Meet Matt Johnson, at age 23years old, having already achieved goals way beyond his years. Starting his career at the tender age of 11 years old, Matts first string to his bow was Musical theatre. Highlights include playing the Artful Dodger alongside Russ Abbott and Gary Wilmot in Cameron Mackintoshs West End production of Oliver Twist, and the worlds most famous west end musical Les Miserables playing the only teenage male part of Gaveroch. An impressive national 6 month tour with west end production The Famous Five which gave Matt his earliest TV appearances. Matt was then introduced to the Clubs and Pubs circuit at 14years old, playing most of the holiday park circuits on the North Wales coast. He received many awards including best young vocalist of the year. At age 16 years old Matt had an experience that would change his life and perception of music forever. He entered into a TV talent show competition Popstars the Rivals presented by Davina Macall and judged by Pete Waterman, Louis Walsh and ex-spice girl Geri Haliwell. Reality TV was very much a new format in 2002 and the shows aim was to put together a 5 piece girl band who later became Girls Aloud and a 5 piece boy band One True Voice. Matt auditioned along with 123,000 other applicants. His success in the audition process lead him to the live shows where after 3 months on ITV1 and ITV2 and receiving more than 6 million public votes earned him his place in One True Voice. The show on its final night was watched by 19.5 million viewers. Matt went on to record his first commercial chart release, Sacred Trust with JIVE records and it went on to become Christmas number 2 in 2002 notching up sales of half a million, earning Matt his first UK Gold Disc. As part of the group Matt performed on many prestigious shows such as, This Morning, GMTV, Des & Mel, CDUK, Graham Norton, Jonathan Ross and was lucky enough to perform on one of the last BBC Top of the Pop Shows. Their single was play listed on Radio 1, Radio 2 and 93% of commercial radio stations in the UK. Matt went onto record a further top 10 single with the band in the summer of 2003. Although the band had achieved a high volume of record sales within the first six months of their career, it sadly came to an end shortly after the second single. Without going into too much detail, the reason behind the group disbanding was mainly down to low morale, caused by a lack of musical and creative direction, ultimately resulting in a member leaving. At 18 years old Matt then went onto sign a solo contract with JIVE/BMG records. Again it was down to musical differences that this contract never went further than a signature. Matt returned to the North West in 2003 and built his own studio complex and returned to what he loves best performing live. Matt continued singing and worked for local and national agents in the UK. At age 19 years old he wanted to try something new and fresh and started singing and touring with a 5 piece band State Warning. The band was based on fun and attracted a huge following from young fans. Whilst having success on the original music scene supporting bands such as KEANE, THE HOOSIERS and Rock Legends THE WHO, State Warning were smashing it on the Coporate and Holiday Park scene with jobs in at Butlins Arena Weekends, Pontins, Haven, Tiger Tiger and many more. After spending time in France at the worlds biggest music conference MIDEM in January 2008 he met up with hit record producer Jay Reynolds, who has produced and worked with may artists including Katie Tunstall, Kylie Minogue, Mcfly, Just Jack to name a few. Matt knew that he wanted to work with Jay on a track. With a few members of State Warning starting university courses, Matt and the band decided in May 2008 that a change was needed and after a great time on the road State Warning came to an end. Matt recorded a track with Jay Reynolds in the summer of 2008 and has been in the recording studio in lock down writing new material to be recorded in 2009. Early this year Matt tested some of his songs by supporting Westlife at the Liverpool Echo Arena to a sold out crowd of 12,000. With a plan to release a single in 2009, and his own small UK tour, this is hopefully going to be an exciting year for Matt. With digital & physical distribution already in place for major music stores iTunes, Napster, HMV etc its a simple case of great marketing and that hit song which will hopefully see Matt back in the UK charts once again.