Matty Healy is the lead singer of British band The 1975, who, as well as having battled heroin addiction, was expelled from school for fighting, smokes fat joints in interviews and is generally better known for sex and drugs than rock and roll.
Healy has a unique take on being famous, having grown up the child of famous — now divorced — parents.
His father Tim Healy is best known for his role in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and his mother Denise Welch was famous when he was growing up for her role in Soldier Soldier.
She even had a (brief) singing career, releasing a single which nearly made the top 20. In 1997, she was cast in Coronation Street and the family moved from Northumberland to Manchester.
By this point, Welch was suffering from depression, and medicating with alcohol and drugs, although she has been clean for some time.
Healy met his The 1975 bandmates – Adam Hann, Ross MacDonald, and George Daniel – at Wilmslow High School in Cheshire, where they were all ‘misfits’.
DailyMail.com is taking a deep dive into the life of Taylor Swift’s rumored new beau Matty Healy; the pair seen in 2015
Bad boy: Healy is the lead singer of British band The 1975, who, as well as having battled heroin addiction, was expelled from school for fighting, smokes fat joints in interviews and is generally better known for sex and drugs than rock and roll
They used to rehearse at Healy’s house — which was teeming with famous people, including Ringo Starr, Mark Knopfler, Rick Wakeman and AC/DC’s Brian Johnson (who happens to be his godfather).
He told an interviewer: ‘I’d be playing on a guitar in the house, not knowing it was the one from [Dire Straits’] Romeo And Juliet.’
One night, after hearing him play, prog rock legend Rick Wakeman pulled him to one side and told him he had ‘it’.
His father Tim told him once: ‘Music is in your bones. You’re the reincarnation of John Lennon. It’s in you.’
Despite the backing of his parents, the band struggled to get signed by a label.
Healy even toyed with an acting career, making a cameo in the BBC school drama Waterloo Road, in which his mother also starred.
The band released four EPs before releasing their debut self-titled album The 1975 in 2013, which topped the UK Albums Chart.
Following this success, they released four subsequent albums, have won four Brit awards and played Glastonbury three times.
He missed his mother’s wedding to artist Lincoln Townley in 2013 because the band were supporting the Rolling Stones on tour.
Famous parents: His father Tim Healy is best known for his role in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and his mother Denise Welch was famous when he was growing up for her role in Soldier Soldier; the family seen in 1995
Band: Healy met his The 1975 bandmates – Adam Hann, Ross MacDonald, and George Daniel – at Wilmslow High School in Cheshire, where they were all ‘misfits’; seen in March 2023
Success: The band released four EPs before releasing their debut self-titled album The 1975 in 2013, which topped the UK Albums Chart; seen in 2017
By the time he was 25, he was talking about having had a small heroin habit and a larger cocaine one before he was famous, and claimed that they have been overcome.
But in the summer of 2017, the rest of the band staged an intervention, and told him to go to rehab for booze, heroin and opiate use.
He flew to Barbados and spent eight weeks in rehab, which included equine therapy.
He said of his horse mentor: ‘I wanted to impress it more than any human being I’ve ever met. There were so many qualities I envied in this horse. And he had great hair.’
More recently, he has been living in West London and having a much quieter life. He has tried yoga, and swimming, and has been trying to get on top of the frequent migraines he suffers.
But, having fallen for the world’s most visible female pop star, that has all changed in the blink of an eye. The question is, to quote one of Taylor’s songs, are they Ready For It? Or will it be a swift ending?
