Wendy Matthews

Wendy Joan Matthews (born 13 January 1960) is a Canadian-born Australian singer-songwriter who has been a member of Models and Absent Friends and is a solo artist.

Wendy Joan Matthews was born in 1960 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, with Abenaki (First Nations tribe), Spanish and Scottish ancestry.

Peter and Joan Matthews already had a son, Gary Born a year earlier and another son, Glenn followed a year after Matthews.

She listened and sang along to Joni Mitchell, Linda Ronstadt and Barbra Streisand records.

Her parents separated when she was 14, Peter became a Vancouver advertising executive and Joan took up yoga instructing near Quebec.

At the age of 15 Matthews joined friends in the Little Benny Blues Band (named after Little Benny Park where they hung out).

She left school at 16 and went busking across North America including south to Mexico with friends.

By 1978, she was in Los Angeles where she busked, made jewellery and worked as a session singer.

In February 1981, Matthews sang lead vocal for "Willow Pattern" on Osamu Kitajima's album Dragon King (1982).

She met Japanese musician, Hiroshi Sato, and travelled to Japan to record lead vocals for his fourth album, Awakening, which was released in June on Alfa Records.

Back in Los Angeles, Australian singer Glenn Shorrock (ex-Little River Band) asked her to provide backing vocals on his solo album Villain of the Peace (1982) and to join him on his subsequent six-week tour of Australia in 1983.

Matthews decided to stay in Sydney at the tour's completion and found herself in demand as a session vocalist and singing jingles.

She sang on albums by Jimmy Barnes, Richard Clapton, Tim Finn and Icehouse.

After singing backing vocals on Models' 1985 album Out of Mind, Out of Sight, she became a regular vocalist for the band.

Matthews and Models' guitarist and vocalist, Sean Kelly, had an 11-year personal relationship.

Other backing singers for Models included Kate Ceberano and Zan Abeyratne, both members of I'm Talking – the two bands often toured together.

In 1985, Matthews recorded vocals for the soundtrack of Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) TV series Dancing Daze (1986) with musical production by Martin Armiger.

Her tracks were, "Dancing Daze" (duet with Jenny Morris), "Dare to Be Bold", "Might Have Been" (trio with Morris and Mark Williams) and "Lost in a Dancing Daze".

First three of her tracks were released as singles but neither they nor the related album, Dancing Daze – Rock reached the top 50.

In 1986, Matthews joined Peter Blakeley and The Resurrection, with Blakeley (ex-Rockmelons) on lead vocals, Chris Abrahams on bass guitar and piano (ex-The Benders), Jim Benjamin on drums and Mark Punch on guitar (Renée Geyer Band).

Her second album with Models, Models' Media appeared in December which reached the top 30.

ABC-TV and Armiger asked Matthews to sing with Ceberano on the soundtrack to the series Stringer in 1987.

The soundtrack You've Always Got The Blues was released as a duet album by Ceberano and Matthews in April 1988 and reached No. 4 on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart.

Matthews was a member of Noel's Cowards, a short term project, including ex-Split Enz members Noel Crombie on drums, Nigel Griggs on bass guitar and Phil Judd on guitar.

Noel's Cowards, with Matthews on lead vocals, provided six tracks for the Australian movie Rikky and Pete (1988).

She was featured vocalist on the single "Jump" released in October from Rockmelons' debut album Tales of the City.

Tales of the City peaked at No. 14 on the ARIA Albums Chart.

At the ARIA Music Awards of 1989, Rockmelons won 'Breakthrough Artist – Album' and Stringer won 'Best Original Soundtrack / Cast / Show Recording'.

Matthews joined the Australian supergroup, Absent Friends, in 1989 with Kelly and James Valentine of Models, Garry Gary Beers of INXS, Roger Mason and Mick King.

She sang lead vocals on "I Don't Want to Be with Nobody but You" which reached No. 4 on the ARIA Singles Chart; the related album, Here's Looking Up Your Address peaked at No.7.

The band toured Australia and then supported INXS on a European tour.

During this period, Matthews continued her session work, singing on the Cher album Heart of Stone in 1989 and on Blakeley's solo album Harry's Café De Wheels in 1990.

Absent Friends disbanded and Matthews pursued her solo career.

She released Top 20 hit singles in the 1990s including "Token Angels", "Let's Kiss (Like Angels Do)", "The Day You Went Away" and "Friday's Child" with Top 20 albums, You've Always Got The Blues (duet album with Kate Ceberano), Émigré, Lily, The Witness Tree and her compilation, Stepping Stones.

She has won six Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Awards.

According to rock music historian, Ian McFarlane she provides "extraordinary, crystal-clear vocals [...] a soulfulness that was the mark of a truly gifted singer".

In 1990, Matthews recorded her debut solo album Émigré with the assistance of Absent Friends members, Beers, Kelly, King, Mason, Valentine, Francois and Andrew Duffield as well as Tim Finn and Blakeley.

It was produced by Ricky Fataar and released on the rooArt label owned by INXS manager, Chris Murphy; Émigré became a hit, being certified platinum.

Matthews appeared on three series of It Takes Two—an Australian TV celebrity singing competition—partnered with Richard Champion (2006), Russell Gilbert (2007) and John Mangos (2008).

On 27 October 2010, Models were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame by Matthews.