Product Code Database
Matthew James Bellamy (born 9 June 1978) is an English musician and producer. He is the lead vocalist, guitarist, pianist, and lyricist for the English rock band Muse. He is recognised for his eccentric stage persona, wide tenor vocal range and musicianship.
Bellamy was born in Cambridge. His family moved to Teignmouth, Devon, where he formed Muse with schoolmates. They released their debut album, Showbiz, in 1999. With Muse, Bellamy has won two Grammy Awards for Best Rock Album, for The Resistance (2009) and Drones (2015); two Brit Awards for Best British Live Act; five MTV Europe Music Awards; and eight NME Awards. Muse have sold over 30 million albums worldwide. In 2012, they received the Ivor Novello Award for International Achievement from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors.
Bellamy has released solo compositions, and released a compilation of his solo tracks, Cryosleep, in 2021. He plays bass in the supergroup the Jaded Hearts Club, and produced their debut album, You've Always Been Here (2020).
Muse have gone on to worldwide success. Muse blends alternative rock, art rock, experimental rock, progressive rock, classical music, electronica and many other styles. The band is also well known for its energetic and visually dazzling live performances. On 16–17 June 2007, Muse became the first band to sell out the newly built Wembley Stadium in London.
Muse released their debut album, Showbiz, in 1999, showcasing Bellamy's falsetto and a melancholic alternative rock style. Their second album, Origin of Symmetry (2001), expanded their sound, incorporating wider instrumentation and Romantic music influences, and earned them a reputation for energetic live performances. Absolution (2003) saw further classical influence, with orchestra on tracks such as "Butterflies and Hurricanes", and became the first of seven consecutive UK number-one albums.
Black Holes and Revelations (2006) incorporated Electronic music and Pop music elements, influenced by 1980s groups such as Depeche Mode, displayed in singles such as "Supermassive Black Hole". The album brought Muse wider international success. The Resistance (2009) and The 2nd Law (2012) explored themes of government oppression and civil uprising and cemented Muse as one of the world's major stadium acts. Their seventh album, Drones (2015), was a concept album about drone warfare and returned to a harder rock sound. Their eighth album, Simulation Theory (2018), featuring a Retro style 1980s style, was released on 9 November 2018. Their ninth album, Will of The People, was released on 26 August 2022.
Muse's awards include two (winning the Grammys for Best Rock Album for The Resistance and Drones) two Brit Awards (winning Best British Live Act twice) five MTV Europe Music Awards and eight NME Awards. In 2012, they received the Ivor Novello Award for International Achievement from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors. Muse have sold over 30 million albums worldwide.
Bellamy's earliest guitar influences were Kurt Cobain and Jimi Hendrix; he admired their "element of chaos, an element of being slightly out of control". His playing is also influenced by Latin and Spanish guitar music, which "opened up a world of different harmonies and making music and a different sort of passion". He described Spanish guitar music as "very heavy music" that does not use a distortion pedal.
As a guitarist, Bellamy often uses the arpeggiator and Pitch shift effects to create a more "electronic" sound, citing Hendrix and Tom Morello as influences. Bellamy often uses a Fuzz Factory, a fuzz distortion effect. He has touch-controlled MIDI controller built into guitars, which control Kaoss Pad effects processors; the Guardian described Bellamy "undoubtedly the Kaoss rock star".
Since the early 2000s, Bellamy has worked with Manson Guitar Works, based in Devon, to create his electric guitars. They have released several "M-series" Signature guitar. In 2019, Bellamy purchased a majority stake in Manson.
Bellamy composed his first solo release, "Pray", for , a 2019 compilation album of music inspired by the TV series Game of Thrones. In May 2020, Bellamy released his second solo composition, "Tomorrow's World", inspired by life under lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. In June, he released an acoustic version of the 1999 Muse song "Unintended". Bellamy released a compilation of his solo work, Cryosleep, on 16 July 2021 for Record Store Day.
With the British composer Ilan Eshkeri, Bellamy wrote the score for a 2024 audiobook adaptation of the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four for Audible. The score was performed by a 60-piece orchestra at Abbey Road Studios. The Guardian said the score "brims with melodrama and menace".
In April 2005, Kerrang! named Bellamy the 28th-sexiest person in rock. Cosmopolitan also chose him as the sexiest rocker of 2003 and 2004. NME named him the 14th-greatest "rock 'n' roll hero", ahead of John Lennon and Bob Dylan. Bellamy also won the Sexiest Male Award at the NME Awards. He won again in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014 and was nominated in 2012. Bellamy, however, declared himself "too short to be sexy" (he is 5' 7"), and said the award should have gone to Dominic Howard, Muse's drummer. Bellamy also won the "Hero of the Year" award at the 2012 NME Awards. On 26 September 2008, the University of Plymouth awarded the members of Muse an honorary doctorate degree for their work in music.
In the January 2010 edition of Total Guitar, Bellamy was named "Guitarist of the Decade" and was proclaimed to be "the Hendrix of his generation". In the Guinness Book of World Records 2010, Bellamy is credited as holding the world record for most guitars smashed on a tour. His record, 140, was set during the Absolution tour. In April 2010, Bellamy was named the eighth-best frontman by the readers of Q. In December 2010, MusicRadar readers voted Bellamy the ninth-greatest lead singer. In 2010, a BBC Radio 6 survey named Bellamy the third-best guitarist of the last 30 years.
Earlier in his career, Bellamy expressed interest in conspiracy theories, including the theory that the 9/11 attacks were an "inside job". He disowned conspiracy theories in later years, saying they had been "hijacked" by rightwing politics, and that he had "become far more rational and empirical and I've managed to focus on slightly more realistic, tangible things". In 2022, he described conspiracy theories as quackery, saying they were attractive because they were distractions from pressing issues and that "there's a comfort that maybe human beings somewhere, even if they're evil, are in control, when in fact the truth is far more frightening – there are no humans in control and it's all a bunch of chaos". Bellamy is vaccinated against COVID-19 and supported masking during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bellamy expressed discomfort when the lyrics of Muse's 2009 album The Resistance were adopted by the rightwing Fox News anchor Glenn Beck, and when their song "Uprising" was used in YouTube videos advocating for conspiracy theories. Muse refused requests from American politicians to use "Uprising" in their rallies.
In February 2017, Bellamy bought the former home of the tennis player Pete Sampras, a estate in Brentwood, Los Angeles, for $6.9 million. In February 2015, Bellamy began dating the American model Elle Evans. They announced their engagement in December 2017 and married on 10 August 2019. Their daughter, Lovella, was born in June 2020. Evans gave birth to their second child, George, in May 2024.
As of 2022, Bellamy was living in Los Angeles during school periods to be close to his son and spending the holidays in London. That year, Bellamy said he was considering applying for an Irish passport to regain his European Union citizenship following Brexit, as he qualified through his Belfast-born mother. He announced during a show in Dublin the following year that he had received his Irish passport.
The Jaded Hearts Club
Solo
Guest appearances
|
|
