| Mat Kearney | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Born | December 1, 1978 Eugene, Oregon, United States |
| Genres | Rock, folk, CCM |
| Occupations | Singer-songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, piano, harmonica, CP70, mandolin, synthesizer, vibraphone |
| Years active | 2003–present |
| Labels | InPop (2004–2005) Columbia (2006–2009) Aware (2006–present) Universal Republic (2011–present) |
| Associated acts | Tyler Burkum, Trent Dabbs, Ten Out of Tenn, I Love You Sailor |
| Website | www.matkearney.com |
Mathew William "Mat" Kearney[1] ( /ˈkɑrni/; born December 1, 1978) is an American musician born in Eugene, Oregon, now based in Nashville, Tennessee. Kearney has received critical acclaim and widespread recognition for his Columbia Records debut, Nothing Left to Lose. So far, he has a total of four top 20 hits on the Adult Top 40 Chart.
His most recent album, Young Love, was released on August 2nd, 2011. The album's first single, "Hey Mama," was released on May 10, 2011.[2]
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Mat was born and raised in Eugene, Oregon with his two brothers. Through his mother he is a sixth generation Oregonian and his father's family emigrated from Ireland during the Irish Potato Famine[3]. In high school, Mat devoted much of his time to painting, graffiti, soccer, poetry, and music, though he was not playing music at the time. His favorite artists growing up ranged from A Tribe Called Quest to Bob Dylan.
He attended California State University, Chico in Chico, California where he majored in literature and played soccer until his junior year. It was also at this time when Mat picked up a guitar for the first time. Using a roommate's guitar, he tried covering other songs. Realizing he was not too good at it, he began writing his own. Though things were going well for Kearney at school, Chico caught up to him. At a school known for its partying, Mat fit right in. In an interview, Mat said, "I guess I lived it up and did what everyone said you should do in college. I discovered the depth of depravity, the bleakness of that lifestyle. It just wasn’t working. I finally started understanding there must be more to life." Mat continued, "God found me when I was at my lowest point. That was the first time in my life when I really felt like I understood who Jesus was- it was more than knowing about Him, I felt like He met me in that time and place."
Mat began focusing on music fusing his simple guitar playing with spoken word, or rap, he started to play at coffee shops and soon began to make small amounts of money. At this time, Mat had met friend and future producer, Robert Marvin. The two began to make music together, but Marvin had plans to move to Nashville, Tennessee. Marvin asked Kearney to help the move and Mat accepted the journey. Kearney says, "I helped him pack up his trailer and we put a mattress on the back of his truck. We basically drove cross-country and slept in the back. When we pulled into Nashville we slept in a school parking lot for three days until we finally rented this apartment where the roof was caving in and mice were crawling all over." Mat decided to stay in Nashville to record a few demos with Marvin and after a few months, Mat had no plans on returning. "By the end of the summer, we had three or four songs and I realized this is what I wanted to do. It just clicked. So I called home to Oregon and said, ‘I’m not coming back’ and I never left Nashville."
"Nothing Left to Lose" was the title track and first single off Kearney's second album. It peaked at #41 on the Billboard Hot 100, week of February 10, 2007. On April 18, 2006, Nothing Left to Lose was released; it has sold over 450,000 records to date. The first single, "Nothing Left to Lose" has sold over 500,000 copies and won numerous BMI awards. "All I Need" was featured on Grey's Anatomy and NCIS and began to chart on iTunes top 100 downloaded songs. It peaked at #94 on the Billboard Pop 100.
To promote Nothing Left to Lose, Kearney toured with John Mayer, Sheryl Crow, Train, MUTEMATH, Meiko, and Cary Brothers throughout 2005, 06, and 07; he also headlined VH1's first ever "You Oughta Know Tour" in the spring of 2007.
Kearney's following album, City of Black & White, was released through Columbia Records on May 19, 2009. Mat collaborated with Nashville artists such as Trent Dabbs, Matthew Perryman Jones, Kate York, Paul Moak, Daniel James, Will Sayles, and Josiah Bell. Robert Marvin (tobyMac, Britt Nicole), the producer of Mat's previous albums and EPs, joined Mat yet again. The lead single was "Closer To Love" and it received much airplay, on secular and Christian outlets. His second single is "All I Have", the last song he wrote before releasing the album.
In May 2009, Kearney toured with Keane and The Helio Sequence for several weeks to promote City of Black & White.[4] It debuted on the Billboard 200 at #13. He most recently toured with Owl City and Unwed Sailor on Owl City's "All Things Bright And Beautiful Tour."
Kearney's latest album, Young Love, was released on August 2, 2011. The album's first single, "Hey Mama," was released on May 10, 2011. "Hey Mama" has already charted in the Top 40 of Adult Pop Songs at #22. The second single "Down" has charted as high as #25 on the Christian Songs chart.[5]
Kearney's songs have appeared on the following television series: 30 Rock, Dirty Sexy Money, Kyle XY, The Unit, Without A Trace, Laguna Beach, The Hills, Bones, Jericho, Friday Night Lights, Wildfire, What About Brian, South Beach, 8th & Ocean, One Tree Hill, Scrubs, The Closer, NCIS, Life Unexpected, Grey's Anatomy and The Vampire Diaries. His song "Runaway" is featured on the Soul Surfer movie soundtrack. Kearney's song "Sooner or Later" provides the background music to Google's Zeitgeist 2011: Year In Review video, which was uploaded to Youtube on December 14, 2011. [6]
Mat's guitars of choice are usually the Martin D-28 or the Gibson Hummingbird. Mat began to regularly use the Martin when he toured with Keane to promote City of Black & White. Once he began his headlining tour, he continued to use it. Most concerts before that, he is seen with his Gibson. The Martin was lost in the May 2010 Tennessee floods along with much of his other equipment.
Mat currently resides in Nashville, Tennessee, in Hillsboro Village with his wife, Annie, whom he married on June 5, 2010.
Kearney has stated that his legal name is Mathew due to a nurse's error on his birth certificate. He discovered the error while in the 8th grade when he noticed how his mom corrected the error with red ink, never legally correcting it. Since then, he embraced the one T in his legal name.
| Title | Details | Peak chart positions | Sales | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US Christ | US Digital | US Heat | US Rock | CAN | ||||
| Bullet |
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— | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Nothing Left to Lose | 109 | — | 17 | 2 | — | — |
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| City of Black & White |
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13 | 1 | 13 | — | 3 | — |
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| Young Love |
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4 | 1 | 1 | — | 1 | 20 |
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| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||
| Year | Title | Chart positions | Certifications | Albums | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Adult |
Pop |
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| 2006 | "Nothing Left to Lose" |
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Nothing Left to Lose | |||
| "Undeniable" |
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| "All I Need" |
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| 2007 | "Breathe In, Breathe Out" |
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| 2009 | "Closer to Love" |
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City of Black & White | ||||
| "All I Have" |
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| 2010 | "Head or Your Heart" |
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Non-album single | ||||
| "Edge of the World (A Children's Song)" |
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| 2011 | "Hey Mama" |
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Young Love | ||||
| "Down" |
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| "Ships In The Night" |
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| Year | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | New Artist of the Year | Nominated |
| Rap/Hip-Hop Recorded Song of the Year ("Trainwreck") | Won | |
| 2007 | Male Vocalist of the Year | Nominated |
| Song of the Year ("Nothing Left to Lose") | Nominated | |
| Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year (Nothing Left To Lose) | Nominated |
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