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Matty Healy

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Matty Healy
Matthew Healy at Southside Festival 2014
Born
Matthew Timothy Healy

(1989-04-08) 8 April 1989 (age 35)
Hendon, England
Parents
Musical career
Genres
Occupations
  • Singer
  • songwriter
  • musician
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • guitar
  • keyboards
Years active2002–present
Member ofThe 1975

Matthew Timothy Healy (born 8 April 1989), known professionally as Matt Healy or Matty Healy, is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. He is the frontman of The 1975.

Born in Hendon to Denise Welch and Tim Healy, Matty met Ross MacDonald, Adam Hann, and George Daniel at Wilmslow High School, and later formed The 1975, with whom he has released four extended plays and five UK Albums Chart-topping albums.

He is noted for his behaviour on-stage, for "subject[ing] fans to everything from onstage push-ups to yelling at security through an auto-tuned microphone [to] risk[ing] a tapeworm by eating raw meat on stage [to] kissing fans" to sucking fans' thumbs to his on-stage political diatribes, for his "sensei-like mastery of […] shitposting", and for a number of other controversial comments.

Early life

Healy at The Roundhouse in 2016

Healy was born Matthew Timothy Healy[1] in 8 April 1989[2] in Hendon[3] to Tim Healy[1] and Denise Welch.[4] He grew up in Newcastle upon Tyne,[5] and moved to Cheshire when he was nine. He attended a private school before being kicked out for starting fights and moving to Wilmslow High School,[6] which he left with only three GCSEs, on account of him not applying himself due to considering "school […] just a tedious imposition, getting in the way of me being a pop star". He spent three months at a music college before dropping out, after which he worked at a Chinese restaurant.[7] His brother, Louis Healy, is an actor, who is best known for playing Danny Harrington in Emmerdale;[8] Matty had previously been an extra in his mother's TV show Waterloo Road.[9] When Healy was fourteen, Welch's godfather, Ian La Frenais, based the Flushed Away rat Roddy St. James on Healy.[10]

Career

The 1975

Main article: The 1975

In 2002, Healy formed The 1975,[11] along with lead guitarist Adam Hann, bassist Ross MacDonald, and drummer and producer George Daniel,[12] who he had met at Wilmslow High School.[13] He was originally the drummer, but was promoted to frontman after the departure of Elliott Williams.[14] They released four extended plays (Facedown in August 2012, Sex in November 2012, Music for Cars in March 2013 and IV in May 2013)[15] before releasing the albums The 1975 (2013), I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It (2016), A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships (2018), Notes on a Conditional Form (2020) and Being Funny in a Foreign Language (2022), all of which topped the UK Albums Chart.[16]

Solo music career

Healy and George Daniel at Kentish Town Forum in 2016

Healy and George Daniel of The 1975 co-produced No Rome's EP RIP Indo Hisashi,[17] which was released in August 2018.[18] In 2021, he and Daniel produced Beabadoobee's solo EP Our Extended Play, which was released in March 2021.[19] In October 2021, Healy opened for Phoebe Bridgers at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on her Reunion Tour. He performed two new songs, one called "New York".[20] Two tracks written by Healy, "Pictures of Us" and "You're Here That's the Thing", turned up on Beabadoobee's album Beatopia.[21]

Media career

Healy's media appearances regularly cause controversy. In March 2016, he was accused of misogyny after describing the notion of dating Taylor Swift as a "de-masculinating, emasculating thing"; he was on that occasion defended by the interviewer,[22] and in November 2016, he told The Guardian such concerns were out of not wanting two allegedly giant egos clashing and him coming off second best.[7] In December 2018, Healy apologised after stating that "the reason misogyny doesn't happen in rock and roll anymore is because it's a vocabulary that existed for so long that it got weeded out".[23]

Healy performing in Sydney in 2020

In February 2023, Healy provoked backlash after appearing on The Adam Friedland Show; over the course of the podcast, he stated that he would "f*** Friedland's sister because "she's hot"",[11] complained that Harry Styles had been given a "pass" for "queerbaiting" in spite of P!nk being purportedly "cancelled for looking like a lesbian for her career",[24] stated that English people had invented the word lairy "to sound tough which makes us sound gayer", and attempted the accents of Japanese concentration camp workers and John Smeaton.[25] The conversation also included mockery of Ice Spice (they had purported that she was Chinese, Hawaiian and Inuit when she's actually Dominican and Nigerian, and had attempted impressions of the first three),[26] the Scots language (which they had described as "retard English" and "medieval"), and menstrual cycles ("[i]t's so funny that women get f***ed up by the moon […] meanwhile [men] went there").[11] For this, he was accused of racism, homophobia,[27] and misogyny,[25] and in April 2023, it was reported that Healy's episode had been removed from Apple and Spotify, and Healy himself as director of Dirty Hit on 4 April 2023;[28] he used an Auckland gig later that month to say that he was "kind of a bit sorry if [he'd] offended […] Ice Spice".[26]

Artistry

Stage

Healy at Lollapalooza Chile in 2017

Healy's behaviour as part of The 1975 performances has attracted comment. In October 2022, he attracted criticism after telling a fan called Dervla that her name "sound[ed] like something you move gravel with".[29] A December 2022 The Guardian article noting that Healy had "subjected fans to everything from onstage push-ups to yelling at security through an auto-tuned microphone [to] risk[ing] a tapeworm by eating raw meat on stage [to] kissing fans";[30] the last of which sparked a conversation about consent.[27] Such kisses date back to 2014.[31] In January 2023, Healy's behaviour on stage attracted further comment, after he sucked a fan's thumb on stage.[32] Later that month, he attracted backlash online after a 26 January tweet accusing him of antisemitism and containing a video of Healy marching on the spot and performing a Nazi salute on stage (he was referencing Kanye West's then-recent anti-semitism controversy),[33] and later that month, Healy attracted further criticism on social media by saying to his 29 January Dublin audience that "you Irish are a simple people[, y]ou're easily pleased".[34]

Activism

When performing The 1975's 2017 song Loving Someone on stage, Healy regularly prefaces the song with a diatribe on social issues; the song has variously been dedicated to victims of the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting,[35] used to express solidarity with Black, Muslim and gay Americans following the 2016 US election results,[36] used to decry the "regressive ideals" of Brexit,[37] and dedicated to the people of Manchester and London following the 2017 Manchester Arena attack.[38] In May 2019,[39] an on-stage diatribe at an Alabama gig directed at the state's Human Life Protection Act meant the band had to flee the open carry state for safety reasons,[6] and in August 2019, Healy was banned from Dubai[34] after kissing a male fan onstage,[40] which when performed over there was punishable by ten years in prison,[41] and for which he was accused of endangering the fan's safety.[42]

In February 2020, Healy pledged that the band would no longer sign new contracts to play festivals where its acts weren't at least 50% female or non-binary,[43] though in August 2022 it was announced that they would replace Rage Against the Machine at that year's Reading and Leeds Festival, one of the festivals most criticised for such an imbalance.[44] In December 2020, he encouraged his fans to support an Amnesty International campaign for Gustavo Gatica, who had been blinded after being shot by police during the 2019–2022 Chilean protests.[45]

Personal life

Social media

Healy performing at Bilbao BBK Live in 2014

Healy is noted for his social media activity; an October 2022 NME article stated that Healy had shown a "sensei-like mastery of […] shitposting", and that "[h]is Instagram stories have been awash with eyebrow-raising jokes, artful trolling of hardcore fans, and explicit attempts to get cancelled".[46] His use of social media regularly causes controversy. In August 2014, he was accused of Islamophobia and misogyny on Twitter; he had tweeted that "Isis are cutting little girls heads off and you want to challenge a non-religious, humanist perspective? I don’t understand the world at all", and when challenged by a nineteen-year-old Muslim woman operating a Harry Styles-themed Twitter account,[47] tweeted that he "resent[ed] being 'educated' on religion by" such an account.[48] In July 2017, he was accused of racism after The 1975's guitarist Adam Hann uploaded an Instagram Live story in which Healy sang the n-word as part of Aminé's Caroline.[49]

Healy performing at Main Square Festival 2014

In May 2020, Healy was accused online of using the death of George Floyd to promote The 1975's album Notes on a Conditional Form,[50] after tweeting that "[i]f you truly believe that ‘ALL LIVES MATTER’ you need to stop facilitating the end of black ones", and posting a link to Love It If We Made It.[51] He responded by deleting the posts, apologising, reposting them separately, and then deleting his account;[52] discussing the incident in October 2022, Healy stated that the post was motivated by four days of fans asking for his opinion, and that the money he earned for streaming made it unworth promoting anyway.[46] This was the fourth time Healy had closed his Twitter account; he had previously closed his entire social media in tandem with The 1975 shortly before announcing I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It, A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships, and Notes on a Conditional Form, closed them again shortly before announcing Being Funny in a Foreign Language,[53] and closed them a sixth time in April 2023, using an Adelaide gig to announce that "the era of [him] being a f***ing a***hole is coming to an end".[54] A March 2021 Stony Brook Press article about him and Kanye West noted that Healy had previously described himself as a "transvestite".[55]

Health

Healy has previously suffered from addictions to heroin[56] and benzodiazepines;[57] and attended six weeks of intensive cognitive behavioural therapy in Barbados[58] at his bandmates' expense[59] in November 2017.[60] His rehabilitation included horse therapy.[58] Many of the songs on A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships were written about his stay,[61] including "Surrounded by Heads and Bodies", which was written about a woman he met there called Angela,[62] with whom he felt a connection with despite rarely actually interacting with her, and who it later transpired lived on the same road in Manchester as he did.[63] He remains a smoker, with an April 2023 Sydney Morning Herald article noting that his cigarettes pronounce "[his] rasp in songs where such nuance simply adds character",[64] and a drinker, with an April 2023 New Zealand Herald review noting his use of a bottle of red wine, and describing him as "[so] absolutely intoxicated by the music […] that one can’t decide whether the singer is channelling the sex, drugs and rock n roll demeanor of an 80s rocker, or if, in fact, he’s just pissed".[65] He suffers from synaesthesia,[7] and in an October 2022 interview with The-talks.com, described himself as "an addict with ADHD".[2]

References

  1. ^ a b "My Old Man". Google Books. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Matty Healy". The Talks. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  3. ^ "Matthew Healy". Humanists UK. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  4. ^ "Denise Welch says she's 'proud' of The 1975's Matty Healy for 'telling his truth' following his recent battle with heroin addiction". NME. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  5. ^ "The 1975: Bound To Win, Bound To Be True". Clash Magazine. 25 September 2013. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  6. ^ a b "Interview: The 1975's Matty Healy on drug addiction, Greta Thunberg and isolation". The Times. Archived from the original on 16 April 2023.
  7. ^ a b c "The 1975's Matt Healy: 'I am pretentious. And I'm not apologising'". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  8. ^ "Emmerdale – who is Danny Harrington again?". Digital Spy. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  9. ^ "The Waterloo Road stars who went on to make it big". Themanc.com. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  10. ^ "The Rat From 'Flushed Away' Is Apparently 'Genuinely Based On' Matty Healy, The 1975's Singer Explained". Uproxx. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  11. ^ a b c "The 1975's Matty Healy says he used to find relationships while in the band 'difficult'". The Independent. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  12. ^ Brinnand, Emily (3 December 2012). "New Band Up North". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
  13. ^ "The 1975 Biography, Songs, & Albums". AllMusic. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  14. ^ "Loose Women star Denise Welch and her famous son from The 1975 Matthew Healy". Kent Live. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  15. ^ "The 1975's frontman Matt Healey on their overnight success". The Argus. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  16. ^ "The 1975". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
  17. ^ "Listen to new song from Matty Healy's 'muse' No Rome, co-produced by two of The 1975". NME. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  18. ^ "No Rome has dropped a video for his 1975 collab 'Narcissist'". Dork. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  19. ^ "beabadoobee Announces 1975-Produced EP, Shares New Song "Last Day on Earth": Listen". Pitchfork. 24 March 2021.
  20. ^ "Phoebe Bridgers and Matty Healy Team Up for First Live Duet of the 1975's 'Jesus Christ 2005 God Bless America' (Watch)". Variety.com. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  21. ^ Phares, Heather. "Beatopia on Allmusic". Allmusic. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  22. ^ "Matt Healy's comments about Taylor Swift were not the words of a misogynist". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  23. ^ "Why Matty Healy got it so wrong about rock, hip hop, drugs and misogyny". The Independent. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  24. ^ "Matty Healy Gets Backlash for Accusing Harry Styles of Queerbaiting". Out.com. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  25. ^ a b "1975's Matty Healy under fire for podcast mocking Scottish and Japanese people". The National. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  26. ^ a b "Matty Healy Kind of Apologizes For Those Offensive Ice Spice Remarks". Paper. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  27. ^ a b "The 1975's Matty Healy Is Kissing Fans on Stage Again". Paper. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  28. ^ "Controversial Matty Healy Episode Of Adam Friedland Podcast Removed From Apple And Spotify". Stereogum. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  29. ^ "Irish people left fuming after The 1975 lead singer Matty Healy mocks name". Belfast Live. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  30. ^ "Creepy behavior or pop performance? 1975's Matty Healy reignites debate about onstage kissing". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  31. ^ "Matty Healy Makes Out With Male Fan On Stage". Gayety.co. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  32. ^ "Matty Healy Sucks on a Fan's Thumb During The 1975 Concert". Billboard. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  33. ^ "Outrage after The 1975's Matty Healy appears to do Nazi salute on stage". Herald Scotland. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  34. ^ a b "The 1975's Matty Healy says Northern Ireland is the only place he won't discuss politics at SSE show". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  35. ^ Daly, Rhian (15 June 2016). "The 1975 pay tribute to victims of Orlando shooting at US gig". NME. Archived from the original on 30 April 2021. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
  36. ^ Graves, Shahlin (11 November 2016). "Watch: Matty Healy's 'Loving Someone' speech for America". Coup de Main. Archived from the original on 30 April 2021. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
  37. ^ Trendell, Andrew (16 December 2016). "The 1975's Matty Healy makes emotional speech on Trump and Brexit as they play first night at The O2". NME. Archived from the original on 30 April 2021. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
  38. ^ Kaufman, Gil (5 June 2017). "Bunbury Festival 2017: The 1975 Pay Tribute to Manchester, Muse, Wiz Khalifa & Bassnectar Rock the River". Billboard. Archived from the original on 30 April 2021. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
  39. ^ "The 1975's Matty Healy Slams Abortion Ban at Alabama's Hangout Fest". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  40. ^ "The 1975's Matt Healy protests against Dubai anti-gay laws with kiss". BBC. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  41. ^ "The 1975's Matty Healy Broke A Homophobic Dubai Law By Kissing A Male Fan". MTV. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  42. ^ "The 1975's Matt Healy speaks out over Dubai incident with fan: 'I felt pretty irresponsible'". The Independent. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  43. ^ "The 1975's Matty Healy pledges to only play festivals with gender balanced line-ups". NME. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  44. ^ "The 1975 to headline Reading Festival after Matty Healy said he wouldn't play gender-imbalanced festivals". The Independent. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  45. ^ "The 1975's Matty Healy urges fans to demand justice for Gustavo Gatica". NME. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  46. ^ a b "The 1975: "I'd rather be a pretend supervillain than some pretend hero"". NME. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  47. ^ "The 1975: 'No one's asking you to inspire a revolution. But inspire something'". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  48. ^ "THE PROBLEMATIC ACTIVISM OF THE 1975'S MATT HEALY". Texxandthecity.com. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  49. ^ "The 1975 Fans Are Angry After Matty Appears To Say 'N Word' On Instagram". PopBuzz. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  50. ^ "The 1975's Matty Healy Accused of Using Black Lives Matter to Promote His Music". Variety. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  51. ^ "The 1975's Matty Healy on cancel culture and why he previously quit Twitter". NME. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  52. ^ "The 1975's Matty Healy Accused of Using Black Lives Matter to Promote His Music". Variety. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  53. ^ "The 1975 hint at new music by deleting social media accounts". NME. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  54. ^ "'I've Had Enough': The 1975 Vocalist Matty Healy Gets Honest During Adelaide Gig". The Music. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  55. ^ "Kanye West, Matty Healy, egoism and Twitter". Stony Brook Press. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  56. ^ "The 1975's Matty Healy Opens Up About Heroin Addiction and the 'Emotional Hangover' That Followed His Bandmate's Intervention". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  57. ^ Lynskey, Dorian (2 August 2018). "How The 1975's Matty Healy Kicked Heroin and Took the Band to New Heights". Billboard. Archived from the original on 30 April 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  58. ^ a b "The Rebirth of the 1975". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  59. ^ "Matty Healy: 'My whole fear was becoming a beacon of sobriety'". GQ Magazine. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  60. ^ "The 1975's Matty Healy on 'Notes on a Conditional Form'". Vulture. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  61. ^ Wood, Mikael (22 May 2020). "Spirit of the times: Life, dogs, a new 1975 album. Matty Healy takes it on". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 23 March 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  62. ^ "The 1975's Matty Healy Negotiates With The World". NPR. 29 November 2018. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  63. ^ Sodomsky, Sam (27 November 2018). "The 1975's Matty Healy Dissects Every Song on A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 11 January 2021. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  64. ^ "'I've been going through a bit': The 1975's Matty Healy opens up on the Sydney stage". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  65. ^ "Review: The 1975′s Matty Healy drinks, smokes and 'feels embarrassed' at Auckland's Spark Arena". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
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