Quick Facts
Aquarius
Biography
Matthew Wilder (born Matthew Weiner; January 24, 1953) is an American musician, singer, and record producer. In early 1984, his single "Break My Stride" hit #2 on the Cash Box chart and #5 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Career
Born in New York City, Wilder was one-half of the Greenwich Village folk group Matthew & Peter in the 1970s. In 1978 he moved to Los Angeles, California, and sang for television commercials and as a backing vocalist for Rickie Lee Jones and Bette Midler.
Wilder's debut album, I Don't Speak the Language (1983), reached #49 on the Billboard 200, fueled by "Break My Stride".Wilder had some continued success with the single "The Kid's American", which reached #33 in 1984, but the single failed to match the success of "Break My Stride".Wilder's second album, Bouncin' Off the Walls (1984), failed to gain much momentum—even with an innovative music video for the single "Bouncin' Off the Walls", with only the title track making the charts (No. 52), and was subsequently deemed a commercial failure.
Despite the downturn in his solo career, Wilder continued his career in the music industry as a songwriter and as a record producer for such acts as No Doubt (the hit album Tragic Kingdom), 702, Christina Aguilera, Kelly Clarkson, Miley Cyrus on her Hannah Montana song "G.N.O. (Girls Night Out)", The Belle Brigade, King Charles, and Joanna Pacitti. He has also done production work on Australian singer-songwriter Mig Ayesa's self-titled album released in April 2007 and has helped with production on Hayden Panettiere's unreleased album. In 2014, he did production work on Retrouvailles's new album.
For the Disney film Mulan, Matthew Wilder lent his singing voice to the character of Ling and won an Annie Award nomination for Music in an Animated Feature Production and was nominated for an Academy Award for Original Music Score (along with David Zippel and Jerry Goldsmith) for his work on that film.For theatre, Wilder once again paired with Zippel to provide the music and lyrics for Princesses, a musical comedy update of Frances Hodgson Burnett's novel A Little Princess.The production ran at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle but has yet to open on Broadway.
Discography
Albums
- Under the Arch (1972, with Matthew & Peter)
- I Don't Speak the Language (1983)
- Bouncin' Off the Walls (1984)
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US AC | US Dance | USR&B | UK | |||||
| 1982 | "Work So Hard" | — | 32 | — | — | — | N/A | ||
| 1983 | "Break My Stride" | 5 | 4 | 17 | 76 | 4 |
| I Don't Speak the Language | |
| "I Don't Speak the Language" | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 1984 | "World of the Rich and Famous" | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "The Kid's American" | 33 | — | — | — | 93 | ||||
| 1985 | "Ladder of Lovers" | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Bouncin' Off the Walls" | 52 | — | — | — | — | Bouncin' Off the Walls | |||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||