Biography[edit]
1960-1981: Early years[edit]
Wendy Joan Matthews[2] 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.[3] 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.[3] 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.[1][4] 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.[5]
TV appearances[edit]
Matthews has appeared on three series of Channel Seven's celebrity singing competition It Takes Two. The first series premiered on 28 May 2006, she was partnered by former Australian Rules footballer, Richard Champion, they were voted off in week six. On 1 May 2007, ahead of the second series, Matthews, David Hobson and Troy Cassar-Daley sang "Got to Get You into My Life" on celebrity dancing competition Dancing with the Stars grand final, which was won by Ceberano and her professional dance partner John Paul Collins. It Takes Two second series premiered on 8 May, where Matthews was paired with comedian Russell Gilbert, they were voted off in week four of the competition. The third series commenced on 12 February 2008 with John Mangos, news reader for Sky News Australia, and Matthews being voted off in week two. Matthews appeared on the TV show RocKwiz on 1 November 2008, she performed Toto's "Hold the Line" as a duet with Johnny Galvatron from The Galvatrons.
Awards and nominations[edit]
APRA Awards[edit]
The APRA Awards are presented annually from 1982 by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA).[35]