Matthew Jay

Graham Matthew Jay (10 October 1978 – 25 September 2003) was an English singer-songwriter.

In August 1998, after submitting his demos to several record companies and managers Jay met Martyn Watson.

Watson had been in several bands in the past including Pookah Makes Three and Twelfth Night, and was currently half of the ambient electronic duo International Peoples Gang (IPG) with Ric Peet as well as working as an A&R agent.

Watson stated that "the demo was easily the most original thing that had landed on my desk. I called him, expecting him to be thirty five because it sounded so mature. When I found out he was nineteen, a light went on in my head".

He then moved to Nottingham where Watson was based, initially recording material by himself, and signed to EMI subsidiary Food Records a year later.

Jay worked in studios in Nottingham that were primarily used by DJs with International Peoples Gang and Tony Global co-producing, which brought an electronic influence to some of the songs he was working on.

He then first enlisted local Nottingham rhythm section drummer Matt Klose and bassist Garf to work with in the studio.

He later recruited former Six by Seven guitarist Sam Hempton, who features on album track Remember This Feeling, and keyboardist Olli Cunningham for live work.

Signed to EMI imprint Food Records in 1999, Jay released his debut album, Draw, in 2001.

In 2000, Jay released the critically acclaimed EPs Four Songs and Friendly Fire.

In April 2001, Jay released his debut album Draw, from which three singles were taken: "Let Your Shoulder Fall", "Please Don't Send Me Away" and "Call My Name Out".

Press soon drew comparisons between Jay and such musicians as Nick Drake, Elliott Smith, Jeff Buckley and David Gray.

Whilst touring the album, Jay supported Doves, Starsailor, Lowgold, Stereophonics and Dido.

Towards the end of the album touring cycle, Jay and his band debuted a new song, "Stars On The Floor".

Other new songs that Jay had been working on and recorded with his band in December 2001 included "Bad Thing" and "All This Time".

When commenting on new material, Jay stated that " I've got a band now and I want to be a bit more punk, a bit more Stonesy. You can't shut people up with an acoustic guitar".

Later in 2002, the band debuted further new songs including "Closing the Factory Down", "The World Knows" and "Casual User".

Jay only performed one gig in 2002, with members of his backing band engaging in their own projects.

Drummer Matt Klose and bassist Garf toured with their own band Mova, whilst keyboardist Olli Cunningham toured with Lee Hazlewood.

Two other planned appearances that year were cancelled at the last minute, due to "unforeseen circumstances".

In August 2002, Jay parted ways with EMI and subsequently with his manager Martyn Watson and backing band.

Suggesting there were problems with the label earlier, a couple of months after the release of Draw Jay warned on stage prior to playing his then-upcoming single Please Don't Send Me Away that "you've got to make this go Top 75 at least, or else I'll get dropped".

It charted at 83 and dropped out of the charts the next week.

The label rejected the initial work done for his second album, which was recorded with his backing band, and decided he needed to work with outside collaborators.

During this time he worked with a number of established songwriters on songs which remain unreleased, including Guy Chambers on the song Waiting For The Weekend, Tim Hawes and Pete Kirtley on She's At It Again and Naked and Busted songwriting team Steve Robson, John McLaughlin, Charlie Simpson and James Bourne on She Knows.

This work was also ultimately rejected and EMI didn't renew his contract.

Commenting on the split from EMI, Jay's by then-former manager Watson stated that "I think that it's a real shame how things have turned out... we were onto a winner but somehow the project lost its way. I hope that Matthew gets a new deal, makes the music that we all know he is capable of and finds true happiness".

Jay's album and single releases were the last to be issued via Food, before the label was wound down and subsumed into Parlophone after EMI took full control.

Shortly after parting ways with EMI, Jay returned to his parents home in Abergavenny having seemingly decided to abandon the music industry.

His father stated that he "had recently spent a few months living with us during an interruption to his chosen career. He had recently decided to return to his career and was reportedly writing well and preparing for a new album".

Jay then moved to London to study for a master's degree in Audio Production at the University of Westminster, and continued working on material for his second album.

However, the work was not completed.

He died in the early hours of 25 September 2003 from a fall from his seventh-floor flat in Willesden, London.

In the early hours of 25 September 2003, Jay fell from a flat on St Pauls Avenue in Willesden, North London.

A posthumous album Further Than Tomorrow was released in 2008.

Jay was born in Plymouth, England, the son of two folk musicians, his mother Hilary from Newcastle upon Tyne and his father Tony from Wolverhampton.

The family moved to Abergavenny, South Wales when he was ten due to his civil engineering father's work.

Jay played bass in his parents folk band with his brother Eddy, and began song writing his own material at the age of 15.

At the time his primary influences included The Beatles, Queen, David Bowie and The Beach Boys.

Commenting on the music scene in Abergavenny, Jay commented that "I was into whatever I could buy at Woolworth's. They never had anything, you always had to order it. You have to remember that Abergavenny is a place where the music scene amounts to one room with sawdust on the floor, where they play 'Wonderwall' at the end of every night".