Matt Moffitt
| Matt Moffitt | |
|---|---|
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Matthew David Moffitt |
| Born | 20 August 1956 |
| Origin | Sydney, Australia |
| Died | 13 August 2003 (aged 46) |
| Genres | Rock, post-punk, alternative rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, singer-songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar |
| Years active | 1972–2003 |
| Labels | Giant, CBS Records Australia, Mushroom, Alberts, Warners, Universal |
| Associated acts | Matt Finish |
| Website | www |
| Notable instruments | |
| Fender Telecaster | |
Matthew David Moffitt (20 August 1956 – 13 August 2003) was an Australian singer-songwriter/guitarist, best known as the vocalist with rock band Matt Finish. From the late seventies until the mid-nineties, Matt Finish was one of Australia's most popular live bands.
Moffitt's best known song with Matt Finish, Short Note, peaked at No. 18 and has become a standard on Australian radio stations. It was featured in Triple M Network's Best Songs of the Eighties poll in 2005, in the 2007 Australian feature film The Final Winter, appeared on Wendy Matthews' 2004 album Café Naturale, on numerous compilation albums including Sony BMG's The Essential Australian series released in April 2008, and on the Matt Finish albums Short Note (1981) and 1978–2008 (2008).
Moffitt's funeral was on 20 August 2003, on what would have been his 47th birthday.
Moffitt spent much of his childhood in Glenbrook in the Blue Mountains of NSW. His parents were the late award-winning journalist and novelist Ian Moffitt and the journalist Betty Saunders. The family spent some of his formative years in New York.
In the mid-seventies, Moffitt studied drama at The Ensemble Theatre with Hayes Gordon and music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
Moffitt's musical influences included blues and soul from Hell's Kitchen in New York, jazz, the Oz rock of Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and he particularly loved the Jack Bruce solo song "Rope Ladder to the Moon". Moffitt has been described as singing "...from his soul with the voice of a dark angel, going for instinct rather than structure." He was also regarded as a talented acoustic and electric guitarist.
In his teens, Moffitt formed the Blue Mountains-based band Rum Jungle, playing rock covers.
In late 1978 and early 1979 at The Observer Hotel in The Rocks, Sydney, Moffitt played in a funk band with Brian Alcorn on bass guitar and Tony Georgeson on drums. Guest musicians included Ken Francis and Chris Raggatt.
In mid 1979, Moffitt formed Matt Finish with multi-instrumentalist and composer John Prior, Along with a string of supporting musicians, they developed a reputation for high-quality songwriting and passionate, high energy performances, playing thousands of live shows to more than a million people including national tours with U2, Midnight Oil, INXS, The Ramones, Split Enz, XTC, Cold Chisel, Brian Ferry and The B-52's.
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