Matthew Brendan McAndrew (born September 6, 1990) is an American singer-songwriter best known for his appearance in Season 7 of NBC's reality TV singing competition The Voice, where he finished as the runner-up as part of team Adam.[2] In January 2019, he became the lead vocalist of the American post-hardcore band Rain City Drive.[3]
Matt McAndrew | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Matthew Brendan McAndrew[1] |
| Born | September 6, 1990 Mount Holly, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupation | Singer–songwriter |
| Instruments |
|
| Years active | 2010–present |
| Labels | Thriller Records |
| Website | mattmcandrewmusic |
Early life
editMcAndrew was born to Brenda (née Gordon) and Patrick McAndrew. He grew up in the small town of Barnegat Light, New Jersey, and has been writing songs and performing in bands since he was a boy.[4] During his senior year at the Southern Regional High School in Manahawkin, New Jersey, he decided to pursue a music career.[5][6] He attended the University of the Arts, Philadelphia, graduating in 2013.[7]
Career
editEarly days
editIn 2010, McAndrew started writing solo acoustic material and playing his songs at open mic nights, ice cream parlors, and bars.[4] He worked at Bach To Rock, a national music school franchise with a location in suburban Philadelphia, teaching voice, guitar and ukulele.[6] He self-released an album called View of The Pines on March 1, 2014.[8]
Among other projects including Other People, and Hollow Shoulder, McAndrew gained notoriety in High School for recording and performing a Christmas themed tribute album dedicated to classmate Dwight Wagaman.[9]
2014: The Voice
editOn September 4, 2014, it was announced that McAndrew would compete in season 7 of The Voice. During his blind audition, he covered Christina Perri's "A Thousand Years". Three coaches (Adam Levine, Blake Shelton and Pharrell Williams) turned around. He chose Levine as his coach.[10]
In the Battle rounds, McAndrew faced Ethan Butler where they sang "Yellow". McAndrew was chosen over Butler, and advanced to the Knockout rounds. McAndrew covered "Drops of Jupiter", defeated Rebekah Samarin, and advanced to the Live Playoffs. He covered The Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" and advanced through the Live shows, saved by "America's Vote". The following week, he sang Hozier's "Take Me to Church" and was saved by public voting. That night, he received the first "iTunes bonus multiplier" of the season, with his studio recording of "Take Me to Church" reaching the fifth position on the iTunes Top 200 Singles chart at the close of the voting window. The song also charted at number 92 on the Billboard Hot 100.[11]
In top 10 he performed "Fix You" by Coldplay and was saved by America's voting. In Top 8 he covered Damien Rice's "The Blower's Daughter", which peaked at 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 and had opening sales of 92,000 downloads.[12]
In the top 5 Live shows, McAndrew covered "Make it Rain" by Foy Vance and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" by U2, and was voted through to the finale. During the finale the top four were given three songs to perform. McAndrew covered "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and "Lost Stars", a duet with his coach Adam Levine. His third performance was the original song "Wasted Love", which was his first single to break the top 10 singles of the iTunes top 200 charts. A music video for "Wasted Love" was released on The Voice's YouTube channel.
On December 16, 2014, McAndrew was announced as the runner-up of season 7 of The Voice, behind Craig Wayne Boyd.[citation needed]
On December 25, 2014, after the result of the show was announced, Billboard showed McAndrew's "Wasted Love" at 14th on the Hot 100 with opening sales of 209,000 units sold.[13] This is the highest mark ever achieved by a The Voice recording artist to date.[14]
- Studio version of performance reached the top 10 on iTunes
| Stage | Song | Original artist | Date | Order | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blind audition | "A Thousand Years" | Christina Perri | October 6, 2014 | N/A | Three chairs turned Joined Team Adam |
| Battle Rounds (Top 48) | "Yellow" (vs. Ethan Butler) | Coldplay | October 20, 2014 | N/A | Saved by Coach |
| Knockout Rounds (Top 32) | "Drops of Jupiter" (vs. Rebekah Samarin) | Train | November 3, 2014 | N/A | Saved by Coach |
| Live Playoffs (Top 20) | "God Only Knows" | The Beach Boys | November 10, 2014 | 5 | Saved by Public Vote |
| Live Top 12 | "Take Me to Church" | Hozier | November 17, 2014 | 9 | Saved by Public Vote |
| Live Top 10 | "Fix You" | Coldplay | November 24, 2014 | 1 | Saved by Public Vote |
| Live Top 8 | "The Blower's Daughter" | Damien Rice | December 1, 2014 | 8 | Saved by Public Vote |
| Live Top 5 (Semi-finals) | "Make It Rain" | Foy Vance | December 8, 2014 | 4 | Saved by Public Vote |
| "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" | U2 | 7 | |||
| Live Finale | "Over the Rainbow" | Judy Garland | December 15, 2014 | 12 | Runner up |
| "Lost Stars" (with Adam Levine) | Adam Levine | 8 | |||
| "Wasted Love" (Original song) | Matt McAndrew | 4 |
2015: Republic Records
editOn February 13, 2015, Republic Records officially announced that McAndrew was part of their Class of 2015 lineup of artists. On the same day, The Voice released a YouTube video of Adam Levine drawing a checkmark on McAndrew's wrist, which was then made permanent by Studio City Tattoo, signifying that he had a record contract.[15]
2016: New label
editOn April 28, 2016, McAndrew announced that he had started a PledgeMusic campaign shortly after parting ways with Republic Records. He stated in his Pledge pitch, "Under my contract with the label, I wasn't able to release new music, got out of that deal, and now I'm able to share some awesome new songs with you guys."[16] On September 9, 2016, McAndrew released the independent EP Rush in Slowly, produced by Job Killer Records.[17]
2019–present: Rain City Drive
editIn January 2019, he became the lead vocalist in the American post-hardcore band Rain City Drive.[3]
Discography
editStudio albums
edit| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| View of the Pines[8] |
|
Singles
edit| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| US | CAN | ||
| "Wasted Love" | 2014 | 14 | 17 |
| "Counting on Love" | 2015 | — | — |
Releases from The Voice
editAlbums
edit| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions |
|---|---|---|
| US | ||
| The Voice: The Complete Season 7 Collection |
|
26 |
Singles
edit| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | CAN | |||
| "A Thousand Years" | 2014 | — | — | The Voice: The Complete Season 7 Collection |
| "Yellow" (with Ethan Butler) |
— | — | non-album single | |
| "Drops of Jupiter" | — | — | The Voice: The Complete Season 7 Collection | |
| "God Only Knows" | — | — | ||
| "Take Me to Church" | 92 | — | ||
| "Fix You" | — | — | ||
| "The Blower's Daughter" | 40 | 30 | ||
| "Make It Rain" | 81 | 95 | ||
| "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" | — | — | ||
| "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" | — | — | ||
| "Lost Stars" (with Adam Levine) |
83 | 86 | ||
| "—" denotes single that did not chart or was not released | ||||
Rain City Drive
editSingles
edit| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| US | CAN | ||
| "Heavier",
"Prayers", "Bury a Lie", "Talk to a Friend", "Wasting my Youth", “Like I Do” |
2019 | – | – |
References
edit- ^ "Matt McAndrew – Facebook". facebook.com. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
- ^ "About Matt McAndrew". nbc.com. NBC The Voice. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
- ^ a b "Slaves announce first new tour without Jonny Craig". www.altpress.com. Archived from the original on 2019-02-21.
- ^ a b Staff. "Matt McAndrew". ReverbNation. Retrieved April 3, 2015.
- ^ "'The Voice' Artist Matt McAndrew Gets Personal With Songwriting Process". Deepest Dream. 27 October 2014.
- ^ a b "'The Voice' 2014: Jersey Shore finalist Matt McAndrew's small town start, big time dreams". NJ.com. 16 December 2014. Retrieved April 3, 2015.
- ^ "Matt McAndrew '13 Heads to Semi-Finals on 'The Voice'". Retrieved April 3, 2015.
- ^ a b "View of the Pines by Matt McAndrew". iTunes. March 2014. Retrieved April 3, 2015.
- ^ "Security Check Required". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
- ^ "The Voice 2014 Blind Audition – Matt McAndrew: "A Thousand Years"". YouTube. October 6, 2014.
- ^ "The Voice's Matt McAndrew Debuts on Hot 100 with "Take Me to Church"". Headline Planet. 27 November 2014.
- ^ "AC/DC". Billboard. 12 December 2014. Retrieved April 3, 2015.
- ^ "Hot 100 Chart Moves: Nicki Minaj Passes Madonna, 'Voice' Finalists Debut". Billboard. 26 December 2014. Retrieved April 3, 2015.
- ^ "Hot 100: Matt McAndrew's "Wasted Love" Outranks Craig Wayne Boyd's Song (updated)". Headline Planet. 25 December 2014. Retrieved April 3, 2015.
- ^ "'The Voice' Exclusive: "Check Matt" McAndrew". Republic records. February 14, 2015. Retrieved April 28, 2015.
- ^ "Voice Standout Matt McAndrew Planning Independent EP Release". Idol Chatter. April 28, 2016. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
- ^ "The Voice singer Matt McAndrew releases new EP 'Rush In Slowly' with record label". Socalmuse. September 12, 2016. Retrieved July 1, 2017.