This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please help Wikipedia by adding references. See the talk page for details.

Matthew Bellamy
Bellamy performing with Muse at the 2006 Leeds Festival
Background information
Birth name	Matthew James Bellamy
Born	June 9, 1978 (1978-06-09) (age 29)
Genre(s)	Alternative rock Progressive rock
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instrument(s)	Vocals Guitars Keyboards Piano Occasional Strings
Years active	1992-Present
Associated acts	Muse

Matthew James Bellamy (born June 9, 1978 in Cambridge, England) is the lead singer, guitarist and pianist of rock group Muse, known for his falsetto voice and guitar/piano playing ability.

Contents 1 Background 2 Influences 3 Musical equipment 4 Achievements 5 Interests 6 Religion 7 References 8 External links

Background

Bellamy's father, George, was the rhythm guitarist in the 1960s English rock group The Tornados, who were the first English band to have a U.S. number one, with "Telstar". Bellamy's mother, Marilyn, was born in Belfast, and moved to England in the 1970s. On her first day in England she met George Bellamy, who was at that time working as a taxi driver in London. They moved to Cambridge, where Bellamy's older brother Paul was born, followed a couple of years later by Matthew himself. He lives with his mum in Fiji.

In the mid-1980s they moved to Teignmouth, Devon where Matthew was educated at Teignmouth Community College. Although having written the music and lyrics for all Muse songs prior to Absolution, album credits state both Wolstenholme and Howard with song writing. he now resides in como itily

Influences

Bellamy's piano style has been inspired by the works of Romantic pianists such as Sergei Rachmaninoff and Franz Liszt, and has resulted in a fusion of Romantic style with rock in many of Muse's songs. In particular, many of his compositions contain elements of the first movement of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2, such as "Space Dementia", "Megalomania" and "Ruled by Secrecy", and of the third movement in the cadenza in "Butterflies and Hurricanes". In live performances Bellamy often breaks into lengthy Romantic piano solos, such as the performance of Prelude in C-sharp minor in the opening of "Screenager" on the live half of the Hullabaloo album. On Black Holes and Revelations, a reference can be heard to the Russian Romantic composer Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, during the song "Hoodoo", where, towards the end, a quote of the beginning chords of the concerto, played in the minor key, can be heard before the rest of the band comes in.

Bellamy cites some of his guitar playing influences as Jimi Hendrix, The Edge of U2, Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd, Slash of Guns N'Roses, Daron Malakian of System of a Down and Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, the latter being particularly evident in the more riff-based songs on Muse's second album, Origin of Symmetry, and in Bellamy's extensive use of pitch-shifting effects in his solos, such as the solo on "Invincible" from Black Holes and Revelations. Bellamy also shares a love of unusual and extreme guitar customization with Morello. At shows he usually changes guitars for each song, unless they have features which can be carried on into the next. Bellamy also owns a 7-string Manson guitar, originally built for a jazz musician, which is used solely for the song Citizen Erased.

Musical equipment

Bellamy uses Hugh Manson custom guitars made in Exeter, Devon. He currently has over ten Mansons, as well as a number of others by other manufacturers including a Fender 'Aloha' Stratocaster, a Gibson Les Paul DC Lite, a Gibson SG, Jackson Randy Rhoads (custom), a Parker 'Fly', a Peavey EVH Wolfgang and finally a Yamaha Pacifica. Bellamys famous Manson shape has been compared to a Yamaha Pacifica, a Fender Telecaster, a Schecter and a Godin Triumph.

The first and most famous is his silver Manson. Bellamy came up with the basic concept for this guitar and Hugh Manson helped him realize it. It has a built-in Z.Vex Fuzz Factory which gives Bellamy his distinctive sound and the ability to use controlled feedback. In addition, it has a MXR Phase 90 phaser, a Roland midi pickup and uses Seymour Duncan and Kent Armstrong pickups. All of his other Mansons follow this same basic design (apart from Bellamy's 7 string which was not originally built for him) with some just having different pickups and finishes, as with his mirrored Manson, and some taking the idea even further. Matt's black Manson has a MIDI strip that controls a Digitech Whammy IV, when it is connected, a Z.Vex Wah Probe and a number of other built in effects. For the new album, Black Holes and Revelations, he bought a new guitar, the "Black Kaoss Manson". The guitar features two hot P-90s, a Fernandes Sustainer System on the neck and a Kaoss Pad. He also bought the M1D1, which is similar to the Black Kaoss Manson but has a Bare Knuckle Nail Bomb humbucker in the bridge position and a Fernandes Sustainer System (FSK-101 model, which is the humbucker version of the latter one) on the neck. He is also known to use a Jackson Randy Rhoads model on stage and an Ibanez Destroyer. Bellamy uses Diezel amp heads, along with Marshall Mode Four cabinets ("We use Marshall because when we jump on them they still work, and they sound good... real good!"), Soldano Cabinets and Line 6 digital effects. Most of Bellamy's rack effects are made with Line 6 modules; his studio rack set-up also includes a Nord Modular.

Achievements

Bellamy was recently #29 in Total Guitar magazine's top 100 guitar players in the world.

His riff from "Plug in Baby" was 8th in Total Guitar's poll of the Top 100 Riffs. This riff was also mentioned among the best-ever riffs in Q magazine's Rock and Pop Miscellany. As well as this, the riff for "Stockholm Syndrome" was voted the greatest riff ever by Australian radio station Triple J's Top 100 Riffs of all time, above Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and other iconic riffs. "Plug in Baby" made the top 20.

In March 2007, Total Guitar published "The 100 Greatest Riffs", which included three Muse songs; "Supermassive Black Hole" at #93, "Knights of Cydonia" at #21 and "Plug in Baby" at #8.

In April 2005, Kerrang! magazine ranked him #28 in their "50 Sexiest People In Rock" poll, as well as their in-house number one guitarist. Cosmopolitan also chose him as the sexiest rocker of 2003 and 2004. NME Magazine voted him the 14th Greatest Rock'n'roll Hero of all time, beating Lennon, Dylan and many musical greats. Bellamy also won the Sexiest Male Award at the 2007 NME Awards, beating the likes of Carl Barat and Pete Doherty to the top spot. In 2007, he was a nominee for 'The Sexiest Vegetarian' award held by Peta 2, despite the fact that he is not a vegetarian.

In 2006, the Muse album Black Holes and Revelations was voted 'Album of the Year' by Planet Rock magazine.

In 2007, Total Guitar Magazine hailed Matt Bellamy as "the first guitar genius of the 21st century".

Interests

Bellamy's fascination with conspiracy theories has been evident since the release of Absolution, in which one song, "Ruled By Secrecy," is named after Jim Marrs' "Rule By Secrecy." The B-Side "Futurism" too deals with a possible dystopian future. Riddles relating to the Illuminati have appeared during the treasure hunt they set for fans on the 2005 mtvU Campus Invasion Tour and in a cryptic announcement about Muse's forthcoming album. Bellamy's interest in metaphysics is also evident.

With the latest Muse album Black Holes and Revelations we see Bellamy taking a much more optimistic approach to earlier and perhaps more dystopian themes, while still retaining the same concepts. The track Exo-Politics refers to the Zeta Reticulans, and suggests that "it's just our leaders in disguise" a conspiracy theory where the government fakes an alien invasion, a theme that Steven Greer has been promoting as a real possibility (coming from sources such as whistleblowers like the late German NASA rocket scientist Wernher von Braun) to politicians, the media and audiences worldwide through his Disclosure Project. The opening track on the album Black Holes & Revelations, Take a Bow, uses clever lyrics which refer to his view on the world leaders, although when asked in an interview, Matt stated that the song was aimed at all world leaders, and not one specific person.

Religion

Bellamy is an atheist: "Being an atheist means you have to realise that when you die, that really is it. You've got to make the most of what you've got here and spread as much influence as you can. I believe that you only live through the influence that you spread, whether that means having a kid or making music".

In a session where Matt and Dom answered questions from fans, Bellamy stated that the celebrity alive or dead he'd most like to meet is Jesus Christ (Dom answered Jimi Hendrix for this question). Matt: I'd like to meet Jesus Christ. Eh just because I'd be interested to know how he did it all. You know what I mean? You know...making fish out of bushes and stuff. Walking on water. I'd like to meet someone who can do that. I think that'd be uh, certainly one of the most interesting people to meet I'd say.

References

External links

• Matthew Bellamy on MuseWiki

Muse
Dominic Howard | Matthew Bellamy | Chris Wolstenholme
Discography
Studio albums: Showbiz | Origin of Symmetry | Absolution | Black Holes and Revelations
Compilations and Live DVDs: Hullabaloo Soundtrack | Absolution Tour
Extended plays: This Is A Muse Demo | Muse | Muscle Museum EP | Random 1-8 (Japan only) | Dead Star/In Your World (Japan & France only)
Singles: "Uno" | "Cave" | "Muscle Museum" | "Sunburn" | "Unintended" | "Plug In Baby" | "New Born" | "Bliss" | "Hyper Music/Feeling Good" | "Dead Star/In Your World" | "Stockholm Syndrome" | "Time Is Running Out" | "Hysteria" | "Sing for Absolution"| "Apocalypse Please" | "Butterflies and Hurricanes" | "Supermassive Black Hole" | "Starlight" | "Knights of Cydonia" | "Invincible" | "Map of the Problematique"
Production
John Leckie | Rich Costey | Paul Reeve
This box: view • talk • edit