11 March - Road & Rage

Read below, it's from last month but I only found out ten days ago when I run into my old mate D. who spat it out with some understable anger. She happens to be the wife of nearly 20 years (or hey, their eldest is 17 and it had started some time before then)... the wife who doesn't seem to exist AT ALL in the article below that just gushes about how happy/lucky Cerys Matthews is to now be dating her agent/manager, the nearest shoulder to cry on perhaps. Maybe she's hoping to get out of paying management fees? D. had to go talk to her youngest's school people when the story was first in The Sun, just so they'd knew her boy would be upset or acting strangely perhaps.

They're divorcing, after all she found out by finding them in bed which is a bit careless of him. But I asked, if you found out, and you didn't call/tell The Sun, then how come the papers know? Doh, stupid question, if you're a has been anything then you are the one feeding stories because your PR people probably think it's good that you are in the news if you have an album coming out or a tour to promote and your money from the Jungle has run out already. Except that it's all for real when it happens to someone you know. Abbo, what a coward. If you're married and you wanna 'date', then please tell your wife or just have a well managed affair instead, nobody needs to get hurt. I mean, mistress no. 1 here, I'll raise my hand, but I didn't break anybody up, which is pretty damn considerate of me when I look back.

Needless to say he's 50 this year so you know, Cerys has better knobs than a motorbike, I'll give you that, the just out of bed hair, smoked a thousand fags voice is a puller. Oh and they've reformed the band he was in when he was an 18 year old punk. I won't mention the name but of course I looked on the net and saw the pictures of the saddo old fat fans who still wear bad t-shirts a zillion years later.... How much more of a mid life crisis can you have? Or hang on, maybe this is all a cunning plan to publicise his band and get some re-releases and so on.Maybe Cerys is just going to get shafted.. again!

Feb 15 2009 by Andrew Dagnell, Wales On Sunday
SONGBIRD Cerys Matthews is getting over jungle love rat Marc Bannerman – by dating her AGENT, we can reveal today.
It comes just months after she finally ditched ex-EastEnder Marc, 35, after their troubled on-off romance hit the headlines.

The star-crossed lovers met in the Australian outback while appearing in the ITV1 hit I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! in 2007.
But now the 39-year-old ex-Catatonia singer has put that behind her – and hooked up with her long-term manager Steve Abbott.
Steve recently told a group of friends that he is mixing work and play, by getting it together with the Road Rage singer.
A friend told Wales on Sunday: “Steve said he was in a relationship with Cerys.
“I think it’s just early days, but they would make a great couple.
“Especially after everything Cerys went through with Marc Bannerman, she definitely deserves a bit of love in her life.
“Hopefully this relationship will have some staying power.”

In his teenage years, Steve was the lead singer and guitarist in an experimental punk band which toured the world and released two albums and various singles that topped the independent record charts on both sides of the Atlantic.

Bizarrely, he is also credited with coining the term “goth”.
But he retired from performing at just 21-years-old – and set up music management company Bedlam in 1988.
Having known former hell-raiser Cerys for years, he looks after her busy schedule, organising press interviews and album release dates.

As well as Cerys, he also takes care of opera diva Hayley Westenra, Song of Praise presenter Aled Jones, singer-songwriter Heather Nova and cellist Julian Lloyd Webber. Another mate told us: “Steve is a great guy. He’s very caring and a genuinely decent soul.

“You can’t say a bad word about him – he’s an absolute gentleman.
“He’s always been there for her during her career and I would imagine she really trusts him.
“He’s a brilliant match for Cerys and I’m sure they will get along really well for a long time to come.”
Last night Steve, who is thought to be in his 40s, refused to talk about the couple’s blossoming relationship – but did not deny it was going on.
When asked whether he and Cerys were dating, he told our reporter: “It’s possible. I’m not denying it. You will have to ask her. We see a lot of each other because we work together.
“You will have to ask her that question.
“She’s very private, especially after all that’s been in the papers... and she’s got her kids to look after.”

It’s the latest twist in Cardiff-born Cerys’ complicated love life, which saw her quit Nashville, Tennessee, after she walked out on her American music producer husband Seth Riddle, just four years into their marriage.
The singer fled back to Wales with their two children, Glenys Pearl y-Felin, aged five, and three-year-old Johnny Tupelo Jones, before she went into the jungle.
It was there that she started her ill-fated tryst with Bannerman – best known for playing Albert Square heart-throb Gianni di Marco – who was still officially going out with Footballers’ Wives actress Sarah Matravers, 33.
But Cerys dumped him two days before Valentine’s Day last year over the phone, claiming he couldn’t cope with her responsibilities as a mother.
The singer recently confirmed that she and her kids have settled in London, where Steve’s business is also based.
She even splashed out on a home in salubrious Holland Park, where she hopes to stay for the foreseeable future.
Cerys, whose family still live in Trefin, Pembrokeshire, revealed: “I’m hoping this is going to be a long-term thing but when I say settled, it’s in six-month increments.”