Donna Lorraine Matthews (born 2 December 1971) is a Welsh musician who was the

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

ist of the

Britpop Britpop was a mid-1990s British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. It produced brighter, catchier alternative rock, partly in reaction to the popularity of the darker lyrical themes of the US-led grunge music and to the ...

band

Elastica Elastica were an English rock band formed in London in 1992 by ex-Suede members Justine Frischmann and Justin Welch. The band was stylistically influenced by punk rock, post-punk and new wave music. The band's members changed several times, w ...

Music career

When she was 20, Matthews answered an advert in ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'' for a guitarist with a new band. She became a member of

, subsequently becoming one of their songwriters and credited for many of their tracks. Matthews left Elastica in the spring of 1999 after the band's output had waned and she had developed a

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and brow ...

habit. In April 2000 she briefly rejoined the band to play one track, " Connection", at the London

Kentish Town Forum The O Forum Kentish Town is a concert venue in Kentish Town, London, England owned by MAMA Group, MAMA & Company, and originally built in 1934. History The venue was built in 1934 and was originally used as an art deco cinema. After the cine ...

after being invited out of the audience by Elastica singer

Justine Frischmann Justine Elinor Frischmann (born 16 September 1969) is an English artist and retired musician. She was the lead singer of the Britpop band Elastica after forming Suede, before retiring from the music industry and pursuing a career as a painter. ...

. After shaking off her drug addiction she formed an unnamed band with

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a Bass (instrument), bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboar ...

Isabel Waidner and Catrin Jones. In May 2003 they produced and sold 1000 copies of a single, called "L.O.V.E." In May 2004, Matthews' new band, Klang (with Waidner and drummer Keisuke Hiratsuka) released their debut album, ''No Sound is Heard''. Klang have not produced any output or news since 2005. On 21 January 2017 three-quarters of the original line-up of Elastica – Matthews,

Annie Holland Annabel "Annie" Holland (born 26 August 1965) is a British musician. She is best known as the bass guitarist and co-founder of the Britpop band Elastica. Holland had an Elastica song titled in her honour. "Annie" was written by guitarist Donn ...

and

Justin Welch Justin Steven Welch (born 4 December 1972) is an English musician, best known as the drummer in Elastica, Suede, and later the drummer in Lush. Biography Welch moved to London in his late teens and studied at London's Drumtech drum school. H ...

– worked together on the remastering of ''Elastica''. As of 2022, Matthews has a

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel where she uploads mostly improvisational music.

Other activities

Matthews subsequently studied music at the

Dartington College of Arts Dartington College of Arts was a specialist arts college located at Dartington Hall in the south-west of England, offering courses at degree and postgraduate level together with an arts research programme. It existed for a period of almost 50 ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

. She was interviewed by

Ichthus Christian Fellowship Ichthus Christian Fellowship is a neocharismatic Christian church movement and Apostolic network based in London, United Kingdom. It is part of the British New Church Movement (BNCM) and has links with other BNCM leaders and movements, especially G ...

in October 2006. It was revealed that she had become a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

. She is working as a missionary with the homeless. In a 2007 interview Matthews claimed she was still making music but no longer had a desire to be in the public eye. She wanted simply to be "rich in love". Matthews also played the role of glam rocker Polly Small in the 1998 film ''

Velvet Goldmine ''Velvet Goldmine'' is a 1998 musical drama film written and directed by Todd Haynes from a story by Haynes and James Lyons. It is set in Britain during the glam rock days of the early 1970s, and tells the story of fictional bisexual pop star B ...

''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Donna 1971 births Living people Elastica members People from Newport, Wales Welsh Christians Welsh rock guitarists Britpop musicians 21st-century British guitarists 21st-century women guitarists