Matthew Wilder ( Weiner; January 24, 1953) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known for his 1983 hit single " Break My Stride", which hit No. 2 on the '' Cashbox'' chart and No. 5 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. He also wrote the music for the

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

animated feature film ''

Mulan Hua Mulan () is a legendary Chinese folk heroine from the Northern and Southern dynasties era (4th to 6th century Common Era, CE) of Chinese history. Scholar, Scholars generally consider Mulan to be a fictional character. Hua Mulan is depicte ...

'' and provided the singing voice for the character Ling.

Early life

Matthew Wilder was born on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

, New York,Farance, Jeff (June 16, 2006). "Seeing Stars: Where's Wilder? With Waldo?" '' The Daytona Beach News-Journal''. p. E14. into a Jewish family. His mother was an opera singer and a Juilliard graduate, and his father was a press agent on Broadway. Wilder started studying classical piano at age four. He moved to

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

at age 16, and graduated from the New Lincoln School.

Career

Wilder was one-half of the

folk rock Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...

group Matthew & Peter in the 1970s. In 1978, he moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, and sang for television commercials and as a backup vocalist for

Rickie Lee Jones Rickie Lee Jones (born November 8, 1954) is an American singer, musician, and songwriter. Over the course of a career that spans five decades and 15 studio albums, she has recorded in various musical styles including rock, R&B, pop, soul, an ...

and

Bette Midler Bette Midler ( ;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American actress, comedian, singer, and author. Throughout her five-decade career Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Bette Midler, numero ...

. Wilder's debut album, '' I Don't Speak the Language'' (1983), reached No. 49 on the ''Billboard'' 200, fueled by " Break My Stride". Wilder had some continued success with the single "The Kid's American", which reached No. 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 A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

for such acts as

No Doubt No Doubt is an American rock band formed in Anaheim, California in 1986. For most of its career, the band has consisted of vocalist and founding member Gwen Stefani, guitarist Tom Dumont, bassist Tony Kanal and drummer Adrian Young. Keyboar ...

(the hit album '' Tragic Kingdom''), 702,

Christina Aguilera Christina María Aguilera ( , ; born December 18, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter, actress and television personality. Recognized as Cultural impact of Christina Aguilera, an influential figure in music and having received Public imag ...

Kelly Clarkson Kelly Brianne (born Kelly Brianne Clarkson, April 24, 1982), known professionally as Kelly Clarkson, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. Rising to fame after winning the American Idol season 1, first season of ''Ameri ...

Miley Cyrus Miley Ray Cyrus ( , born Destiny Hope Cyrus, November 23, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and director. Regarded as a contemporary pop icon, Cyrus has been recognized for her evolving artistry and image reinventions. She is ...

on her ''

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'' 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 Hayden Lesley Panettiere ( ; born August 21, 1989) is an American actress and singer. She has starred as Claire Bennet on the NBC superhero series ''Heroes (American TV series), Heroes'' (2006–2010), Kirby Reed in the slasher film, slasher Ho ...

's unreleased album. For the

film ''

'', Wilder co-wrote the songs with lyricist David Zippel. Wilder also lent his singing voice to the character of Ling. He won an

Annie Award The Annie Awards are accolades which the Los Angeles branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood, has presented each year since 1972 to recognize excellence in animation shown in American cinema and television. Origina ...

nomination for Music in an Animated Feature Production, and was nominated for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

for Best Original Musical or Comedy Score (along with

David Zippel David Joel Zippel (born May 17, 1954) is an American musical theatre and film lyricist, composer, songwriter, director, and producer. Early life and education Zippel was born on May 17, 1954, in Easton, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region ...

and

Jerry Goldsmith Jerrald King Goldsmith (February 10, 1929July 21, 2004) was an American composer, conductor and orchestrator with a career in film and television scoring that spanned nearly 50 years and over 200 productions, between 1954 and 2003. He was consid ...

) 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 Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett (24 November 1849 – 29 October 1924) was a British-American novelist and playwright. She is best known for the three children's novels ''Little Lord Fauntleroy'' (1886), ''A Little Princess'' (1905), a ...

's novel '' A Little Princess''. The production ran at the 5th Avenue Theatre in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

in 2003.

Discography

Studio albums

With Matthew & Peter *''Under the Arch'' (1972, with Matthew & Peter)

Soundtrack albums

Singles

Filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilder, Matthew Living people American male pop singers American male singer-songwriters American new wave musicians Annie Award winners Columbia Records artists Epic Records artists American male new wave singers Jewish American musicians Musicians from Manhattan Record producers from New York (state) Singer-songwriters from New York (state) Singers from New York City Synth-pop new wave musicians 1953 births