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Philly-raised songwriter who is a self-taught piano
player and graduate of Temple
University. In his teens, he did session work
for the likes of Teddy Pendergrass, The Spinners, and The Stylistics. After college, he and his wife moved
to L.A. and
he had a hit with his first professional composition, "Mirror Mirror", a song he co-wrote with Michael Sembello.
They recorded it as part of a demo for Sembello,
but when RCA heard it they were so enamoured of
the song, Diana Ross wound up taking it to #8 on the Billboard chart and
the top five on the R&B chart.
Shortly thereafter, another Matkosky-Sembello collaboration would reach #1, this time with Sembello on vocals.
" Maniac", which Matkosky started writing while
he was watching the news on TV about a particularly brutal murder, started
out as a joke song between him and Sembello. Phil Ramone
actually liked the song and wanted to use it in the film Flashdance,
with different lyrics, of course.
The soundtrack sold over twenty million copies and won a Grammy
award for Best Soundtrack Album.
It is hard to imagine this same fellow is also responsible for some
of the biggest country and western hits of the last thirteen years. Matkosky
emigrated to Nashville and 1994 and began a lucrative partnership with
singer-songwriter LeAnn Rimes, exemplified by the mega-smash "I Need
You", which spent a record 111 weeks on the Billboard Adult
Contemporary Chart and earned him awards from ASCAP in both the country and
pop categories. Other successes
include Smokey Robinson's "We've Saved the Best for
Last" and Boz Scaggs' "Heart of
Mine", both of which hit #1 on the AC chart, and Keith Urban's #1 country and western hit,
"You'll Think Of Me". Matkosky
is chameleon-like in his seeming effortlessness to write, and succeed, in
different genres. His songs
have topped the Christian Contemporary charts eleven times, and he has also
cracked the top ten of Billboard's Gospel and Jazz charts. His works have been covered by such
variegated artists as George Benson, Sara Brightman,
Stanley Clarke, Sheena Easton, James Ingram, Al Jarreau,
Kenny G, Kool & The Gang, Sergio Mendes, and
Cliff Richard. Dennis Matkosky may not be a household name, but with over
fifty million records sold, chances are his name can be found somewhere in
your household.
Diana Ross
recordings
Mirror, Mirror
(Dennis Matkosky/Michael Sembello)
Sources:
- http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0559125/
- http://www.songwriteruniverse.com/matkosky.htm
- http://forum.belmont.edu/muzzbuzz/archives/002325.html
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