Gruff Rhys

Welsh musician Gruff Rhys was born in city Haverfordwest in 1970. His parents were fond of poetry, and there is no doubt that it predetermined Gruff’s becoming and growing up. The singer managed to achieve recognition due to his own distinctive character and universality: Gruff successfully acted as a member of various bands, while his solo career proved to be more than just successful.

The musician started his professional career with the band Emily, where he played the drums. After that he joined the group Ffa Coffi Pawb, and in 1988 the musicians released their debut studio attempt titled Dalec Peilon. It was followed by Clymhalio in 1991 and Hei Vidal! in 1992; however, in spite of the fact that material was original and called-for, Ffa Coffi Pawb disbanded in 1993. Thus, Rhys started a new stage of his creativity - Super Furry Animals. That famous band issued their first studio attempt Fuzzy Logic in 1996, and for Gruff that long play became the first record in English. Later he stated that his speech sounded like a cocktail of many various accents, but one way or another, Fuzzy Logic turned out to be extremely popular. The musicians kept on pleasing their fans by releasing such albums as Radiator (1997), Guerrilla (1999) and many others.

The performer’s solo career began in 2005, and his very first album Yr Atal Genhedlaeth (all texts of which were in Welsh language) proved perfectly that Gruff can easily and successfully work alone. That record got excellent reviews, and two years later Rhys’ discography was enlarged by the quite a rememberable work titled Candylion (2007). Numerous music lovers enjoyed both the sound, presented by Gruff, and the very atmosphere of long plays, which was not a surprise. The musician has no limits of the creativity and he always experiments with sound, while colorful Welsh language attracts attention to Rhys’ art.

In 2011 the performer again pleased his listeners with traditionally strong album Hotel Shampoo. That studio attempt got such a title because of the musician’s habit to collect little shampoo bottles during the tours, and part of his collection was depicted on the album’s cover. Gruff established a reputation of an extremely talented and miscellaneous musician, and his works prove that perfectly. Of course, Hotel Shampoo is not an exception: Rhys’ signature sound and atmosphere are presented in full volume.