Session drummer and part-time music teacher Matthew Johnson was killed after he lost control of his Kawasaki bike on the B5066 Sandon Road late December 2011.



The 32-year-old, of Waverton Road, Bentilee, was a well-known and widely respected figure in Stoke-on-Trent's music and theatre scenes.



Matthew Johnson had played in several bands and performed in a number of stage productions.



Matthew Johnson, a former student at Longton High School and Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form College, also taught percussion to year 11 pupils at Brownhills Academy.



Matthew Johnson's band Marlo, made up of four teenagers from North Staffordshire, won the BBC's Get Your Act Together talent show in 1999, when he was just 19. This victory saw Matthew and his bandmates handed a prestigious recording contract with Polydor as their prize.



Matt Johnson left Marlo a short time later and joined another North Staffordshire band called Kisa.



They won the Signal One Battle of the Bands contest in 2001 and were awarded a slot at the Live in the City concert at the Britannia Stadium.



Matthew Johnson's talents have also seen him employed by several Stoke-on-Trent theatre companies over the years, including Five Towns Theatre, Stage Productions and Stoke-on-Trent Rep.