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Artist
Ian Watkins may refer to one of two singers: 1. The lead singer of Welsh rock band Lostprophets, who was serving a decades-long prison sentence for child sexual abuse from 2013 until his death in 2025. 2. Ian "H" Watkins, one of the singers in British pop group Steps. 1. Ian David Karslake Watkins (born July 30, 1977 in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales; died 11 October, 2025 at HM Prison Wakefield in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England) was a convicted child sex offender and the former lead singer and founder of the Welsh alternative rock band Lostprophets. In 2013, Watkins was convicted of various sex crimes against children, and was sentenced to 29 years in prison, with six more on extended licence. He must serve 20 years before becoming eligible for parole. Watkins grew up in the Welsh town of Pontypridd near Cardiff. With his attendance at Hawthorn High School, along with most other members of the band, he learnt how to play drums. His musical interest was in bands such as, Faith No More, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Megadeth. He became good friends with Mike Lewis, "We were in the same year at school and we hung out all the way through". Their mutual enjoyment of rock and metal music strengthened their friendship, leading teenage Watkins and Lewis, in 1991, to form a group called Aftermath; a thrash metal band that played in a shed in Watkins's garden. Whilst spending time in the local Ynysangharad Park - where 17 years later Lostprophets would headline the Full Ponty Festival - Wa