Gruff Rhys born 18 July 1970 in Haverfordwest) is a Welsh musician, performing solo & with several bands, including the Super Furry Animals who obtained mainstream success in the 1990s. He also most recently formed the electropop outfit Neon Neon with DJ Boom Bip. Their album Stainless Style was nominated for the 2008 Mercury prize.
He was schooled at Ysgol Dyffryn Ogwen, Bethesda, Gwynedd, North Wales and was awarded a degree in art at Manchester Metropolitan University.
When Ffa Coffi Pawb disbanded in 1993, Rhys and drummer Dafydd Ieuan, of Rhoscefnhir, Anglesey, who had played for Catatonia, Anhrefn, Hanner Pei and many other Welsh language bands, formed the basis of the Super Furry Animals. They soon settled on a line up consisting of Rhys on vocals and guitar, Ieuan on drums, his brother Cian Ciaran (formerly of WWZZ) on keyboards, Huw Bunford (formerly of U-Thant) on guitar and Guto Pryce on bass. This line up has remained constant to the present day, although the role of each member has become more flexible, particularly in the studio.
In 1995, following a couple of largely Welsh language EPs on the Ankst label, they signed to Creation Records. Apparently, when offering them the deal after a gig, Alan McGee, head of Creation, asked that they sing more songs in English. Rhys pointed out that all the songs that night had been in English. The Super Furries went on to release of their critically acclaimed first album, Fuzzy Logic, in 1996 the first time Rhys had recorded in English. He later observed that his singing sounded like a random collection of accents but it was nevertheless very successful.
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