Changing tune! Ex-con Hugh Mattan makes Reggae album at St Mungo's hostel

Published: 12 March 2010
by JAMIE WELHAM and AZZURRA BERTONCINI

REHABILITATION is an abstract concept, but it might look something like this: 15 years ago Hugh Mattan was made redundant from his job as a sound engineer, slipped into depression and became so desperate to support his young family that he ended up carrying out a £30,000 cash robbery. 

He was sent to jail, and upon his release, with nowhere to go, was admitted to St Mungo’s hostel in Covent Garden. 

Now Mr Mattan, 54, has fulfilled a lifelong dream and recorded his own reggae album, thanks to a new recording studio at the hostel. The album has caused such a stir, the singer has found himself hot property on the London gig circuit and has even shot his first music video. 

“Prison gives you time to think and sat alone in a prison cell you do just that,” said Mr Mattan. 

“I wanted to change my life when I came out and I promised I would. Initially I stayed at a hostel in Kilburn and then I came to St Mungo’s.

“I had gone to a studio before going to prison and had the music I’d written and sung on tape. When I gave it to our music production trainer he came and found me within minutes and told me that we could definitely put something together.”

As well as the album, which Mr Mattan describes as “smooth reggae”, he has formed a band with fellow hostel residents called Hughmans. The group are working on a second album, and the studio, built in 2008 with joint funding from Camden Council and the Department for Work and Pensions, is earning itself a reputation as a hit factory.