Matthew Letley (born 29 March 1961) is an English rock

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

, formerly with the English

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band,

Status Quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social, political, religious or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the current state of social structure and/or values. W ...

Career

Letley attended

Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School ("Beneath the shadow of thy wings") , established= , closed= , type=Grammar School;Academy (English school), Academy , religious_affiliation= , president= , head_label= , head=Eliot Hodges , r_head_label= , r_head= , chair_label=, chair= , founder ...

, in

Rochester, Kent Rochester ( ) is a town in the unitary authority of Medway, in Kent, England. It is at the lowest bridging point of the River Medway, about from London. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Chatham, Rainham, Strood and Gillin ...

. His first recordings, with his brother Mark's

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

band Sindelfingen, were made when he was only 12; a live track including him was added to a CD reissue of their rare album ''Odgipig'' (he joined after the recording of the original album). As a drummer he played for a number of well-known artists, including

a-ha A-ha (usually stylised as ''a-''h''a''; ) is a Norwegian synth-pop band formed in Oslo in 1982. Founded by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy (guitars and vocals), Magne Furuholmen (keyboards, guitars and vocals), and Morten Harket (lead vocals), the band ...

Bob Geldof Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof (; born 5 October 1951) is an Irish singer-songwriter, and political activist. He rose to prominence in the late 1970s as lead singer of the Rock music in Ireland, Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats, who achieved ...

Vanessa Mae Vanessa-Mae (陈美 Chén Měi; born 27 October 1978) also called Vanessa-Mae Vanakorn Nicholson, is a Singaporean-born British violinist with album sales reaching several million, having made her the wealthiest entertainer under 30 in the Uni ...

Hank Marvin Hank Brian Marvin (born Brian Robson Rankin, 28 October 1941) is an English multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and songwriter. He is widely known as the lead guitarist for The Shadows, a group which primarily performed instrumentals and was the ba ...

and

Kim Wilde Kim Wilde (born Kim Smith, 18 November 1960) is an English pop singer, DJ and television presenter. She first saw success in 1981 with her debut single "Kids in America", which peaked at No. 2 in the UK. In 1983, she received the Brit Award f ...

. In April 2015 Matt Letley produced and recorded drum section for the song of Russian alternative rock band 208 Talks of Angels. Released 4 February 2022, Matt performed and recorded drums for Stu Allen's debut single "Falling Out of Sight". Having joined Status Quo in 2000, his first tour with the band was in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. In 2006, Letley was part of Status Quo's ''Just Doin' It'' tour. After joining the band Letley often performed a drum solo, 'The Killer', as part of the song " Gerdundula". When "Gerdundula" was dropped from the Quo set, his solo was typically performed during " In the Army Now". On 17 December 2012, Letley announced, via his website, that he would be leaving Status Quo after 12 years. His final concert was on Wednesday 19 December, at

The O2 Arena The O2 Arena, commonly known as the O2 (stylised as The O2 arena), is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the centre of the O2 entertainment complex on the Greenwich Peninsula in southeast London. It opened in its present form in 2007. It has the s ...

as the final date of the band's winter 2012 tour.

Equipment

Letley is endorsed by Noonan Custom drums,

Paiste Paiste (English pronunciation: , ) is a Swiss musical instrument manufacturing company. It is the world's third largest manufacturer of cymbals, gongs, and metal percussion. is an Estonian word that means "shine". Apart from cymbals and gong ...

cymbals,

Remo Remo Inc. is an American musical instruments manufacturing company based in Valencia, California, and founded by Remo Belli in 1957. Products manufactured include drum kits, drumheads, drums, and hardware. History Drummer and founder Re ...

heads,

Vic Firth Everett Joseph "Vic" Firth (June 2, 1930 – July 26, 2015) was an American musician and the founder of Vic Firth Company (formerly Vic Firth, Inc.), a company that makes percussion mallet, percussion sticks and mallets. Biography Vic Firt ...

drumsticks and Hardcases cases. Drums: Noonan Custom * 24x16" Bass drum * 14x5" Snare drum * 10x8" Rack tom * 12x9" Rack tom * 14x11" Floor tom * 16x14" Floor tom Cymbals:

* 15" Signature Sound Edge Hi-Hats * 16" 2002 crash * 17" 2002 crash * 20" 2002 Power ride * 17" 2002 Wild crash * 18" 2002 Wild crash * 19" 2002 Wild crash * 14" Rude Hi-Hats * 20" 2002 Novo china * 8" Signature bell * 8" 2002 splash * 10" 2002 splash Hardware:

Drum Workshop Drum Workshop, Inc. (also known as DW Drums or DW) is an American drum kit and hardware manufacturing company based in Oxnard, California. Current products by DW include drum sets, snare drums, and hardware. History Drum Workshop was founded ...

and

Pearl Drums , simply known as Pearl, is a multinational corporation based in Japan with a wide range of products, predominantly percussion instruments. History Pearl was founded by Katsumi Yanagisawa -who began manufacturing music stands in Sumida, Tokyo- o ...

*Pearl Icon Rack with Pearl cymbal arms *DW 9000 Pedals

References

External links

Matt Letley official website
Status Quo (band) members Living people 1961 births English rock drummers People educated at Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School Musicians from Kent {{UK-drummer-stub