If anyone can claim to have had their career choice in some way chosen for them, it's Aqualung's Matt Hales; born above his parents Southampton independent record store, with a piano dominating the front room, he was writing songs by the age of 4. By 11 he'd been commissioned to compose his school Song (the melody stolen, he confesses without a hint of shame, from Howard Jones' "Humans Lib" album), by 14 he was co-writing with his brother a clutch of "songs about road safety".
Awarded a scholarship at 16 to study composition in Winchester, by 17 he'd had his first symphony "Life Cycle" performed by a 60-piece orchestra, with Matt himself conducting. No ordinary childhood. No ordinary child.
After signing not one but two record deals in the bands Ruth and The 45's respectively, Matt decided to pursue his musical career alone.
Inspired by the self-sufficiency of artists like Cornelius, Matt sidestepped back to his parallel life and began work in his home studio on what was to become this Autumn's aptly-titled "Strange And Beautiful" album. And although clients as diverse as Mitsubishi and the Tate Modern had already employed Matt's music in the past, it was the discovery by a canny ad exec of the title-track -that ended up on the massive TV/Cinema campaign for VW Beetle- that changed Matt Hales' life forever. With record shops besieged by people desperate to find THAT song, and Radio 1 eager to answer the demand, Aqualung was born.
Following up this Gold album, Matt released 'Still Life' through B-Unique in 2004. For essential listening, check out 'Brighter Than Sunshine' and 'Breaking My Heart Again'
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