2013 looks set
to be a very exciting year. It marks the beginning of a new era
for Wendy Matthews the singer/songwriter
with a new recording deal with Fanfare Records and her new album The Welcome Fire, (her first album of all original material in 12
years) which is due for an August 2013 release. This time Wendy has
written or co-written every track on the album, a first for the talented
artist. Other writers on the project include Josh Pyke, Megan Washington, Mark
Sholtez, Rod McCormick, John Castle, Kim Richey, Anthony Egizii and David
Musumeci.
The Welcome Fire is produced by Wendy Matthews and John Castle
of Megan Washington, The Cat Empire, The Drones and Dan Parsons fame.
There are very few artists in Australia that can come close to Wendy
Matthews and her stunning credentials; seven Arias, a massive 19 singles, seven
top selling albums and most of all the love of her fans. Her career-defining
album Lily sold over 500,000 albums and over 300,000 singles of her
now signature song Day You Went Away when released in the mid 90’s.
On
this exciting development, Dave Wilkins of Utopian Management said, “I was
excited when Robert Rigby took a shine to The Welcome Fire. As a manager you
look for partnerships and synergies. What better way to go than back to one of
the true great partnerships in Australian record releases, when Wendy Matthews
& Robert Rigby worked on Lily together.”
Wendy
says of the signing, “I've had the luxury of taking a couple of years to write
with some fantastic and diverse people for the first original album for me in
12 years, so I'm thrilled to have found a home with the Fanfare label. The last
record was on my own little label and I learned much, but this feels like a
true partnership and an exciting and new way of doing things.”
As an artist Wendy has an expressive
voice that never fails to move those who hear it. Her music is an unhurried
journey of clean melodies, infectious energy and simple grace. In an age
when grunge is thought to be hip and cynicism an attribute, Wendy has proven
that commitment to beauty is still not only valid but applauded by the public
ear.
This is exemplified by the reality
that Wendy’s music is now in more than 1 million homes in Australia – all her
albums to date have multi-platinum status.
Wendy has an immense talent and
capacity to capture and define a diverse range of styles in her music.
She takes songs from every genre and makes them her own, from jazz to blues,
from rock to gospel, from soul to outright infectious pop and then, of course,
there are the beautiful ballads.
Wendy is adept
at reaching both frenetic youth and mature audiences alike. If older ears
are captured by her soul and unfazed class, a more cynical youth is convinced
by her disarming ease of delivery, wooed by a voice of stunning emotive
capacity yet void of sentimentality.
Born in Montreal Canada, Wendy joined
her first band and left home as a teenager, busking her way across the USA to
Los Angeles where she met Glenn
Shorrock who invited her to tour with him in Australia in 1982.
Wendy immediately became an in-demand
session singer, appearing on many commercial jingles and backing vocals for the
likes of The Models Out
of Mind Out of Sight and became a semi-permanent member of the
band. She also sang on albums by Jimmy
Barnes, Tim Finn, Richard Clapton and Icehouse.
In 1987, Wendy collaborated with Kate Ceberano on the ABC-TV soundtrack
for the series Stringer. You’ve Always Got the Blues was
released the next year reaching the Top 5 national charts. She then contributed
to the Rockmelons and Peter Blakeley’s respective
albums. She helped form Absent
Friends and sang on the number one hit Don’t Wanna Be With Nobody But
You and the album Here’s Looking Up Your Address.
After touring with Absent Friends,
Wendy went into the studio to record her solo debut. The album Émigré
(Double Platinum) spawned the hits Token Angels, Lets Kiss and Woman’s
Gotta Have It and earned Wendy the Best Female Artist and Best Debut
Single (for Token Angels) at the 1990 ARIA Awards. Wendy was also
voted Best Female Singer in the 1990 Rolling Stone Reader’s Poll.
This was followed up by the Triple
Platinum album Lily with the mega hit Day You Went Away
plus If Only I Could and Friday’s Child.
In 1992 Wendy
picked up the ARIA for Best Female Artist and Best Single and again in 1993
Best Female Artist. The Day You Went Away was the
‘highest selling single’ of 1993 and the ‘single of the year’.
Wendy then followed up with another
two studio albums The Witness Tree and Ghosts
including the hits Love Will Keep Me Alive, Standing Strong, Then
I Walked Away. In 1999 to cap off an already outstanding career,
Wendy released her first Best Of….Stepping Stones which not
only included her former hits but also Nobody But You the massive hit from
Absent Friends.
Not resting on her laurels, in 2001
Wendy released Beautiful View featuring the hauntingly beautiful
title track and club favourite Like the Sun.
2004 saw the
release of the mixed-up, chilled-out Café Naturale an eclectic
suite of songs which immediately evoke a sense of familiarity. The Tropfest
winning film Lamb by Emma Freeman features the highly acclaimed video clip to the popular
All
I Need.
To support The
Welcome Fire Wendy will embark on an extensive promotion tour followed
by a national concert tour 2013/2014.
