MATTHEW GERRARD
WRITER / PRODUCER (UK Only)

Matthew Gerrard was born in Toronto, Canada. His first instruments were bass and piano. In his teenage years he was making a living from session work and from composing jingles. His first band, Regatta, were signed to BMG in Canada and they had a hit with a song titled Wherever You Run. He ran his own studio where he’d produce bands and music across a wide range of styles: rock and pop, dance, swing and country.

After a decade of this, Gerrard relocated to LA and started writing with Michelle Vice. Their first cut together was the song Get Over Yourself for Edens Crush from the Popstars TV show. Their songwriting partnership next produced a Top 40 hit for Nick Carter with Help Me, and Matthew then started working with acts signed to the Hollywood and Disney labels. He wrote six songs for Hilary Duff (including I Can’t Wait and Why Not?, her early singles, and a song on the soundtrack for Cheaper By The Dozen titled What Christmas Should Be) and seven co-writes and productions for Jesse McCartney. One of Matthew’s biggest hits to date is Breakaway, performed by Kelly Clarkson. “The song was originally written for Avril (Lavigne), it was inspired by her life,” said Gerrard. “As it turned out, it wasn’t quite right for Avril’s album, so we pitched it to Kelly Clarkson. It all worked out great. Kelly sounds great singing it, and it was a big hit for us.” Breakaway was also featured on the Princess Diaries 2 soundtrack.

More recently, Gerrard wrote three songs that appeared on the High School Musical soundtrack – one of the highest selling albums in the US in 2006; six songs for Hannah Montana’s solo album, again a hugely successful album; and three songs for The Bratz TV show.

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Other artists that Matthew has written with, or for, include Melissa Etheridge, Smashmouth, Plain White T’s, Jon McLaughlin, Jessica Simpson, Ross Copperman, Vanessa Hudgens, Kimberley Locke, Natalie Grant, Hayden Panatierre, Corbin Bleu, Jeannie Ortega, Delta Goodrem, Jaci Velasquez, Latoya London, Gia, Chris Botti, Raven Symone, Jordan McCoy and Lindsay Lohan. An impressive list by anyone’s standards!