Matthew Bellamy

Matthew Bellamy (2019)

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Matthew James Bellamy (born June 9, 1978 in Cambridge , Great Britain ) is an English musician, composer and multi-instrumentalist who became known as a singer , guitarist and pianist for the rock band Muse . He is best known for his large voice range of 3.7 octaves, his piano and electric guitar playing and his stage performances.

Life

Bellamy's father, George Bellamy, was the guitarist in the 1960s pop group The Tornados , which, along with Telstar, were the first British band to have a number one hit in the United States. The song Knights of Cydonia , a single from Muse's fourth album, Black Holes and Revelations , is seen as a tribute to the song because of its space rock sound and the video showing battles between cowboys and aliens. Bellamy's mother, Marilyn, was born in Belfast and came to England in the 1970s. On her first day in England, she met George, who was then a taxi driver in London . They later moved to Cambridge, where Matthew's brother Paul was born, and he himself was born a few years later. In the mid 1980s the family moved to Teignmouth , Devon . After his parents' divorce, Bellamy lived with his mother and brother. He started playing the piano at the age of 6 and guitar at the age of 11.

From about 2001 to 2010 Bellamy was in a relationship with the Italian psychologist Gaia Polloni and engaged from January 2007 until the separation. In the spring of 2010, he began dating actress Kate Hudson . The couple's son, Bingham Hawn "Bing" Bellamy, was born on July 9, 2011. The couple separated in August 2014. Bellamy has been in a relationship with the American model Elle Evans since the beginning of 2015. He married her on August 10, 2019. In early 2020 they announced that they were expecting their first child together.

muse

→ Main article : Muse (band)

Bellamy live with Muse in 2009

Muse was founded in Teignmouth in 1994 under the name Rocket Baby Dolls. The founding members were next to Bellamy the drummer Dominic Howard . Bassist Christopher Wolstenholme was added later. The line-up has not changed since then. Under the name Rocket Baby Dolls, she won a "Battle of the Bands" at her school. They then decided to change their name to a more professional one, which was renamed Muse. Muse mixes elements of alternative rock , art rock , progressive rock , classical , electro and other genres. They are also known for their spectacular live shows. They have released eight studio albums to date: Showbiz (1999), Origin of Symmetry (2001), Absolution (2003), Black Holes and Revelations (2006), The Resistance (2009), The 2nd Law (2012), Drones (2015) and Simulation Theory (2018) and three live albums: Hullabaloo (2002), HAARP (2008) and Live at Rome Olympic Stadium (2013).

Awards

In April 2005, Kerrang ranked him 28th of the 50 Sexiest People In Rock . NME selected him as the 14th Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Hero of all time , putting him ahead of John Lennon and Bob Dylan, among others . He also won the NME Award in the Sexiest Male Award category in 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2013 . Bellamy always referred to himself as "too short to be sexy" because he is only 1.71 m tall. He also said that Muse's drummer Dominic Howard should have won the award. In 2012 Bellamy received the NME Award in the Hero of the Year category .

On September 26, 2008, all members of the band received an honorary doctorate from the University of Plymouth for their service to music.

Bellamy is in the Guinness Book of Records as he holds the world record for most guitars crashed on a tour. He destroyed 140 guitars on the Absolution Tour .

In April 2010 he was voted the sixth best front man of all time by the readers of Q magazine.

music

Bellamy live at the Virgin Festival in Toronto

Music genre

Matthew Bellamy is the driving force behind the lyrics and music of Muse. He is known for playing vibrato in the falsetto voice ( Supermassive Black Hole , Knights of Cydonia , Showbiz and others), arpeggios ( Starlight , Butterflies & Hurricanes , New Born and others) and large interval jumps in melody lines ( Map of the Problematique , Stockholm Syndrome , Citizen Erased and many others). Some songs (mostly older) have a very dark atmosphere, created by guitar riffs and vocals.

voice

Bellamy's voice ranges from F # 2 to D6 (3.7 octaves). During Muse's career, it has deepened and aged. The lowest full note he hit in a song was a G2 that he holds in Follow Me for 30 seconds. However, in an interview with KROQ, he also sang an F # 2. The highest grade in a studio version is an A5 that appears at the beginning of Dead Star and at 2:53 in the song Hyper Music . But both are background vocals. The highest note in lead vocals is a semitone lower and is achieved in showbiz , micro cuts and survival . However, it also gets higher live.

Bellamy achieves these high notes without much training. A doctor who examined him discovered that his vocal cords are very short. He used to be embarrassed that he sang so high, but now he has given up this inhibition.

Texts

Bellamy's texts are rather simply structured. Mostly they are about the apocalypse , hyperspace , technology , religion , life , or a new world order. Many of his basic ideas play out in a dystopian future in which totalitarian governments control every part of personal and public behavior and maintain their power with observers and state-controlled media.

Guitars

Bellamy uses his own guitars, which he also designed with Hugh Manson and produced in Exeter , Devon . He owns over 20 Manson guitars and still uses some of them actively. He also had his own guitars made by Gibson , Jackson Guitars and Fender , but has not played them since the Absolution Era.

Political opinions

Many song lyrics show revolutionary views and Bellamy's rejection of political corruption. Assassin and Uprising, for example, are two well-known songs with clearly revolutionary tendencies. In an interview with Q magazine , Bellamy described himself as a "slightly left liberal ", while in an interview with the Guardian he said he was "a left-wing libertarian - but more in the way of Noam Chomsky ".

In 2006 Bellamy said he believed the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks were self-orchestrated by the US. In 2009 he contradicted this statement.

In 2009 he admitted he was politically influenced by John Perkins' book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man . It helped him write the song Uprising . He is also of the opinion that lobbyists have an inadequate amount of influence over politicians and the political system and that people in positions of power neglect public opinion.

Other appearances

Bellamy partly wrote the credits for the 2009 film The International . He is also the composer of the song Soaked , which appeared on Adam Lambert's debut album For Your Entertainment . Bellamy is also a playable character in Guitar Hero 5 , which includes the song Plug In Baby from the Origin of Symmetry album.

Web links

Commons : Matthew Bellamy  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ nme.com
2. ↑ Revelation on stage | Music . This is London. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
3. ↑ Gaia Polloni MuseWiki . musewiki.org. June 19, 2013. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
4. ↑ Bellamy Confirms Hudson Romance Rumors . Contactmusic.com. July 3, 2010. Retrieved July 12, 2010.
5. ^ Muse's Matt Bellamy and Kate Hudson name newborn son Bingham . NME.COM. July 14, 2011. Retrieved July 14, 2011.
6. ↑ Kate Hudson & Matt Bellamy welcome Son . July 10, 2011. Retrieved July 10, 2011.
7. ↑ Kate Hudson and Matt Bellamy Call Off Engagement . August 12, 2014. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
8. ^ Matt Bellamy & Elle Evans at Grammy Award shows . dailymail.co.uk. February 16, 2016. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
9. ↑ Muse play supermassive free show . In: NME News . NME.COM. June 26, 2006. Retrieved January 27, 2008.
10. ↑ muse.mu ( Memento of the original from December 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
11. ↑ Kate Rocks NME Awards - Sky Showbiz . Showbiz.sky.com. Archived from the original on June 17, 2010. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved February 28, 2012. 
12. ↑ University honor for rock stars Muse . The Herald . September 26, 2008. Archived from the original on October 6, 2009. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved June 8, 2009. 
13. ↑ Q 286 - Featuring The 100 Greatest Frontmen . Retrieved March 2, 2013.
14. ↑ musewiki.org
15. ↑ Matt Bellamy MUSE Interview in Q Magazine 'Artists Of The Century' Edition ( March 14, 2010 memento on the Internet Archive ). Accessed November 21, 2010.
16. ↑ guardian.co.uk . Retrieved November 21, 2010.
17. ↑ CMU Daily - on the inside . In: College Music Update , October 13, 2006. Archived from the original on November 20, 2008. Retrieved March 2, 2013. 
18. ↑ MUSE Matt Bellamy Rolling Stone Interview . October 15, 2009. Archived from the original on December 6, 2009. Retrieved March 2, 2013. 
19. ↑ Interview with Matthew Bellamy September 17, 2009 Nimble.ie
20. ↑ MuseLive UK Exclusive: Bellamy Features in GH5 . Muselive.com. Archived from the original on March 9, 2012. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved February 28, 2012.