Matt Henshaw Biography 2010-2012

Matt Henshaw, singer-songwriter originally from Nottingham, has been in previous musical incarnations such as the band Censored, when at the tender age of 17, played Leeds, Reading and Isle Of Wight festivals, receiving substantial amount of radio airplay and supporting the likes of Snow Patrol, We Are Scientists, Supergrass, Ocean Colour Scene, Arctic Monkeys, The Bluetones and The Holloways. In true rock'n'roll style, exasperated by years of alcohol dependency, band in-fighting, struggles against the confines of unimaginative industry labelling, and the bitter dissolution of several personal relationships, he decided to go away. He spent two years where he didn't touch a guitar or sing a note, instead he wrote a novel and a series of short stories, started gardening, quit alcohol and decided to study film at university with no aspirations to sing again.
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Come Easter 2010, when he collaborated with underground UK hip-hop artist ReggiiMental almost by accident producing a full blown album named 'The Deepest Cellar' in May of 2010. The duo were then asked to play Lovebox by the NME in July and the press began making comparisons to Mike Skinner (The Streets), Mark Ronson and Jamie T . However Henshaw had a cheeky penchant for describing it as “hip-hop the new sound of Mod ... B-Boy Soul”.
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With contemporary popular artists such as Plan B and Janelle Monae adopting a similar aesthetic of mixing modern hip hop with classic soul stylings, Henshaw’s sound found itself at the forefront of a possible new genre, one he and Reggiimental christened with the moniker B-Boy Soul. With both artists being reputable names in their respective music scenes, the album quickly circulated amongst friends and peers and was picked up in the underground UK hip hop press within weeks and bigger publications shortly thereafter. In fact, NME selected Matt and four other bands over thousands of artists to compete in a public vote via their NME Breakthrough community. And thus, within two months of beginning to sing again, Matt was voted by NME readers to open the main stage at London’s Lovebox festival.
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Now an album and a couple of B-Boy Soul EPs, and a retreat of over a year to capture a bachelor’s degree in Film and Visual Arts later, Henshaw returns to do several dates over the summer/fall of his own material somewhere in between and akin to Paul Weller, Ryan Adams and Marvin Gaye, whilst recording his solo album due out sometime in 2013.