About Me

Matthew Roughley has spent most of his life singing a wide range of musical genres. A classically trained tenor, who enjoys opera and classical repertoire but also has a keen passion for jazz. From a young age Matthew realised he had the potential to use his voice but it was with his first singing teacher that his love of jazz singing began to grow. He was introduced to a wider range of repertoire, listening to artists who he had never listened to before and more importantly training his own voice.

After a few years of listening to the greats such as Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Tormé, Matt Monro and more recently Harry Connick Jr, and Michael Bublé, Matthew wanted his chance to perform with a big band and so at the age of 15 he got in touch with his local youth band, the Wigan Youth Jazz Orchestra which he went on to become the lead vocalist with for the next 3 years; featuring on the album ‘C U In Da Coda’ with tracks played on national radio and touring northern Spain.

In 2007 Matthew was accepted into the main choir of the National Youth Choir of Great Britain upon first audition. Since then he has worked with some of the world’s leading experts, conductors and composers of classical music. Touring the west coast of America in 2009 with Grammy nominated composer Eric Whitacre, playing prestigious venues such as Disney Hall, LA and performing in a national TV broadcast to around 6 million people. Matthew has also worked with renowned British composer Karl Jenkins, recording on two of his works Gloria / Te Deum and Shakarim with EMI Classics.

Matthew has received tuition from some of the country’s leading Jazz singers, attending Fiona Duncan’s Vocal Jazz Workshop in Glasgow; there he was tutored by Fiona Duncan and by the BBC double award winning jazz vocalist Liane Carroll, as well as playing with Brian Kellock, one of Scotland’s leading Jazz musicians. Matthew has also performed at a number of Wigan International Jazz Festivals where he met another leading British vocalist in Lee Gibson who through her career has played at 7 Royal Variety shows and claimed that ‘Matthew has fantastic potential as a Jazz singer’.

Between 2008 and 2011 Matthew studied a business degree at university whilst continuing his main passion which lies in music. During these years, Matthew has managed to gain a wealth of experience in music, pursuing the two side by side. He has worked with some of the best musicians in the world and continues to gain experience. Although having gained an Honours degree in business, Matthew is now putting all his efforts into music and since graduating has already sung in 3 operas and performed at the 2011 BBC Proms series directed by Gustavo Dudamel.