Ivan Matias is an American singer,

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

, hip hop ghostwriter, and entrepreneur. He is primarily known for writing and producing hit songs for artists like

En Vogue En Vogue is an American vocal girl group whose original lineup consisted of singers Terry Ellis, Dawn Robinson, Cindy Herron, and Maxine Jones. Formed in Oakland, California, in 1989, En Vogue reached No. 2 on the US Hot 100 with the single "Hol ...

("Don't Let Go (Love)"), Angie Stone ("Wish I Didn't Miss You"),

SWV SWV (Sisters with Voices) is an American R&B vocal trio from New York City whose members are Cheryl (Coko) Gamble, Tamara (Taj) Johnson, and Leanne (Lelee) Lyons. Formed in 1988 as a gospel group, SWV became one of the most successful R&B g ...

("You're The One"), and Blu Cantrell ("Breathe") among others which have sold over 44 million records worldwide and appear on over 100 greatest hits and compilation albums. Matias has also had four major label recording deals with

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

London Records London Recordings (or London Records and London Music Stream) is a British record label that marketed records in the United States, Canada, and Latin America for Decca Records from 1947 to 1980 before becoming semi-independent. The London nam ...

Arista Records Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertainmen ...

, and

Elektra Entertainment Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the 1 ...

. Only his Arista artist album was released and produced a #1 Dance Single "I've Had Enough". Matias has been featured on several soundtracks including '' Dr. Dolittle'' ("Do Little Things"), '' Set It Off'' ("Set It Off"), ''

The Mod Squad ''The Mod Squad'' is an American crime drama series, originally broadcast for five seasons on ABC from September 24, 1968, to March 1, 1973. It starred Michael Cole as Peter "Pete" Cochran, Peggy Lipton as Julie Barnes, Clarence Williams III as ...

'' ("Messin' Around") and '' Sprung'' ("Since You've Gone Away").

Early career

Ivan began his career as a backing singer & dancer for many artists including

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey (; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Referred to as the " Songbird Supreme", she is noted for her five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style and signature use of the whi ...

and

Busta Rhymes Trevor George Smith Jr. (born May 20, 1972), known professionally as Busta Rhymes, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after NFL and CFL wide receiver ...

. He went on from these humble beginnings to write and produce songs recorded by many of the industry's leading acts including Lauryn Hill, Jay-Z, Pink, Dr. Dre, Curtis Mayfield, Janet Jackson, Nelly, Lil' Kim, Timbaland, Swizz Beatz, Outkast, Queen Latifah, Toni Braxton, En Vogue, SWV, Angie Stone, Blu Cantrell, Sean Paul, Silk, Az Yet, Traci Spencer, Fatboy Slim, Chico Debarge, Ray J, Changing Faces, Tomcraft, Xscape,The Braxtons, Immature, City High, Another Level, Jody Watley, Eric Sermon and Bette Midler. Many of his songs have been featured worldwide on MTV, BET, VH1, NBC, FOX, ABC, CBS, BBC, ITV & performed on AMERICAN IDOL, THE X FACTOR (around the world), DANCING WITH THE STARS, THE VOICE, EMMY AWARDS, R&B DIVAS & SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE and many other commercial placements. Matias was signed to Warner/Chappell Music at the age of 19 making him one of the youngest and longest-running active writers in Warner's history. Matias has also had one of his songs appear on a newly released album for 18 consecutive years since his writing career began in 1995. His career has included collaboration with top producers and writers including Dr.Dre, Timbaland, Swizz Beatz, Arif Mardin, Diane Warren, Wyclef Jean, Rodney Jerkins, Narada Michael Walden, Mervyn Warren, Just Blaze, Full Force, Frankie Knuckles, Randy Jackson, Rhett Lawrence, CJ Mackintosh and others. Many of Matias' hits were written with longtime songwriting partner Andrea Martin.

Caushun The Gay Rapper

In 2000, Matias created a parody artist,

Caushun Caushun (born Jason Herndon 1977) is an American rapper, often erroneously referred to as the first openly gay hip-hop artist to be signed to a major record label in the United States. It was reported that he was to be signed to Kimora Lee Simmo ...

, who received attention after he was announced as the first openly gay rapper to be signed to a major record label, including a ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' cover & features in several publications, documentaries & television networks including Newsweek, Fox News, MTV, BET VH1 and recurring appearances on NY's HOT 97 and WBLS radio stations. Matias negotiated with hip hop mogul

Russell Simmons Russell Wendell Simmons (born October 4, 1957) is an American entrepreneur, writer and record executive. He co-founded the hip-hop label Def Jam Recordings, and created the clothing fashion lines Phat Farm, Argyleculture, and Tantris. Simmons' ...

to release an album of the parody rapper. Matias' creation has been credited with building the bridge between the LGBT community and the hip hop community as well as cultivating and drawing attention to the underground LGBT hip hop scene.

Recent News

In December 2013 Matias' song "Don't Let Go (Love)" soared back to #1 & #3 simultaneously on the iTunes chart after Little Mix performed on The X Factor UK. Australian singer Greg Gould’s version of the track topped the charts globally in 2017 and the music video has had over 20 million views. Matias put Gould in touch with En Vogue’s Maxine Jones and the two re-recorded Gould’s arrangement of the song as a duet and then embarked on a tour together in late 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matias, Ivan Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century American writers American hip hop record producers American music publishers (people) East Coast hip hop musicians Businesspeople from New York City Songwriters from New York (state) Writers from New York City Record producers from New York (state)