Matt Willis

For other uses, see Matt Willis (disambiguation).

Matt Willis

Matthew James Willis (born 8 May 1983 in Tooting, South London) is an English singer-songwriter. He first found fame with the band, Busted.

Personal life

Willis was born in Tooting in London, later moving to East Molesey, Surrey, where he grew up. He soon moved to Woking, attending Woking High School after being asked to leave his previous High-School, before leaving to attend Sylvia Young Theatre School, where he met his now close friends Lee Ryan, Tom Fletcher, Billie Piper, Jodi Albert and Amy Winehouse who has openly said that she fancied Matt at school "Yeah we all loved Matt at school. I fancied him, I still do." When Matt was recently asked if he was concerned for Amy Winehouse he replied with "I don't think I need to feel concerned about her. From what I've seen she's fine!"

Willis has an older brother Darren, their parents split up when Matt was three years old; his mother later remarried and had his half-sister, Amanda, who is an Ambassador of a charity called Whizz-Kidz. Willis has made it clear that he was a "problem" child, regularly sneaking out of the house by shimmying down drain pipes. He also as a child suffered from Brittle Bone disease, tunnel vision, asthma and hyperactivity problems.

In November 2007 Willis claimed to have stopped smoking of which he has done from the age of 11 but has since been photographed smoking.

Willis recently got married to his long term girlfriend of three years, Emma Griffiths at Rushton Hall, Northants on July 5th 2008. Guests included ex Members of Son Of Dork, James Bourne, David Gest, Holly Willoughby, Ant McPartlin, Mcfly, Hannah Tointon and Heidi Range. OK! Magazine covered the wedding for July in their 632 issue. In December 2007 they took part in their first "press" shoot for OK! Magazine. Even though Matt said he didn't want to be a part of the whole cycle.

Rehab

In April 2005, aged 21 Willis had a brief stint for 3 weeks in Londons Priory Rehab Hospital for alcoholism. In July 2006, aged 23 Willis was admitted again for a few days to the Londons Priory Rehab Hospital for drug abuse, because he hooked on cannabis from the age of 13, Matt began to get problems from the drug-taking including physiological and forgetfulness problems. In June 2008, aged 25 Willis entered the providence project (rehab centre) in Bournemouth after a marriage ultimatum as Willis continued to take drugs and drink heavily. It was reported that a night out with close pal Amy Winehouse pushed Willis too far. Willis took the full 5 week course in Drugs and Alcohol.

Busted

Busted were an extremely successful English band consisting of Willis on bass guitar, James Bourne on rhythm guitar and Charlie Simpson on lead guitar (and occasionally drums). Busted formed in 2001 and disbanded on 14 January 2005. In some countries (including The Netherlands) the band was known as Bust.

Busted may also be recognised as the originating force behind the breakout act McFly. Willis co-wrote many Busted songs along with the other members, as well as Tom Fletcher of McFly.

Busted Court Case and Reunion

Willis, James Bourne and ex-manager Richard Rashman faced a £10 million royalty battle with former members Ki McPhail and Owen Doyle who claimed to have written three of bands key singles. What I Go To School For, Sleeping With The Light On and Year 3000 all gained top three status in the UK charts. Album track Psycho Girl was another track included in the case. It began in February 2008 and included the likes of Charlie Simpson and Simon Cowell as a potential witness and was dismissed in June 2008.

On Friday June 6th 2008 it was announced that Ki McPhail and Owen Doyle had lost the court battle, with the judge calling them both 'unreliable witnesses'. They are planning an appeal. Bourne and Willis released the following statement: "This was an opportunistic attempt by Doyle and McPhail to cash in on our success. Their claims were a complete fabrication and we are delighted that the judge has seen through this and totally dismissed them. Our position has been completely vindicated and our achievements with Busted remain untarnished."

Several British tabloids reported Busted are reuniting and releasing a single this summer. Willis has denied rumours of a reunion.

Solo career

After a brief stint in rehab after the Busted split, Matt set up a solo career, releasing singles in 2005 and 2006 Up All Night, Hey Kid, Don't Let It Go to Waste and a cover version of The Primitives song, Crash for the film Mr Bean's Holiday. Crash later came with his album Don't Let It Go to Waste.

Willis also confirmed at the V Festival 2007 that he will be putting together a new band for late 2008.

Presenting

Since leaving the Jungle, Willis has pursued various presenting projects. On 14 February 2007, Willis took his first major presenting role, when he was one of the presenters of ITV2's coverage of the BRIT Awards, alongside Lauren Laverne, Russell Howard and Alesha Dixon. He returned to this role in 2008 alongside Emma Griffiths and Lauren Laverne. He interviewed Rhianna, Shayne Ward, Adele, Ozzy Osbourne, Kate Nash and many more including Perez Hilton who became very fond of Matt.

Following his success in this he hosted the MTV Hits night of MTV's Spanking new Music Tour 2007 with his wife Emma Griffiths, live from the Anson Rooms in Bristol on March 21 2007.

In November 2007, Willis and his wife Emma Griffiths took to Australia and presented I'm a Celebrity... Get Me out of Here! Now on ITV2.

In February 2008, Matt presented the Red Carpet coverage for the E! Entertainment network, at the 2008 BAFTA Awards, alongside Ryan Seacrest and Emma Griffiths.

In November 2008, Willis and his wife Emma Griffiths will be in Australia preseting I'm a Celebrity... Get Me out of Here! Now on ITV2. The couple were asked back after winning an presenting awared earlier this year.

I'm a Celebrity...

In December 2006 on ITV, Willis was crowned 'King of the Jungle' being the winning contestant on I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! despite going into the final day as the 8-1 underdog against Myleene Klass and Jason Donovan. Weighing 13 stone 2 lb upon entering, he discovered that he had lost 2 stone after being weighed again in the jungle. In order to enter the jungle, Willis was required to bungee jump from a plane. During his stay, in a compulsory bushtucker trial, Willis ate a kangaroo anus, crocodile penis, crocodile eye, witchetty grub, and some mealworms to earn a cooked, luxury meal for himself and the other celebrities.

DJ

Willis is now re-inventing him self as a DJ he had DJ-ed for many successful club nights.

• 25th January 2008 Willis did his first DJ Set in Mayhem nightclub.
• 1st February 2008 at Glasgows "Classrooms" nightclub which also including a few drunken games.
• 12th April 2008 at Cellar Bar, Blackburn
• 18th April 2008 at Aberdeen's Liquid Envy nightclub.
• 22nd May 2008 at Warringtons Chicago Rock Cafe.
• 23rd May 2008 at South-ends Mayhem nightclub.

Other work

As a teenager, Willis was featured on The Bill & Casualty, both times as a drug dealer, and EastEnders as an extra.

Following I'm A Celebrity..., Willis was featured in a succession of celebrity based TV shows. In December 2006, he took part in an episode of Ready, Steady, Cook where he beat fellow I'm a Celebrity... contestant Toby Anstis. A month later, Willis finished fifth in a Music Stars Special of The Weakest Link. Bonnie Langford won the episode, having been Strongest Link in every round bar Round 2, in which Willis was the Strongest Link. At the end of the year he appeared with Myleene Klass as a guest contributor to The Big Fat Quiz of the Year.

On 13th March 2007, Willis was a special guest on the Glasgow leg of the Radio 1/Chris Moyles Rallyoke in aid of Comic Relief. He performed Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice. Other celebrities to take part in the night included Fran Healy and Dougie Payne of the band Travis, Reggie Yates and Fred MacAulay.

As a fan of Big Brother, Willis has also featured on various spin offprogrammes for the 7th and 8th series of the show, including BBLB and BBBM.

Willis has appeared twice on The Friday Night Project: once in 2006 in an episode hosted by Ross Kemp, and again in August 2007 on an episode hosted by fellow I'm a Celebrity... contestant David Gest.

In the summer of 2007, he was a guest at the weddings of both Shane Ritchie and Holly Willoughby.

On September 8 2007 Willis contributed to Ant and Dec's game "Bounce Baby Bounce" on the new series of Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway.

Willis was also a Star Guest with Emma Griffiths for the first show of Jordan & Peter Unleashed.

In March 2008, Matt featured in an I'm A Celebrity special of the TV series Ghosthunting with..., alongside fellow contestant Dean Gaffney, and recent contestants Christopher Biggins and Cerys Matthews as well as wife Emma Griffiths.

Also in March 2008, Matt Willis appeared on ITV1's daytime talk show Loose Women where, under the scrutiny of the presenters, he hinted that he was forming a new band. Although Matt does play bass, he announced he was looking for a bassist, enabling him to concentrate solely on singing.

In May 2008, Matt travelled to New Zealand with Jack Osbourne, Jodie Kidd and John Thomson for the new series of Jack's ITV2 show, Jack Osbourne: Adrenaline Junkie. It was also reported that Willis got a new tattoo, the word 'emma', after filming had finished and was later beaten up by a local criminal after having left the set.

Solo Discography

Year	Title	Chart positions			Album	Label
		UK	IRE	EU
2006	"Up All Night"	7	29	-	"Don't Let It Go to Waste"	Mercury
	"Hey Kid"	11	-	-
	"Don't Let It Go to Waste"	19	-	-
2007	"Crash"	31	-	-	Single Only

External links

Official sites

• Official site
• Matt Willis' Official MySpace
• Matt Willis On IMDB
• Agent's Site
• Publicist's site