Who is Matthew Healy? Everything You Need to Know

Quick Facts

British Celebrities Born In April

Also Known As: Matthew Timothy Heal

Age: 35 Years, 35 Year Old Males

Family:

father: Tim Healy

mother: Denise Welch

siblings: Louis Healy

Guitarists Pop Singers

City: London, England

Recommended For You

Recommended Lists:

Childhood & Early Life

Matthew Timmothy Healy was born on 08 April 1989, to soap opera actress Denise Welch and television actor Tim Healy in Manchester, England. When he was young, his parents lived a fast life with lots of socialising amongst actors and musicians. Healy started playing the drums with his father at the age of four and developed a liking for music.

His parents separated in 2012 and his mother started dating Lincoln Townley, who she eventually married. He has a younger brother named Louis with whom he grew up in Newcastle and Cheshire. His brother was inspired by him and is presently performing music on You Tube.

Matthew studied in Wilmslow High School where started jamming with his friends, Ross MacDonald, Adam Hann and George Daniel in 2004. They began by playing punk – rock and pop covers before they started writing their own music at the age of about 15.

Matthew was their main songwriter who came up with moving lyrics and a style of their own. They performed under the names of ‘Me and You Versus Them’, ‘Drive Like I Do’, ‘TALKHOUSE!’ and ‘The Big Sleep’ till they settled for the name ‘The 1975’, under their manager Jamie Oborne.

Healy did not do too well in school and finished with three GCSEs. He looked upon schooling as an impediment to his music and did not want to study further. His mother insisted on him attending Music College, but he did not last beyond three months in the college. He was busy writing songs and took up a job in a Chinese restaurant to make some pocket money. During this period he developed a cocaine problem that took him a long time to handle.

Continue Reading Below

Recommended Lists:

Career

Healy initially played the drums for ‘The 1975’. He subsequently took on the role of lead singer and guitarist after their lead singer left the band to form his own group. The other members of the band were Adam Hann as the lead guitarist, Ross MacDonald on the bass and George Daniel playing the drums.

Their first EP, ‘Facedown’, was released in 2012 and was aired on national radio, with the lead single, ‘The City’, becoming a hit on BBC Radio 1. Their initial success came as a shock to them as they were making music more for fun than as a profession. However, the response they got from fans motivated them to take their profession more seriously from there on.

Their second EP, ‘Sex’, was released in the same year followed by the single ‘Chocolate’ that reached number 19 on the UK Singles Chart. ‘The 1975’ had made their mark by now and were prepared to release their first album.

In 2013, they released their self-titled debut album that reached number one on the UK Albums Chart. It contained a remake of their number ‘sex’ that was premiered on Zane Lowe’s BBC Radio 1. It also premiered on You Tube and gained a large fan following.

Matthew and his band mates made an international tour of Ireland and the USA to popularise the album during the same period. They also toured UK and played at various festivals that included a performance in the Royal Albert Hall.

The band soon gained recognition and was invited to play with the ‘Rolling Stones’ in Hyde Park in July 2013. They also performed on stage at the 2013 Reading and Leeds Festival.

In-between, there was some speculation of the band’s break up on social media that was proved to be wrong. Their second and third albums ‘I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It’ and ‘Music for Cars’ followed with renewed success. Both albums topped the UK Albums Chart and featured on the US Billboard 200. The albums were different from their contemporaries, in that each song was sung in a different style.

In 2016, the band came out with their hit single ‘The Sound’ that was released as a music video in digital format. Matthew Healy is active on social media and has a missive personal fan following, with an estimated net worth of $ 5 million.

Recommended Lists:

Major Works

Matthew Healy has released three albums with ‘The 1975’ that include self titled debut album ‘The 1975’, ‘I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It’ and ‘Music for Cars’.

Recommended Lists:

Awards & Achievements

In 2016, the album ‘I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware’ won ‘The Best Album’ at UK’s annual music ‘Q’ Awards. The same year his band also won the ‘Radio 1 Live Lounge Performance of the Year’ award from BBC for their number ‘What Makes You Beautiful’.

The following year the band won the ‘Best Live Band’ at the ‘NME’ Awards and ‘Best British Group’ at the ‘Brit Awards’,

Personal Life & Legacy

Matthew was known to be in a long-term relationship with model Gemma Janes but broke up in 2014. It is also rumoured that he had an association with Taylor Swift. However, the relationship did not progress further than just an acquaintance.

He proclaims to be an atheist and strong supporter of the British Humanist Association. Yet he loves religious iconography and has a crucifix over his bed. He is also quite candid about his previous cocaine addiction.

Trivia

He is known to often drink wine on stage and is usually dressed in black, with ripped off jeans at the knee.

Healy usually has a dishevelled look about him, with his eyes half shut as if he has just got out of bed. Yet when he speaks he is known to make a lot of sense and is quite serious about what he is doing.

He loves animals and has a dog named Allen.

The name ‘The 1975’ was inspired by scribbling found on the back cover of a poetry book by Jack Kerouac that read ‘1 Jun, The 1975’.

Matthew Healy Biography