Browse Sections

• Barlow's brief
• Education
• Special reports

Meet pop's new idol Matthew Healy

7/ 3/2002

Forget Will, thank you but goodnight Gareth - Pop Idol has a new heart throb - Matthew Healy.

Matthew, son of Auf Weidersehen Pet star Tim Healy and former Coronation Street Rovers Return landlady Denise Welch, won the charity song contest at the King's School in Macclesfield.

Competing against a host of entries across the Boys' Division, Matthew's schoolboy charm and undoubted musical talent earned him the popular vote.

His renditions of The La's 'There She Goes' and the Oasis classic 'Don't Look Back in Anger' had the crowds heaving in the school's main hall.

His mum was the first to admit that any talent has been inherited from his father's side: "As an actor we all do bits and pieces of singing, but I'm really not very good - Tim is the singer out of the pair of us."

Tim added: "I started as a comedian come soul singer, in other words I reverted to a song when I wasn't getting any laughs - which was more often than I care to remember."

The star of Auf Weidersehen Pet, which is currently in production for a reunion series, added: "I've still got a five piece and 10 piece band that does the circuit."

Matthew, 12, added: "I love bands like Green Day, Blink 182 and The Voo Doo, but I also love it when my dad plays Otis Redding and other singers from the 60s and 70s." He added: "I'd like to be a pop singer, but I really am just concentrating on my school work for now."

The King's School teacher who organised the shin dig, Richard Kitzinger, said: "We can't offer Matthew a six figure contract, but he does go through to play in a Stars in their Eyes final, competing against some of his teachers, whom I understand will be turning out as Hearsay."

He continued: "I can hardly believe it myself but tickets are selling like hot cakes."