Wendy Matthews
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Wendy Matthews (b. 1960 in Montreal, Canada) is an Australian-based adult alternative pop singer who has had won seven ARIA awards and achieved a number of hit records in the 1990s.
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[edit] Early career - 1990
Born in 1960 in Montreal. At the age of 15, she joined friends in the Little Benny Blues Band named after Little Benny Park where they used to hang out. Matthews left school at the age of 16 and went busking across North America with a couple of friends. She found herself in Los Angeles where she worked as a session musician.
Glenn Shorrock, formerly of the Little River Band, asked her to sing backup vocals on his Australian tour in 1983. Matthews decided to stay in Australia at the completion of his tour and soon found herself in demand as a session vocalist and singing jingles. She sang on albums by Jimmy Barnes, Tim Finn, Richard Clapton and Icehouse. After singing backup vocals on the Models' 1985 album Out of Mind Out of Sight, she became a regular backup vocalist for the band.
Matthews did her first soundtrack work on the movie Dancing Daze but it attracted little notice. ABC-TV asked Matthews to sing with Kate Ceberano on the soundtrack to the series Stringer in 1987. The soundtrack You've Always Got the Blues was released in 1988 and became a hit reaching #4 on the Australian charts. Wendy Matthews also sung on six tracks from the Australian movie Rikky and Pete and appeared as guest vocalist on the track Jump from the Rockmelons debut album Tales of the City.
Wendy Matthews joined the Australian supergroup Absent Friends in 1989 with Sean Kelly and James Valentine of the Models and Garry Gary Beers of INXS as well as Roger Mason and Mick King. She sang lead vocals on the single "I Don't Wanna Be With Nobody But You" from the album Here's Looking up Your Address which became a top ten hit and toured with the band.
During this period, Matthews would continue with her session work singing on the Cher album Heart of Stone in 1989 and on Peter Blakeley's debut album Harry's Cafe de Wheels in 1990.
[edit] Solo career 1990-1994
In 1990, Matthews recorded her debut album Émigré with the assistance of the members of Absent Friends as well as Tim Finn and Peter Blakely. The album was released on the rooArt label owned by INXS's manager. The album became a hit and Matthews won two ARIA awards for "Best Female Artist" and "Best Single" for "Token Angels". She also won the Australian Rolling Stone magazine award for best female vocalist in 1990 for the work on her album and the Absent Friends.
Matthews released a live mini-album The Way It Has To Be in 1991 as well as supporting the Neville Brothers on their Australian album. She then started work on her second solo studio album Lily. Wendy Matthews was on tour supporting Simply Red on its 1992 release. Both the single "The Day You Went Away" and "Lily" became great successes with the album going double-platinum in Australia selling over 140,000 copies.
Matthews won Best Female Artist and Best Single for "The Day You Went Away" at the 1992 ARIA Awards. She released her next album The Witness Tree in 1994 which again went platinum selling 100,000 copies and winning her third ARIA award for Best Female Artist. Matthews returned to Canada before the release of her next album Ghost in 1997.
In 1999, Matthews released Stepping Stones, a greatest hits package. She left Sydney where she was living in 2001 to settle on a property near Coffs Harbour. She also contributed a track to Olympic Record an album produced for the Sydney Olympics featuring Australian artists. The Beautiful View album was released in 2001 again making the ARIA album charts. It was her first record with BMG records.
In 2003, Wendy Matthews duetted with Rod Stewart on the track "My Heart Stood Still" on his album As Time Goes By: The Great American Songbook Vol 2. She released Café Naturale in May 2004. On her website, Matthews says that she tried a new approach recording it acoustically. "To keep creative you have to break down your own personal barriers. With this record that meant moving away from pop and crafting something instrument-driven, something that feels like me playing live. [1]
The album includes acoustic versions of a number of well-known songs including U2's "One" from the Achtung Baby and Massive Attack's "Protection" from the album of the same name. The first single "All I Need" is a version of the Air song from the Moon Safari album. The album debuted in the top 50 of the ARIA charts.
[edit] Discography
- You've Always Got the Blues (1988 - with Kate Ceberano)
- Here's Looking up Your Address (1989 - with Absent Friends)
- Émigré (1990)
- The Way It Has To Be (1991) live minialbum
- Lily (1992)
- Witness Tree (1994)
- Ghost (1997)
- Stepping Stones (1999)
- Beautiful View (2001)
- Café Naturale (2004)
[edit] Awards and nominations
[edit] Awards
- 1994 ARIA Awards, Best Female Artist for Fridays Child
- 1993 ARIA Awards, Single Of The Year for The Day You Went Away
- 1993 ARIA Awards, Highest Selling Single for The Day You Went Away
- 1993 ARIA Awards, Best Female Artist for Lily
- 1991 ARIA Awards, Best Female Artist for Token Angels
- 1991 ARIA Awards, Breakthrough Artist - Single for Token Angels
[edit] Nominations
- 2001 ARIA Awards, Best Adult Contemporary Album for Beautiful View
- 1998 ARIA Awards, Best Adult Contemporary Album for Ghost
- 1998 ARIA Awards, Engineer Of The Year for Ghost
- 1997 ARIA Awards, Best Female Artist for Then I Walked Away
- 1995 ARIA Awards, Best Adult Contemporary Album for The Witness Tree
- 1993 ARIA Awards, Album Of The Year for Lily
- 1992 ARIA Awards, Best Female Artist for Let's Kiss (Like The Angels)
