Matt Hales (born January, 1972), better known as Aqualung, is a British singer and songwriter best known for his song "Strange And Beautiful", which was featured on a television advertisement for the new Volkswagen Beetle during the summer of 2002 and went on to become a Top 10 hit in the UK singles chart later that year.

Early life

Hales grew up in Southampton, a city on the south coast of England, where his parents ran an independent record shop. He wanted to be - and indeed was - a musician from an early age, although he said in a BBC interview that there were a couple of years when he wanted to be a stuntman, when he was about 12. At the age of 16, he was awarded a scholarship to study music composition at Winchester College. By the age of 17, he'd written his first symphony, entitled Life Cycle.

Also while he was a teenager, he formed his first band, which was known by several names during its lifespan: Da Fook Mo a Dib, White Noise, and Mecano Pig. In 1990, they produced an album, Mecano Pig, but broke up soon after that.

In the autumn of 1990, Hales moved to London to study music at City University. While he was there, he and his brother Ben formed a new band, Gravel Monsters, although they later changed their name to RUTH. They released several singles and an album, Harrison, but had very little success. They changed their name again to the 45s, and in 2001 were signed to Mercury Records. However, they only released two further singles, and in March 2002 they were dropped and the band split up.

Career as Aqualung

It has been written that Hales took the name "Aqualung" from a Jethro Tull album of the same name. (See Aqualung (album).) However, he himself says that it was descriptive of the underwater feeling he felt listening to his debut album.

His debut single, "Strange and Beautiful (I'll Put a spell on You)", was released in the UK on the B-Unique label on September 16, 2002, and reached number 7 in the UK Top 40.

His debut album, also called Aqualung, followed on September 30, 2002, also on the B-Unique label. It went gold in December. The following is its tracklisting:

1. Strange and Beautiful (I'll Put a Spell on You)
2. Falling Out of Love
3. Good Times Gonna Come
4. If I Fall
5. Just For a Moment
6. Tongue-tied
7. Can't Get You out of my Mind
8. Everything Changed
9. Gentle
10. Nowhere
11. Halfway to the Bottom

The album reached number 15 in the UK album chart .

The second single from the album, "Good Times Gonna Come", was released on December 2, 2002.

The second album, entitled 'Still Life' was released on October 27, 2003, to critical acclaim, with a track listing as follows:

1. Brighter than Sunshine
2. Left Behind
3. You Turn Me Around
4. Easier to Lie
5. Another Little Hole
6. Seven Keys
7. Extraordinary Thing
8. Breaking My Heart Again
9. Take Me Home
10. Good Goodnight

The first single from this album was "Brighter than Sunshine", released on October 13th, 2003, while the second, "Easier to lie", reached only number 60 in the charts, despite televisual advertising. Information on a third single is, as yet, unknown.

The latest addition to his discography, "Strange and Beautiful", was released March 22nd, 2005. Under the Columbia Records label, this was his first album to make it to North America. The album is a compilation of both of his earlier albums with tweaks to some songs, and the tracks are as follows:

1. Strange and Beautiful (I'll Put a Spell on You)
2. Falling Out of Love
3. Good Times Gonna Come
4. Brighter Than Sunshine
5. Breaking my Heart
6. Tounge-tied
7. Left Behind
8. You Turn Me Round
9. If I Fall
10. Extra Ordinary Things
11. Another Little Hole

External links

• Aqualung website, including a biography and another biography
• "Aqualung" - a Guardian guide by Dave Simpson, dated Friday, September 20, 2002
• "Aqualung interview" - a BBC Southampton Music page, dated Monday, November 25, 2002