Welsh band Catatonia formed in 1992 when singer Cerys Matthews and guitarist Mark Roberts began dating and writing songs together, eventually busking and recording demos as Sweet Cataonia.
Hooking up with guitarist Owen Powell, bassist Guto Pryce and a drummer named Stephen “Frog” Jenkins, the band began to play live gigs and continued to record bilingual Welsh/English tracks.
The band line-up changed in 1993 as they signed to Crai Records and shortened their name to Catatonia. Jenkins and Pryce departed for other projects, and Matthews and Roberts were joined by Dafydd Ieuan on drums, Paul Jones on bass, and Clancy Pegg on keyboards.
Debut album Way Beyond Blue was released in September 1996, and Sweet Catatonia became the group’s first charting single. They entered the Top 40 with another single, You’ve Got a Lot to Answer For.
After touring as support for fellow Welsh band The Manic Street Preachers, the single Mulder and Scully (January 1998) launched Catatonia into the mainstream, entering the charts at #3. International Velvet subsequently became their breakout album, charting at #1.
The single Road Rage became their most critically acclaimed release, being nominated for Best Single at both the Ivor Novello Awards and the Brit Awards, while winning in that category at the Q Awards.
Around the same time, Cerys joined Tommy Scott of the Liverpool-based band Space to perform a duet on the single The Ballad of Tom Jones.
The band mastered the art of the perfect hook on their third album, Equally Cursed and Blessed (1999), with the addictive She’s a Millionaire.
Rolling Stone described bodacious singer Cerys Matthews as sounding like “the drunk unwanted daughter of Marianne Faithfull, teasing the listener with the promise of a thousand personas all rolled into one”.
The band took a break from performing live until 2001, when they released the album Paper Scissors Stone. By then, Cerys Matthews was frequently appearing in the tabloid press for her antics and began undergoing drug and alcohol rehabilitation. In September, their record company announced that the band were breaking up.
Matthews went on to a successful solo career, both musically and as an award-winning radio host and broadcaster.
Cerys Matthews Vocals Mark Roberts
Guitar Owen Powell
Guitar Paul Jones
Bass Aled Richards
Drums Guto Pryce
Bass Stephen “Frog” Jenkins
Drums Dafydd Ieuan
Drums Paul Jones
Bass Clancy Pegg
Keyboards
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Debut album Way Beyond Blue was released in September 1996, and Sweet Catatonia became the group’s first charting single. They entered the Top 40 with another single, You’ve Got a Lot to Answer For.
