Stuart Colin Matthewman (born 18 August 1960), also known as Cottonbelly, is an English songwriter, record producer and musician. With

Sade Adu Helen Folasade Adu ( yo, Fọláṣadé Adú ; born 16 January 1959), known professionally as Sade Adu or simply Sade ( ), is a Nigerian-born British singer, known as the lead singer of her eponymous band. One of the most successful British fe ...

Paul S. Denman Paul Spencer Denman (born July 1957). English songwriter and bass guitarist. With Sade Adu, Andrew Hale, and Stuart Matthewman, Denman gained worldwide fame as the bass guitarist of the English band Sade. He is also a member of the English ba ...

, and Andrew Hale, he gained worldwide fame as the guitarist/saxophonist of the band

Sade Sade may refer to: People * Marquis de Sade (1740–1814), French aristocrat, writer, and libertine * Sade (singer) (born 1959, Helen Folasade Adu), British Nigerian musician and lead singer of the eponymous band * Sade Baderinwa (born 1969), WAB ...

. Stuart is also a member of Sweetback, and was one half of Twin Danger.

Early life and career

Matthewman was born on 18 August 1960 in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire. In 1982, he relocated to London. Joining

Latin funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

band Pride, Matthewman met singer

and they began writing songs together. Teaming with bassist

and keyboardist Andrew Hale, they formed the band Sade. Sade signed with

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

br>U.K. division
in 1984. In addition to songwriting, Matthewman can be heard on saxophone, guitar, keyboards, and programming. He appeared on all of Sade's tours and albums: ''

Diamond Life ''Diamond Life'' is the debut studio album by English band Sade, released in the United Kingdom on 16 July 1984 by Epic Records and in the United States on 27 February 1985 by Portrait Records. After studying fashion design, and later modelling ...

'', '' Promise'', ''

Stronger Than Pride ''Stronger Than Pride'' is the third studio album by English band Sade, released by Epic Records in the United Kingdom on 3 May 1988 and in the United States on 10 May 1988. In September 2018, ''Pitchfork'' placed the album at number 37 on its ...

'', ''

Love Deluxe Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of meanings is that the love o ...

, Lovers Rock'', and '' Soldier of Love'' all of which went triple

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinu ...

in the U.S. and have totalled sales over 40 million albums worldwide. In 1995, percussionist Karl Vanden Bossche introduced Matthewman to then unknown singer Maxwell. Matthewman co-produced, co-wrote, and played saxophone and guitar on Maxwell's albums: ''

Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite ''Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite'' is the debut album by American R&B singer-songwriter Maxwell. It was recorded in 1994 and 1995, then released on April 2, 1996, by Columbia Records. Maxwell largely wrote and produced the album himself, recordin ...

'' (Columbia, 1996), ''

Embrya ''Embrya'' is the second studio album by American recording artist Maxwell, released on June 30, 1998, by Columbia Records. As on his 1996 debut album ''Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite'', he collaborated with record producer and Sade collaborator Stuar ...

'' (Columbia, 1998),''

Now Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * Now ...

'' (Columbia, 2001) and ''

blackSUMMERS'night ''BLACKsummers'night'' is the fourth studio album by American recording artist Maxwell, released July 7, 2009 on Columbia Records. It is the follow-up to his third album '' Now'' (2001). Recording sessions for the album took place during 2003 to ...

'' (Columbia, 2016). In 1996 Matthewman along with Andrew Hale and Paul Spencer Denman formed the studio band Sweetback. Their work featured

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

songs and songs with guest vocalists. They released two albums, ''Sweetback (1996)'' and ''Stage 2'' (2004). Matthewman co-wrote, performed, and produced tracks o
Santessa
s 2000 trip-hop album Delirium released on Sony. Using the pseudonym Cottonbelly, Stuart released the dub/electronic album, ''X Amounts of Niceness'' ''in 201

' and produced remixes for artists. Working with

Paloma Faith Paloma Faith Blomfield (born 21 July 1981) is an English singer and actress. Her debut studio album, ''Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?,'' was released in 2009 and was certified double platinum in the UK. The album spawned the sing ...

on her third studio album, Stuart Matthewman co-wrote two songs on her album ''

A Perfect Contradiction ''A Perfect Contradiction'' is the third studio album by English recording artist Paloma Faith, released by Sony Music Entertainment on 10 March 2014. Musically, the album is a pop album, with elements of R&B, jazz, soul, Motown and disco. The a ...

'' released March 2014. In an interview with Pete Lewis for Blues and Soul print magazine, issue 1098, Paloma Faith discusses working with songwriters: "another person I really clicked with was Stuart Matthewman, who is Sade's co-writer. Basically I found him very easy to work with because to me he is really like a beautiful facilitator. In that I could just hum something to him and, though it could seem like a really shoddy idea, he would somehow immediately just play the right chords that would make it sound like something really special. So yeah, I think working with Stuart was actually one of the best co-writing experiences I've ever HAD - just because he works in very simple ways". Stuart was also a member of the grou
Twin Danger
formed in 2011 with singer/write
Vanessa Bley
daughter of late jazz pianist Paul Bley and pioneer video artist Carol Goss. In 2014 Twin Danger signed to Decca Classics/Universal records and released their eponymously titled album in spring 2015. Vanessa Bley was killed in a car crash on 25 October 2019 in California. In 1996 Matthewman composed the music the short movie 'Bajo del Perro' by LA based film makers Mike Polish and

Mark Polish Mark Polish and Michael Polish (born October 30, 1970), known informally as the Polish brothers, are American twin screenwriters and film producers. Michael usually directs their films, and Mark often has an acting role. Life The Polish brothe ...

. He went on to compose the music scores for various films; with Maxwell the music for the short fil
To Be A Black Man (1997)
and ''

Twin Falls Idaho ''Twin Falls Idaho'' is a 1999 independent drama directed by Michael Polish, who co-wrote and co-stars in the film with Mark Polish. It premiered at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival and was acquired by Sony Pictures Classics, who gave the film a l ...

(1999)','' ''

Jackpot Jackpot or Jackpot! may refer to: * A prize, such as a progressive jackpot * Gardena jackpots, a poker variant * Jackpot, Nevada, a community on the Nevada–Idaho state border Comics * Jackpot (comics), several comic book characters * ''Jack ...

(2001)'', ''

Northfork ''Northfork'' is a 2003 film directed by Michael Polish and written by Michael and Mark Polish. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 21, 2003 and later received a limited release in the United States on July 11, 2003. The film ...

(2003)'',
The Double
(2005)'', ''

The Astronaut Farmer ''The Astronaut Farmer'' is a 2006 American drama film directed by Michael Polish, who co-wrote the screenplay with his brother Mark. The film stars Billy Bob Thornton, Virginia Madsen, Bruce Dern and Max Thieriot. The plot is about a Texas rancher ...

(2006),'' ''

Life Support Life support comprises the treatments and techniques performed in an emergency in order to support life after the failure of one or more vital organs. Healthcare providers and emergency medical technicians are generally certified to perform basic ...

(2007),''

The Smell Of Success ''The Smell of Success'' is a 2009 American comedy film directed by Michael Polish and starring Billy Bob Thornton, Téa Leoni, Kyle MacLachlan, and Ed Helms. The film was produced by Initiate Productions, and premiered at the 2009 Sundance Fi ...

(2009)
Nona
2017), and shor
Erotic Dreams of the Chelsea Hotel
(2017) . Matthewma
has discussed diverse musical
influences including

Junior Walker Autry DeWalt Mixon Jr. (June 14, 1931 – November 23, 1995), known professionally as Junior Walker, was an American multi-instrumentalist (primarily saxophonist and vocalist) who recorded for Motown during the 1960s. He also performed as a ses ...

King Curtis Curtis Ousley (born Curtis Montgomery; February 7, 1934 – August 13, 1971), known professionally as King Curtis, was an American saxophonist who played rhythm and blues, jazz, and rock and roll. A bandleader, band member, and session musicia ...

Art Pepper Arthur Edward Pepper Jr. (September 1, 1925 – June 15, 1982) was an American alto saxophonist and very occasional tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. Active in West Coast jazz, Pepper came to prominence in Stan Kenton's big band. He was known ...

Ernie Isley Ernest Isley (born March 7, 1952) is an American musician, best known as a member of the musical ensemble The Isley Brothers, and also the splinter group Isley-Jasper-Isley. Biography Ernie was born in Cincinnati, where his older brothers for ...

, Steve Jones,

Wah Wah Watson Melvin M. Ragin (December 8, 1950 – October 24, 2018), known professionally as "Wah Wah Watson", was an American guitarist who was a member of The Funk Brothers, the studio band for Motown Records. Career A native of Richmond, Virginia, Melvi ...

Issac Hayes Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American singer, actor, songwriter, and composer. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwri ...

Bill Withers William Harrison Withers Jr. (July 4, 1938 – March 30, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He had several hits over a career spanning 18 years, including "Ain't No Sunshine" (1971), "Grandma's Hands" (1971), " Use Me" (1972) ...

, Lee Perry,

Tony Iommi Anthony Frank Iommi () (born 19 February 1948) is a British musician. He co-founded the pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and was the band's guitarist, leader and primary composer and sole continuous member for nearly five decades. I ...

and

Gustav Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...

Personal life

Married to Michele Matthewman (1990–2018), they had a son, Clay Matthewman. Stuart is an avid cyclist, and races with New York race team RBNY.

Discography

References

External links

Cottonbelly website
*
Interview with Stuart Matthewman
27 July 2011
Stuart Matthewman Career Retrospective Interview from August 2015 with Pods & Sods
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matthewman, Stuart Living people 1960 births Brit Award winners English funk musicians English songwriters Grammy Award winners Musicians from Kingston upon Hull Sade (band) members Sophisti-pop musicians Acid jazz musicians Chill-out musicians Downtempo musicians