BIOGRAPHY
Born 'Daniel Howard Sugarman' on April 27th 1983 in Kingston Upon Hull. He would later change his professional stage name to 'Daniel Eric Matthews'. Growing up, Daniel was always a cheeky and charismatic person with a passion for theatre, film and music from a very young age. Daniel was diagnosed with ADHD and Dyslexia. However, Daniel vowed to overcome it and not to let it stand in his way. While he found it very difficult at school, he would channel his energy into performing and developing his skills. Taking singing lessons, and doing other after school activities. Learning to improve his reading and writing skills and developing his creativity in Music, Theatre, Art and Photography. He started training in music and theatre when he joined the Northern Theatre Company in Hull, and the Tim Keech School of Music in Hull at the age of 12. Between 1994 and 2002, Daniel appeared in a number of different productions including ‘Oliver,' ‘Bugsy Malone,' ‘Hello Dolly’ and ‘Guys and Dolls’. After high school, he went on to study, Drama, Theatre, Performing Arts, Dance and Media at Wyke Six form college in Hull between 1999 and 2001.
During his time in college, he continued to appear in a number of theatre productions, took part in short film projects and entered many talent competitions, as well as taking on LAMDA and Guildhall acting exams which he passed with high Distinctions. While studying music and vocal training at The Keech School of Music, he passed 3 assessment levels in Music and won the Student of the Year Award in 1999. He would go on to study Directing, Producing, Photography, Public Relations, Marketing, Management and Business Development.
By the time Daniel left college in 2001, he had already appeared in a number of productions and talent shows. He jumped at the chance to take part in a master class / workshop of the hit West End musical Les Miserables at London’s Pineapple Studios in Covent Garden. In the masterclass he performed a number of group songs from the show and played the role of Marius performing in the act one finale ‘One Day More'. After this Daniel continued to study Music, Media and Public Relations in his own time, while attending auditions and photo shoots.
In 2002, he join the Johnny Pat Music Academy and started working the social clubs around Hull and Yorkshire. He went on to do his debut solo tour ‘Live & Social’ performing over 40 shows in just 3 months. He entered for the first time into the 'The Hull Daily Mail Talent Trail' coming 3rd place and winning great reviews. He then returned to the theatre later that year when he appeared as well as produced the stage production of Lyle Kessler’s ‘Orphans' playing the lead role of Philip. The first act was entered into the 'The Hull Truck Theatre Festival', winning first place. He ended the year with a one night special ‘Just me and the stage - at Christmas’.
2003 begin with 'The Stage and Screen Tour’ and entering the 'The Hull Daily Mail Talent Trail’ show and 'Search for a star talent show' at Bridlington Spa Theatre, coming second place and getting amazing feedback and reviews. Later that year he performed a private show for the 'The De Le Pole Lodge Ladies night’ in Hull and appeared in 'The Peter Karrie & friends show' at Hull City Hall.
2004 would see Daniel appearing in a number of one-off shows, including entering 'Search for a star talent show' again at the Bridlington Spa Theatre. 'An Evening of musical entertainment’ a private charity concert (also Produced by Daniel) and 'An evening of song and dance' with The Palm Springs Dance Academy, performing songs from hit west end shows including ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’ and Grease’. Daniel ended the year by performing at a wedding / New Years Eve party.
2005 was a really busy year for Daniel. He started by planning his debut solo album and for the 3rd time, entering 'The Hull Daily Mail Talent Trail’ with amazing reviews and coming joint 1st place. He also entered the 'Search for a star talent show’ at The Willows Club in Salford and the ‘Search for a Star’ talent show in Blackpool at the Viking Hotel. It was a jam packed schedule from there as he was in pre-production for 3 different shows. In the summer he did his two month 'Social life Tour' starting with 'An Evening with Daniel Matthews’, a live sell out show at his college theatre. This show was directed by Daniel, he also co-produced and staged the concert with the Keech School of Music and Wyke College. As a producer, Daniel oversaw every aspect of the show, involved with everything both on and off stage, from the band, the marketing, the promotions to the ticket sales. The show was an amazing success, with only one regret “We didn’t film it” say’s Daniel. The hard work didn’t stop there, as earlier in the year he’s started rehearsals, that then continued for this years 'An evening of song and dance' with The Palm Springs Dance Academy, after he was asked to return. This time performing 8 different numbers from the stage Musical of ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ with Daniel taking the lead as Caractacus Potts, with full live vocal and dance. In the rehearsals and preparing for this show, Daniel would get to work with the dance group, leading the both younger kids, the teenagers and the rest of the group in numbers such Toot Sweets, Me Ol’ Bamboo (were he was dancing for the first time since he left college) Truly Scrumptious, Hushabye Mountain and the title song, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Before he knew it, Christmas arrived and Daniel moved over to Sheffield were he made his Pantomime debut when he was cast as Jack in 'Jack & the Beanstalk’ a touring Pantomime with ‘Stage Door Productions’. This tour would take him not only into the new year, but right through to the end of January.
Daniel took some well deserved time off at the beginning of 2006, but it wasn’t long before he was back to work to produce and record his debut solo album ‘HERE IT IS’ this was recorded in the summer and released in October, combined with another 'Evening with Daniel Matthews’ live at Wyke College, another concert produced and directed by Daniel. That year he also appeared as a guest in the 'Manchester Showcase’ at the Central Hall, Manchester and 'The Essex Factor Talent showcase’ in Essex. Then he was once again casted as Jack in the touring Pantomime of 'Mother Goose’ with Stage Door Productions, where he also appeared as Himself/Jack in 'Murder Mysteries at Christmas’ also with Stage Door Productions. Taking him nicely into the following year.
In 2007 he started the year by setting up his own production company. In the summer he did his next solo tour 'This Time it's Personal’ and performed a private concert at 'The De Le Pole Lodge Ladies night' in Hull. After the summer, Daniel produced and presented his own Radio show for ‘Seaside Radio’ in Withernsea called ‘The Stage & Screen Show’. This went out LIVE weekly on a Wednesday evening. He spent the rest of the year studying freelance Marketing, Media and Public Relations.
2008 saw Daniel continue with his ‘Stage & Screen’ Radio show, but finished that to go touring with the production ‘In the mood' and then a ‘A Night at the musicals’ with Simon Gross Productions. In between shows and during his time off, he would continue work on the development of his production company.
Daniel spent most of 2009 behind the scenes working on some video production work. He then went on to doing his next solo tour ‘The Midsummer Night Music Tour’ in the summer. The rest of that year was spent studying Investments and banking.
Most of 2010 was spent planning a new business, as Daniel felt like he wanted a break from live shows and decided this was the right time to start to branch out and get more experience in other areas. It wasn’t long though before he was back on the road and on stage for the touring production of ‘Beauty & the Beast’ with the Merlins Theatre Company. Unfortunately, Daniel had to leave the production a week before Christmas, as he and his co-performer were involved in a horrific car accident. It was at this time that Daniel started working on the idea of putting a music group together that he would manage and also produce through his Production company D. M. Entertainments. Daniel wasn’t hurt too badly in the car accident and recovered after a few weeks of rest.
In 2011 Daniel was celebrating his 10th Anniversary. At the end of January, he was invited to do a talk in Essex. Then he went back up north to do auditions for his new musical group and shortly after, started planning various shows. Working very hard for the next 6 months, with planning, promotions, marketing and rehearsals.. He formed his brand new trio ‘UNMASKED’ which was launched as part of his 10th Anniversary tour 'The Daniel Matthews & Friends show’ Daniel also took the opportunity to attend and complete ‘The Explore Enterprise Course’ with the Prince's Trust and took part in the student film’s ‘Duck & Cover’ and ‘Hibernation’.
2012 was a busy year as Daniel went to produce and record the album ‘300 Miles North’ with his Trio ‘UNMASKED’ and together appearing in live shows and talent contests, Including 'The Hull Daily Mail Talent Trail’ and ‘The Birmingham Showcase’ The trio got great reviews at both contests. Daniel had to take some time off that year after having his Appendix removed, during his recovery, he did some online courses in Public Relations, Marketing and Social Media Management.
After appearing in one-off shows together in early 2013, the trio took a break due to one member going on maternity leave. During this time, Daniel co-founded ‘Larkin Productions’ but left the company after 6 months. He went on to study another Marketing and Business course at Hull College. Then he completed a short solo tour at the end of the year.
After completing his Marketing and Business course at Hull College in 2014, Daniel started to volunteer at ‘Skills 4 Communities’ in Hull, as the acting ‘Employment Engagement Consultant’. As part of this volunteering, he studied Business Development, Employability, Fire Safely Awareness and ICT. He would return to the stage later in the year with an amazing one week's notice, for the touring production of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ with The Carousel Theatre Company.
In 2015 Daniel was busy developing his brand new PR & Media company ‘Daniel Matthews Associates’ and attending a countless number of networking events in Leeds, Bradford, Manchester and London. He also launched his events company 'All-Around Events'
2016 and 2017 were spent continuing to develop both his Production and PR & Marketing departments and started working on a number of contracts including Social Media Management, Video Production and Blogging, with clients including the Riveresque Cafe in Leeds, Flicker Associates Ltd in Wakefield. The Validus Media Group' and the 'ARC Hospitality Recruitment' Also that year he became a member of the Chamber of Commerce and was delighted to take part in the Hull UK City of Culture 2017. He couldn’t commit to supporting the whole year of events due to other commitments and living in Leeds but was proud to support his hometown of Hull.
In 2018 Daniel hosted a 1920s Speakeasy-themed evening with ‘Experience Vintage’ in Harrogate and continued development on his company, were he then added his Management department and along with freelance contracts things really took off. Daniel was delighted to accept the role of The London Area Manager with the company 'HER Business Revolution'. Daniel would also take on the role of Area Events Manager with ‘Wobbly Music’ and other contracts in Social media Management and Marketing.
Daniel moved to London in 2019 and continued to work hard, adding new skills and strings to the bow, he was signing his own artists and other clients within his company and he also took contracts with 'Open Solutions' and 'Mind-Future World'. Then Daniel also became a 'Promoter' at 'Global Fashion Marketplace', as well as personal projects of his own.
Throughout the lockdown during the 2020 Pandemic, Daniel hosted a number of online networking events with 'HER Business Revolution,' spent more time developing his company, revamped his websites and online platforms, and planned ahead for what will be his 20th Anniversary. Daniel had a number of projects also in development.
At the start of 2021, Daniel continued working from home while the UK was still in lockdown. He finished his contracts at 'Wobbly Music' and 'HER Business Revolution' and when they come to an end, and he continued to network and plan future projects. Daniel became 'The Ambassador' for the UK at 'Global Fashion Marketplace'. Then Daniel Produced and released two singles by Singer/Songwriter Darren James 'Together' and 'I Give You What I Got Today'. When the lockdown ended, Daniel relaunched his Talent Management department, he co-created and launched the brand new Media and Production company 'Creative Media Productions' and started developing his new record label 'Wiz Star Records'. Daniel became a partner and the Digital Marketing Manager at 'Bieauli Jewellery' taking a three month contract and also took the role of the Social Media Manager at 'Xpressions Music' for a one month contract. 2021 continued and ended with the development of CMP, Wiz Star Records and other projects.
In 2022 after taking a little time off due to COVID. Daniel got straight back to work as quickly as possible and continued the promotions and development for 'Wiz-Star Records'. He then started production on a new short film project 'CONTEMPLATE' with The Morrigan Production company. Later he the year Daniel and the team spent some time rebranding the businesses and Daniel was working on updating his Social Media platforms, while also Managing some clients social media pages. He took a trip over to Paris to shoot some videos for his Travel Blog. Following this Daniel, went into Per-production on 3 new projects. In September, Daniel became The Front of House Host at 'Mr White's' restaurant in Leicester Square, with a 3 month contract. Daniel then announced that he would be rebranding his record label from the 'Wiz Star' to the now known 'High Star Records' and 'Daniel Matthews Associates' will now be the Talent Management & Public Relations company.
This would continue into 2023, as Daniel celebrated his 40th birthday. He completed the work on the short film project 'CONEMPLATE'. Then Daniel was busy signing new clients and developing 'Daniel Matthews Associates' along with the development of 'Creative Media Productions' and 'High Star Records'. In May, Daniel started working as the 'Social Media Manager' and 'Promoter' for the YouTube channel 'Techify Learning' and he created and founded 'Clipboard Casting' (currently in development) Many more exciting new projects are in development and planned for 2024.