the Hullabaloo collection that was played live.

The album Black Holes And Revelations refers us to the Russian romantic composer P. I. Tchaikovsky. In the song Hoodoo, towards the end, you can hear the beginning chords of his Piano Concerto No. 1 played in a minor key before the other parts come in.

Bellamy attributes some of his guitar playing to the influence of Jimi Hendrix and Tom Morello from . Obvious borrowings from the latter are present on the second Origin of Symmetry album in the majority of Muse's riff-based songs, and are expressed in Bellamy's extensive use of pitch-shifting effects in his solos, such as in the case of Invincible with album Black Holes And Revelations. Bellamy also shares Morello's love for unusual and exclusive accessories for his guitar.

MUSE will perform in Kyiv on July 8 as part of U-Park festival and this will be the third performance of the British in Ukraine. To prepare for the concert, we will focus on the most extraordinary character of the British trio - Matthew James Bellamy and let’s sort through his playlist.

Over the history of its existence MUSE released seven albums and countless B-sides. Each release is sometimes radically different from the previous one, their music contains: loud and bright guitar riffs, piano passages, dub-step beats, orchestral works... and some of their songs can be safely and without a twinge of conscience called the best pop hits. They managed to mix all sorts of styles in their music, even if some fans are not happy with it. You'll never guess exactly what their next album will sound like. Surely these metamorphoses can be explained by the diversity of musical tastes of the group members.

Let’s whet your interest in Matt with a few facts from his biography :)
There is such an orderly chaos going on in Bellamy's head: he took part in seances as a child; he believes in aliens and a worldwide conspiracy; does not believe politicians and (we are almost 100% sure) that somewhere under one of his houses he nevertheless built a bunker to hide there from the third world war. He reads specific literature, on one of the tours he wanted to fly on stage (literally) with a jetpack on his back, and in his younger years, in the company of Chris and Dominic, he took hallucinogenic mushrooms in mind-boggling quantities:

Last book I read: "Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control". I learned how to brainwash people, which is quite useful.

Once in Las Vegas, while high, we threw a party in a huge bouncy castle in the desert and persuaded the girls to dress up as aliens. It's like being on set "Twin Peaks".

Before taking on their current name, Matt, Dom and Chris' band was named after a Japanese softcore porn film - Rocket Baby Dolls. By the way, initially Chris played drums in another group, when he was invited to the then Rocket Baby Dolls, he mastered the bass guitar. In the 2010 Guinness Book of Records, Bellamy is listed as the record holder for the largest number broken guitars – 140, during the tour in support of the album "Absolution".
Each of MUSE has an honorary doctorate in art for outstanding work in the musical field. And in 2007, they became the first band to perform at the newly built Wembley Stadium in London.

Matt has been nominated multiple times for Best Guitarist, ranking 19th and 29th on the "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time" and "Top 100 Guitarists of All Time" lists, respectively.
Songs "Plug In Baby" And "Stockholm Syndrome" have been named by many publications as the greatest riffs ever played. The story of how it was written "Plug In Baby" quite funny:

While recording it, we were simply beside ourselves with the huge amount of hallucinogenic mushrooms. We ended up naked in the jacuzzi and I went deaf in one ear because I fell asleep in the sauna.

Many of you will definitely find something interesting in Matt's playlist, since the boundaries of his musical knowledge extend even to the classics. You can trace Bellamy’s love for musical works of different eras and composers from all over the world by listening to the piano passages in the songs MUSE. So in "Hoodoo" you can hear the opening chords of Piano Concerto No. 1 Tchaikovsky.

In creativity MUSE String and piano arrangements are often present. It feels like the band is trying to sit on two chairs at once: classical music and rock.

The music of Rachmaninov, Liszt and Chopin is mysterious. Their works are more abstract and better able to stimulate the imagination.

It is these composers who need to be thanked for "Megalomania" And "Exogenesis: Symphony" in the British repertoire. Bellamy's piano playing style is inspired by the works of Romantic pianists such as Sergei Rachmaninov, the result of which is a fusion of classical romanticism and rock music, so characteristic of many songs MUSE.

If we talk about his guitar playing style, then Matt had a very strong influence on Jimi Hendrix And Tom Morello from Rage Against The Machine. Bellamy also shares Morello's love for unusual and exclusive accessories for his guitar.

In 1996, all three participants MUSE let's go to Reading. RATM were just the headliners of the festival. It was kind of a turning point for the guys. Dominic then said:

When we become the headliners of this stage, it will mean that we succeeded, we achieved what we expected!

Every year Matt and Dom asked each other the same question: did they succeed? And the answer was always: “We should perform at Reading.”

To the song MUSE "Time Is Running Out" creativity had a huge impact Michael Jackson. When it's already 80% "Absolution" was recorded, the guys wanted to create something new, catchy, a song that would make you click the rhythm with your fingers

We wanted to write a song that was like "Billie Jean" by its sound.

In the world of rock, Queen is the best example of the clash between guitar and piano in songwriting. I think that in their music you can accidentally find unusual arrangements and chord structures. In my heart I want to write heavy music, but at the same time, I am more attracted to the piano.

Matt is a big fan Jeff Buckley, according to Bellamy, he had the greatest influence on the group's work.

At the time when we started with MUSE, singing in falsetto was not cool because Nirvana and other grunge bands were popular then. We went to a Jeff Buckley concert and he wasn't afraid to sing in a high-pitched male voice. I think that's what helped me open up and not be afraid to use a more expressive and emotional vocal style.

For songs like "City Of Delusion", "Hoodoo", "Knights Of Cydonia" noticeable influence Enno Morricone: Western motifs and romantic instrumentals... The British themselves often perform his song "Man With Harmonica" during his concerts (played by Chris right before performing "Knights Of Cydonia").

No matter how unexpected it may sound, Bellamy is not indifferent to his compatriots Franz Ferdinand:

They manage to combine dance music and rock music in a very cool way, without samples or sequencers. We're interested in trying that in our music as well."

(Sequencers are hardware or software devices for real-time recording and playback of music, as a collection of notes and characteristics of their performance, presented in various forms, for example, CV-Gate or Midi messages - editor's note).

In their younger years, participants MUSE were huge fans of the album "Around The Fur" Deftones. In some way, they are united by the fact that in the music of both there is a mixture of drama and aggression. In 1999, both groups worked with the same label - Maverick. Bellamy often plays a riff from the song "Headup" during live performances MUSE.

Another inspiration for the team is the Belgian group Millionaire. This is a mix of stoner and space rock. Their debut album "Outside The Simian Flock" directly affected "Supermassive Black Hole".

Bellamy also inherits his high falsetto Prince, MUSE often play "Sign O" The Times".

Drummer for me Lightning Bolt– one of the best drummers in the world, he is like a leader. Bass and drums - that's the whole band. Very experimental.

Muse often play covers of "Dracula Mountain".

Bellamy once admitted that creativity system of a Down greatly influenced the recording of the song "Stockholm Syndrome". Interesting fact: Serj Tankian, frontman SOAD, at one time offered to the guys from MUSE work for his label, but they refused.

Americans occupy an important place in the list of Matt's favorites Weezer. Rivers Cuomo, although he looks like a know-it-all, he knows his stuff and plays the guitar like no one else. Among the group's entire discography, it is especially worth noting "The Blue Album", released in 1994. This release was often featured on various lists "Best of", so: magazine "Guitar World" placed the record third out of the ten best guitar albums of 1994.

Recording every next album, MUSE listened to and were inspired by radically different works and musical styles. IN "Absolution" echoes were noticed Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Primus And Deftones. "The Resistance" consists of many references to classical music, especially the last three songs of the album.

Although Matt himself did not admit it, Dominic let it slip:

When we were 16 years old Radiohead were the group that had a very big influence on us.

Recording "The 2nd Law" Everyone listened to music: from symphonies Bach, songs David Bowie and ending Skrillex.

Here are a couple more bands and musicians who are on Mr. Bellamy's playlist: Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, Rush, Robert Johnson, Jimi Hendrix, The Smashing Pumpkins and many others.

And finally, a few quotes from Matt:

I would love to fly to Mars. I would like to record an album while in a state of weightlessness.

One day Paris Hilton came to our show in LA. But she left on time "Knights Of Cydonia", and this is the first song in the setlist. If we managed to insult Paris Hilton, then we are doing everything right!

The concept of democracy is a fucking joke. Rock needs to shake everyone up and say, “Screw it! This is nonsense, dude! Let's burn down Parliament!

• Matthew James Bellamy was born in 1978 in Cambridge, England.
• His father, George Bellamy, was a former member of The Tornados, who were the first Englishmen to conquer the American charts with the song Telstar; this song subsequently inspired Matt himself to create the composition Knights of Cydonia.
• On the initiative of his father, Matthew learned to play the piano from an early age, and at the age of 14 he picked up the guitar. In the 1980s, Bellamy's parents divorced, and he moved in with his grandmother, who helped the aspiring musician a lot with the purchase of equipment and instruments.
• In 1994, in Teignmouth, Devon, Matt and his friends formed their first group, calling it Rocket Baby Dolls; Soon the boys won a school competition among bands and decided to take up music professionally. Thus was born the group, later called Muse.
• The biggest problem among the band members was choosing a style of music that would suit everyone, but the guys couldn’t find one and decided not to limit themselves to the strict confines of one style and play what they just liked. This gave birth to a sound that was to be seen on all studio albums and that no other band could ever recreate.
• Bellamy's Manson guitar was specially made for the musician by Hugh Manson, and its feature was the built-in Roland VG-8 processor and Z.Vex Fuzz Factory, which gave the instrument an “overdriven” sound even on a clean sound.
• Matt Bellamy has received various awards more than once for his excellent guitar playing; Thus, he was awarded 19th place in the list of "The 50 Best Guitarists of All Time", 29th place in the "100 Best Guitarists", and the guitar riff from the song Plug In Baby was ranked 13th in the ranking of "The 100 Best Riffs of All Time". In April 2005, Kerrang! awarded the young rocker 28th place in the list of “50 Sexiest People in Rock Music”.
• Matthew Bellamy was engaged for a long time to Italian Gaia Polloni, but a few months before the wedding, scheduled for 2009, the couple jointly decided to end the relationship. The singer became engaged to Kate Hudson, and on July 9, 2011, they had a son.

Matthew Bellamy: quotes

• By the way, I've never done guitar solos. There's something uncool about them.
• All the drive comes from the monstrous nervousness before you go on stage. I'm terribly nervous. It seems to me that when you arrive at the venue half an hour before the concert, your nerves turn into adrenaline. I've been nervous all day. And it results in pure excitement, not self-deprecation.
• My biggest fear is being impregnated by an alien and giving birth. It would be terrible to give birth to a freak, so you would have to hide him from everyone and everything, but still raise him as your own.
• Most bands release live albums when they're old and fat. We wanted to distinguish ourselves.
• Don't waste time, otherwise it will waste you too.
• Paris Hilton was at our concert in Los Angeles. But she left during the song Knights of Cydonia - and this was the first song of the concert. If we pissed off Paris Hilton, then we're doing something worthwhile.
• If you took away the bass, guitar, drums and microphone and just had me sing alone in an empty room, I would look like a lonely screaming maniac. You'll probably even laugh at me.

08.07.2018

Matthew James Bellamy
Matthew James Bellamy

British musician

Frontman of the group "Muse"

Matthew James Bellamy was born on June 9, 1978 in Cambridge, UK. His father, George Bellamy, was a musician and guitarist for the band The Tornados. The mother did housework and had spiritualistic abilities - she communicated with the spirits of the dead without any auxiliary devices. In 1990, the Bellamy family moved to Teignmouth. Here the young man became interested in music. He began to learn to play the guitar, dreaming of getting into one of the local teenage bands.

After Matthew's parents divorced and he began living with his grandmother, music became his only outlet. After some time, he met his future friends - Matthew began performing in Dominic Howard's group. At first the musical group was called “Gothic Plague”, but subsequently it changed several times, as did the composition of the group. Then bassist Chris Wolstenholme appeared in the school band, with whom Matthew and Dominic formed the backbone of the entire band.

After graduating from school, Matt left the team for a while and went to travel around Europe. He visited Spain, Italy, Greece. In the latter place, he wrote the famous composition “Muscle Museum”, which later became a real hit. Returning home, Bellamy began playing again with his former band, and at the same time got a job as an artist and designer, but did not stay in the new place for long. A few months later, representatives of the Dangerous Records label drew attention to the young musicians, who became very interested in the work of the Muse group and offered them their first contract.

Over the course of several years, the group achieved excellent success. From 1999 to 2012, Muse released six albums and toured all over the world. The personal collection of the members of the legendary band includes two Brit Awards, four MTV Europe Music Awards statuettes, as well as more than thirty different music awards and more than one hundred nominations. Moreover, for their contribution to the development of cultural heritage, all members of the Muse group received honorary Doctors of Arts degrees from the University of Plymouth.

Now Matthew Bellamy is the vocalist, guitarist, keyboardist and composer of the band Muse. For many years now, since 1994, he has remained the ideological inspirer, leader and frontman of the group. Over the years, magazines called him the sexiest rocker of our time. Additionally, in 2009, he was named one of the greatest guitarists in the history of the music industry. In NME magazine's list, Matt was ranked fourteenth in the ranking of the best frontmen of the present and past.

Matthew has been married since 2011. His wife is actress Kate Hudson. In July of the same year, the couple had a son.