Tuesday 5th June

Won ‘Best World Group’. Sold over 5 million albums worldwide and named – ‘The UK All-Female Act of the 21st century’.

The Sugababes are a BRIT Award winning female pop group phenomenon. Their track record is second to none: formed in 1998 they have released eighteen singles and five albums that have reached top 40 charts worldwide, including five UK number one singles and a UK number one album, the Sugababes have more top ten hits with original songs than any other girl group since The Supremes and Bananarama.

In 2003 they won a BRIT Award for "Best Dance Act", and in 2006 were named the UK all-female act of the 21st century from British Hit Singles and Albums, beating international acts such as Britney Spears and Madonna. The girls have so far attained triple platinum album sales from three of their albums in their native UK, and have sold over five million albums worldwide.

The group became arguably the first pop band ever to play the main stage at the popular Glastonbury Festival. Their debut single "Overload" made the UK Top 10 and was nominated for a BRIT Award for Best Single, climbing to number 3 in Germany and number 2 in New Zealand. The group co-wrote most of the tracks on One Touch, with the help of All Saints producer Cameron McVey.

Their debut album produced three more top 40 hits in the UK - "New Year", "Run for Cover" and "Soul Sound". "Round Round" (2002), became the Sugababes' second UK number one song.

Their first single on their second album, "Freak Like Me", was produced by Richard X - recorded in Richard X's own flat, and one of the last tracks to be recorded for the album. The song used the backing track from "Are Friends Electric?" by Gary Numan's Tubeway Army, with the girls singing lyrics taken from Adina Howard's "Freak Like Me". It debuted at number one in the UK and number two in Ireland in 2002.

Their second single with Range, "Round Round", produced by Kent-based production group, Xenomania, was the group's second UK number one single and reached number two in Ireland, the Netherlands and New Zealand. On the back of these hits, Sugababes' second album Angels with Dirty Faces debuted at number two on the UK album chart and was a success across Europe, eventually being certified triple platinum in the UK, and selling one million copies in Europe.

The third single from the album, a ballad entitled "Stronger" gained the girls their third straight top 10 hit in their native country. The track was released as a double-A side with "Angels with Dirty Faces" in the UK, where it was chosen as the theme tune to The Powerpuff Girls Movie. The fourth single "Shape", which samples the Sting track "Shape of My Heart", made number eleven in the UK in early 2003. The single featured a live version of "Freak like Me" which they performed at the 2003 BRIT Awards, having won the award for "Best British Dance Act".

Their success also led to them recording a new track, entitled "Party in the Club", for the theme tune to ITV's teenage drama show Girls in Love, based on the book of the same name by Jacqueline Wilson. "Hole in the Head" (2003) was the bands' first single to chart in the United States.

The group's third album Three was released in late 2003 and continued success reaching number three on the UK Album Chart, preceded by the Xenomania produced "Hole in the Head". It was the band's third UK number one single and their first number one in Denmark. It reached number two in Ireland, Netherlands and Norway, and also became the babes' first single to chart in the official Billboard charts peaking at no. 96 and hit the U.S. Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart at no. 1. It also performed well on the Hot Dance Airplay chart. The second single, "Too Lost in You", which appeared on the soundtrack to the film Love Actually and was written by Diane Warren, went top ten in the UK, Germany, Netherlands and Norway, as well as going top ten on both sides of the Straits of Taiwan (Taiwan and China). The song was originally recorded in French by Patricia Kaas and entitled "Quand J'ai Peur De Tout".

The album's third single, "In the Middle", released in 2004, went to number 8 in the UK. The fourth single to be released from "Three" was the ballad, "Caught in a Moment", gave the girls another top 10 hit, peaking at number 8, backed by tracks recorded from their Sessions@AOL appearance.

In 2004, the trio joined acts such as Coldplay's Chris Martin, Dido and Robbie Williams on a 2004 version of the 1984 Band Aid's original "Do They Know It's Christmas?", which in December went to number 1 in the UK and sold over 200,000 copies in its first week. The charity single which all the money raised went toward famine relief in the Darfur region of Sudan. The group later gave their first performance for over a year at the Edinburgh Live 8 concert.

In this time, the girls had been recording their fourth album, working with variety of songwriters and producers, including USA producer, Dallas Austin. On 2 October 2005 the Dallas Austin produced "Push the Button" debuted at number one in the UK singles chart, giving the girls their fourth number one single and first Irish number one single, going on to sell over 300,000 copies in the UK alone. The song was later nominated at the BRIT Awards for 'Best British Single'. The single also went number one in Austria and New Zealand. "Push The Button" became their most popular song in the United States yet, becoming another huge hit on the Hot Dance Airplay and Hot Dance Music/Club Play charts.

On 16 October 2005, Taller in More Ways became the band's first UK number one album. On that same date, the girls celebrated being number one in the singles, album, airplay, and download charts at the same time. The third single was a re-recorded version of "Red Dress", which was released in early 2006, and gave the group a third consecutive top 5 hit from the album entering the UK singles chart at number four. A re-release of Taller in More Ways, reached 18 in the UK chart. In early 2006, Taller in More Ways earned a Platinum Award from the IFPI in recognition of over 1 million copies sold in Europe.

In April 2006, the girls won "Best World Group" at the ESKA Music Awards 2006 in Poland. Sugababes returned to the recording studio to start work on their fifth album, in mid-2006, recording two tracks for their contractual greatest hits collection, entitled Overloaded: The Singles Collection. The singles compilation was released on 13 November 2006, peaking at number 3 on the album charts in the UK. The compilation contains tracks from One Touch to Taller in More Ways, excluding "New Year", "Soul Sound", "Angels with Dirty Faces", and "Follow Me Home". On Monday November 6th 2006 Sugababes joined Feeder on stage for the encore of Feeder's WARChild gig at The Roundhouse in Camden, London. They performed a cover of R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts" as well as "Freak Like Me".

In late 2006, it was announced that Sugababes are releasing the 2007 Comic Relief single, as a duet with fellow UK girl band, Girls Aloud, a cover of the classic hit, "Walk This Way". Credited as 'Sugababes Vs Girls Aloud', the single was released on 12th March 2007 in the UK. The song became the band's fifth UK number one single.

The girls have already started work on their fifth studio album and are currently enjoying their greatest hits tour. Live performances include Glastonbury festival, Prince's Trust, Live 8 Edinburgh, and performing in countries around the world including Portugal, Germany, Japan, Australia and South Africa among others. They performed to over 1 million people in 2005 alone.

In our inaugural year the Peel Bay Festival is extremely pleased to say that the honour of closing the Festival goes to the SUGABABES – welcome!

Matt Willis
Busted earned a place in the Guinness World Records by selling out London's Wembley Arena 6 nights in a row. ……from Busted, to the Jungle, to Peel!

Matt was a founder member in 2001 of the very successful three piece band 'Busted'. Matt was the bass player and singer, alongside Charlie Simpson and James Bourne. He co-wrote a number of their biggest hits.

Their success speaks for itself:
Albums (UK position)
• Busted (2002) – no. 2
• A Present For Everyone (2003) – no. 2
• Busted Live: A Ticket For Everyone (2004) – no. 11

Singles
• What I Go to School For (2002) – no. 3 UK, no. 22 AUS, no. 32 Austria, no. 34 GER, no. 20 IRE, no. 40 USA Airplay
• Year 3000 (2003) – no. 2 UK, no. 15 Austria, no. 5 Belgium, no. 21 GER, no. 9 NETH, no. 9 Taiwan, no. 2 IRE, 19 NOR, no. 10 DEN, no. 43 Australia
• You Said No (2003) – no. 1 UK, no. 38 GER, no. 27 NETH, no. 3 IRE, no. 15 DEN
• Sleeping with the Light On (2003) – no. 3 UK, no. 4 IRE
• Crashed the Wedding (2003) – no. 1 UK, no. 28 NETH, no. 3 IRE, no. 14 Japan, no. 6 Spain, no. 3 DEN
• Who's David? (2004) – no. 1 UK, no. 9 IRE
• Air Hostess (2004) – no. 2 UK, no. 12 IRE
• Thunderbirds Are Go"/"3am (2004) – no. 1 UK, no. 6 IRE, no. 1 Japan

Busted is also acclaimed as the originating forces behind the breakout act of today’s major band McFly, who are also appearing at the Peel Bay Festival.

Busted disbanded in 2005 but before they did they earned a place in the Guinness World Records by selling out London's Wembley Arena 6 nights in a row.

Willis' debut performance as a solo star was at Northumbria University in Newcastle on 20 March 2006, as part of the MTV's Spanking New Music Week. Since embarking on a solo career Matt has written a number of tracks which he describes as stadium pop/punk. His favourite bands include Blink-182, Van Halen, Madness (who are also appearing at the Peel Bay Festival), Green Day, Foo Fighters, The Clash and Imogen Heap.

Two of Matt’s songs have been used in films. "Hey Kid" was used in the film Stormbreaker, (filmed in the Isle of Man) and also the American comedy film, John Tucker Must Die. Two different music videos were shot for the latter song, a different version for each film.

During 2006 he had three top twenty hits
• Up All Night Peak position: no. 7
• Hey Kid Peak position: no. 11
• Don't Let It Go to Waste Peak position: no. 19.

In December 2006 on ITV, Matt was crowned 'King of the Jungle' being the winning contestant on I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here! Despite going into the final day as the 8-1 underdog against Myleene Klass and Jason Donovan. Weighing 13 stone 2 lbs upon entering, he discovered that he had lost 2 stone after being weighed again in the jungle. In order to enter the jungle, Matt was required to bungee jump from a plane. During his stay, in a compulsory bush tucker trial, Matt ate, amongst many other unmentionable things, a crocodile eye, witchetty grub, and some mealworms to earn a cooked, luxury meal for himself and the other celebrities.

Last year Matt also joined his good friends McFly at Wembley Arena and the M.E.N. Arena during their Motion In The Ocean tour to sing Queen's hit (and McFly's) 'Don't Stop Me Now'. In early 2007, Willis embarked on a successful solo tour of the UK. He was supported by the band The Riverclub. The tour concluded at the Glasgow ABC on 1 March 2007.

Matt is tipped for the top 10 with his new release late April of 'Crash'. This is a cover of 'The Primitives' 1988 single which will feature in the Official 'Comic Relief' film for 2007, 'Mr Bean's Holiday'.

On 14 February 2007, Matt was one of the presenters of ITV2's coverage of the BRIT Awards. On 21 March, he hosted the MTV Hits night of MTV's Spanking new Music Tour 2007 with his girlfriend Emma Griffiths, live from the Anson Rooms in Bristol.

It is with great pleasure that the Peel Bay Festival welcomes Matt who is bringing his own brand of exciting and individual music.