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Stuart Matthewman

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Stuart Matthewman
Background information
Also known asCottonbelly
Born (1960-08-18) 18 August 1960 (age 64)
Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England
Genres
Occupations
  • Songwriter
  • record producer
  • musician
Instruments
  • Saxophone
  • guitar
  • keyboards
Years active1982–present
Spouse(s)
Syrie Moskowitz
​
(m. 2020)​

Michele Matthewman
​
​
(m. 1990⁠–⁠2012)​
Websitestuartmatthewman.com

Stuart Colin Matthewman (born 18 August 1960), also known as Cottonbelly, is an English songwriter, record producer and musician.[1] He is best known as the guitarist and saxophonist of the band Sade. His work as a member of Sade has earned him four Grammy Awards and a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nomination in 2024.[2] Matthewman has also worked extensively with Maxwell, co-producing the majority of his albums.[3] Additionally, he is also a member of Sweetback.

Early life and career

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Matthewman was born on 18 August 1960 in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire.[4] In 1982, he relocated to London.

Joining Latin funk band Pride, Matthewman met singer Sade Adu and they began writing songs together. Teaming with bassist Paul S. Denman and keyboardist Andrew Hale, they formed the band Sade. Sade signed with Epic Records in 1984. In addition to songwriting, Matthewman can be heard on saxophone, guitar, keyboards, and programming. He appeared on all of Sade's tours and albums: Diamond Life, Promise, Stronger Than Pride, Love Deluxe, Lovers Rock, and Soldier of Love all of which went triple platinum in the U.S. and have totalled sales over 40 million albums worldwide.

In 1995, percussionist Karl Vanden Bossche introduced Matthewman to then unknown singer Maxwell.[5] Matthewman co-produced, co-wrote, and played saxophone and guitar on Maxwell's albums: Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite (Columbia, 1996),[6] Embrya (Columbia, 1998), Now (Columbia, 2001) and blackSUMMERS'night (Columbia, 2016).

In 1996, Matthewman along with Andrew Hale and Paul Spencer Denman formed the studio band Sweetback. Their work featured instrumental songs and songs with guest vocalists. They released two albums, Sweetback (1996) and Stage 2 (2004).[7]

Matthewman co-wrote, performed, and produced tracks on Santessa's 2000 trip-hop album, Delirium, released on Sony.

Using the pseudonym Cottonbelly, Matthewman released the dub/electronic album, X Amounts of Niceness in 2010[8] and produced remixes for artists.

Working with Paloma Faith on her third studio album, Matthewman co-wrote two songs on her album A Perfect Contradiction released March 2014.[9] In an interview with Pete Lewis for Blues and Soul print magazine, issue 1098, Paloma Faith discusses working with songwriters: "another person I really clicked with was Stuart Matthewman, who is Sade's co-writer. Basically I found him very easy to work with because to me he is really like a beautiful facilitator. In that I could just hum something to him and, though it could seem like a really shoddy idea, he would somehow immediately just play the right chords that would make it sound like something really special. So yeah, I think working with Stuart was actually one of the best co-writing experiences I've ever HAD - just because he works in very simple ways".

Matthewman was also a member of the group Twin Danger, formed in 2011 with singer/writer Vanessa Bley, daughter of late jazz pianist Paul Bley and pioneer video artist Carol Goss. In 2014, Twin Danger signed to Decca Classics/Universal records and released[10] their eponymously titled album in spring 2015.[11] Vanessa Bley was killed in a car crash on 25 October 2019 in California.[12]

In 1996, Matthewman composed the music the short movie Bajo del Perro by Los Angeles based film makers Mike Polish and Mark Polish. He went on to compose the music scores for various films;[13] with Maxwell the music for the short film To Be A Black Man (1997),[14] and Twin Falls Idaho (1999),[15] Jackpot (2001), Northfork (2003), The Double (2005),[16] The Astronaut Farmer (2006), Life Support (2007), The Smell of Success (2009), Nona (2017)[17] and short Erotic Dreams of the Chelsea Hotel (2017).[18]

Matthewman has discussed diverse musical influences[19] including Junior Walker, King Curtis, Art Pepper, Ernie Isley, Steve Jones, Wah Wah Watson, Issac Hayes, Bill Withers, Lee Perry, Tony Iommi and Gustav Mahler.[20]

Discography

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Main article: Sade discography

References

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  1. ^ "STUART MATTHEWMAN". Threee.com. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  2. ^ "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announces 2024 induction nominees: See who made the list". wkyc.com. 10 February 2024. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
  3. ^ Garrity, Brian (22 August 2018). "Certified Classics To Rerelease Maxwell's Embrya In Celebration Of The Album's 20th Anniversary September 28th - Sony Music". Sony Music Entertainment. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
  4. ^ "Stuart Matthewman". Stuartmatthewman.com. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  5. ^ Leight, Elias (1 April 2021). "Maxwell Wasn't Sure He Wanted to Be a Star. 'Urban Hang Suite' Left Him No Choice". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  6. ^ "How Maxwell Captured the Sounds of Timeless Soul on 'Urban Hang Suite': 25 Years Later". Ratedrnb.com. 2 April 2021. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  7. ^ Gunnar Homdrum. "SADE - The Band". Homdrum.net. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  8. ^ "Cottonbelly: X Amounts of Niceness, PopMatters". Popmatters.com. 8 August 2004.
  9. ^ "Paloma Faith: You gotta have faith". Bluesandsoul.com. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  10. ^ "Grammy Pro Interview With Twin Danger". Retrieved 21 April 2021 – via YouTube.
  11. ^ "Twin Danger - Twin Danger". Discogs.com. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  12. ^ Hayden, Tyler (29 October 2019). "Driver in Fatal 154 Crash Was a Ticking Time Bomb". The Santa Barbara Independent. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  13. ^ "Stuart Matthewman". BFI. Archived from the original on 30 June 2020. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  14. ^ "Watch A Throwback: 'To Be A Black Man' By Nelson George Ft. Chris Rock + More". Okayplayer.com.
  15. ^ "Twin Falls Idaho". Sonyclassics.com. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  16. ^ "The Double". IMDb.com. 15 June 2005.
  17. ^ Harvey, Dennis (15 December 2018). "Film Review: 'Nona'". Variety.com.
  18. ^ "The Erotic Dreams of the Chelsea Hotel Trailer". 24 August 2018 – via YouTube.
  19. ^ [1] [dead link]
  20. ^ "The Couch Sessions". Couchsessions-frontend.netlify.org. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
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