Ian David Karslake Watkins (born July 30, 1977 in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales) is the lead singer, and also one of the founding members, of the Welsh alternative rock band Lostprophets.

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 - Watkins was introduced to future band mate Lee Gaze through a mutual friend. Having abandoned Aftermath, which made two live appearances in the band's lifespan of two years, Watkins and Gaze decided to form a new band called Fleshbind, based on their American hardcore punk influences. The band played several shows, including one supporting Feeder in London, but the group was short-lived.

Watkins reunited with current Lostprophets guitarist Mike Lewis, to be the drummer in a seminal hardcore band called Public Disturbance (formed in 1995). By this time, Watkins and Gaze had left Fleshbind to create their own band, Lozt Prophetz, who made their live debut in May 1997, alongside Public Disturbance, with Watkins as a vocalist for the first time. In 1998, Watkins left Public Disturbance to concentrate on the newly named, Lostprophets.

So far, Watkins has recorded three albums with the band, The Fake Sound of Progress, Start Something and Liberation Transmission, and toured extensively in Europe and America playing famous shows such as the Reading Festival in 2004 and 2007.

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