| Tina Matthews | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Christina Matthews |
| Born | 1961 (age 50–51) Wellington, New Zealand |
| Genres | Pop |
| Occupations | bass guitarist puppeteer writer illustrator |
| Instruments | Bass guitar |
| Years active | 1978 - present |
| Associated acts | Wide Mouthed Frogs The Crocodiles Jenny Morris |
Christina "Tina" Matthews (born 1961)[1] is a New Zealand musician who played bass guitar in bands such as The Wide-Mouthed Frogs, and The Crocodiles. She is also an author and puppeteer.
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Tina Matthews (born 1961 in Wellington, New Zealand) joined an all-girl group, Wide Mouthed Frogs in Wellington, performing bass guitar.[2][3][4] Fellow members were Jenny Morris on lead vocals, Andrea Gilkison on guitar, Bronwyn Murray on keyboards and Sally Zwartz on drums.[5] In 1979 they released the track, "Some Day" for the compilation album, Home Grown Volume One.
Wide Mouthed Frogs worked with The Spats' members: drummer Bruno Lawrence sometimes played saxophone for them and keyboardist Peter Dasent became their musical director.[5] By 1980, The Spats had evolved into The Crocodiles, under the mentorship of US producer Kim Fowley,[6][7] and featured Tony Backhouse (guitar), Dasent, Fane Flaws (guitar/vocals), Mark Hornibrook (bass guitar), Lawrence, and songwriter Arthur Baysting.[5] Morris was asked to join and soon after, Hornibrook departed and was replaced by Matthews.[5] The Crocodiles were managed by Mike Chunn (ex-Split Enz bassist) and regularly performed in Auckland.[5] In January 1980 they played the high profile Sweetwaters Music Festival and in April that year, they released their debut album, Tears, produced by Glyn Tucker Jr., and its lead single, "Tears", both reached No. 17 on the respective New Zealand albums and singles charts.[5][8]
Lawrence left and was replaced on drums by Ian Gilroy (ex-Whizz Kids), then Flaws left, although he continued to write material for the second album. Released in November 1980, Looking at Ourselves, was produced by Ian Morris. That year they won 'Best Group' and 'Most Promising Group' at the New Zealand Music Awards.[9] The line-up went through further changes, Gilroy left to join The Swingers, followed by Matthews and Dasent.[5]
Matthews was initially mentored by Peter Chester in puppetry at a community workshop for the QE II Arts Council in New Zealand. She later worked with designer Garth Frost to fabricate the puppets for Australian ABC television programme The Ferals. During the 1980s Matthews honed her skills by working on the Jim Henson movie Labyrinth, starring David Bowie.[10]
In 2007 Matthews published her first book, Out of the Egg, which she also illustrated.[1] Out of the Egg was nominated in the Picture Book section of the 2008 New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults and won the award for Best First Book.[11]
Matthews is currently a puppetry teacher at the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA) in Sydney and a self-employed artist and designer.[11]