Bio
Who is Albert Mateu
Early live
Albert was born at the end of February 1980, in Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain and grew up in a small village called Vila-rodona. In the village’s school, he learned popular songs and how to play the flute. For a few years, he joined a kind of chorus group where he learned to sing popular songs typical of Catalonia called Caramelles but did not like it. His first play with a guitar was at the age of 10, thanks to a friend who had a few instruments at home and they started to make songs. His interest with the guitar did not take off in that time but he learned DJing with his brother and some friends.
Years later, he got involved playing the guitar again making songs with friends and found it as a way to relieve feelings of life. One of his friends lent him an electric guitar until he could buy one and he taught himself to play the guitar with some magazines and websites on the internet. Then he took a few guitar lessons at Municipal Music School of Alcover to guide his self-learning and bought his first electro-acoustic guitar. He tried to make a band a few times but did not succeed. When he finished University, his teacher asked him "What are you going to do now?" and he responded, "I'm going to learn to play the guitar properly".
After his ex-girlfriend in that time broke up with him, he decided to go to London to learn English and play the guitar. A few days before leaving, he gave the electric guitar back to his friend and arrived in London a couple of months before New Year's Day 2010.
Midlife
Once he settled down in London, he bought a cheap acoustic guitar and started practising as much as he could. One year later, he bought his first electric guitar and unsuccessfully tried to find a band to play with.
Then, he discovered the blues jams. A new world for him where he could go to play the guitar with other musicians and perform in front of people. It was the perfect practice for him. It was in his first blues jam that he realised he had no idea to improvise, no idea of musicians’ language and no idea to play blues. He was shocked and frustrated so, he started to spend more time playing the guitar, learning blues songs and going to blues jams. He also took a part-time guitar course at The Institute of Contemporary Music Performance in London.
Day by day, he was improving and during an English class, one of his teachers asked him, “Why did you come to London?” and he answered, “To learn English and play the guitar”, little did he know that his English teacher was interested in Rock music too and in 2014 they ended making a band called Revolvers at dawn. After two years of gigging in London, they decided to take a rest and ended up going in different directions.
Albert was sad and did not know what to do. He took a part-time singing course at The Institute of Contemporary Music Performance to maybe find a rock singer but he did not find anyone to work with. He went to a few rock bands auditions which were looking for a lead guitarist but he did not find his place.
In 2018 he found an advert of someone looking for a lead guitarist and met a singer. They took the time to sit down and made rock songs while performing them at open mics as an acoustic duo. Albert found a place to express himself as a lead guitarist but also was encouraged to do backing vocals, which helped Albert to improve his vocals. A few months later, they made a five-piece band called Stark Rebels but again, after two years of gigging, they decided to take a rest and ended up going in different directions.
At the same time, Albert’s bluesy life did not stop. Some blues friends always encouraged him to sing at the blues jams but his confidence was not enough. After practising a lot, in 2019, he fought the stage fright that was preventing him from singing and ended up singing a couple of songs at one of the best blues jams in central London. He found himself with enough time to work on his project and he started to learn some songs and make new ones, performing them in open mics and blues jams. In 2020, his parents came to visit him and he pushed himself to perform his first solo gig, having a nice time with his parents. Then COVID-19 pandemic put London in lockdown and he found the perfect time to record a couple of songs that started to shape Albert Mateu, a pure expression of Albert's creativity.
Origin of Albert Mateu
It all started with him putting together one of his songs and recording his first single, "My Baby Tonight." A few months later, he released his second single, "Amica Paola." These songs laid the foundation for an artist who has yet to come.
Slowly but surely, Albert has been practising to improve his singing skills and gathering enough music recording and mastering knowledge to be able to finish his ideas in a way he sees fit to be right.
With more music coming out, he is going to entertain the audience with his heartfelt music. Expect to feel love, sad, hope, anger, good, bad, fun, pain and more.