Matthew Santos is an American rock and folk singer-songwriter, musician and painter. His music was used in a series of two radio ads for American Family Insurance.Matthew Santos' MySpace page
Accessed January 2, 2008. He became well known for his collaboration with Chicago rapper

Lupe Fiasco Wasalu Muhammad Jaco (born February 16, 1982), better known by his stage name Lupe Fiasco ( ), is an American rapper, singer, record producer, and entrepreneur. He rose to fame in 2006 following the success of his debut album, '' Lupe Fiasco's ...

on the single "

Superstar A superstar is someone who has great popular appeal and is widely known, prominent, or successful in their field. Celebrities referred to as "superstars" may include individuals who work as actors, musicians, athletes, and other media-based profe ...

". He was signed to Lupe Fiasco's 1st & 15th Entertainment record label, a subsidiary of

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 im ...

Biography

Early years

Matthew Santos was born on December 28, 1982, in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origin ...

, Minnesota. His mother, Judy, is from Denmark and his father, Dave, is of Filipino and Spanish descent. He graduated from Southwest High School in Minneapolis.Star Tribune interview (December 20, 2007)
Accessed January 8, 2008. He moved to Chicago in 2001 to study music composition at

Columbia College Chicago Columbia College Chicago is a private art college in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1890, it has 5,928https://about.colum.edu/effectiveness/pdf/spring-2021-student-profile.pdf students pursuing degrees in more than 60 undergraduate and gradua ...

.MetroMix and The RedEye interview
Accessed February 15, 2008.

Music career

Santos released his album '' Matters of the Bittersweet'' in November 2007, under indie label Candyrat Records. Following the release of the album, he developed a following surrounding his video performances on YouTube.Billboard Magazine interview (January 2, 2008)
Accessed January 5, 2008. Singersroom article (November 28, 2007)
Accessed January 9, 2008. His five-piece band includes Aviva Jaye (vocals, keyboard), Robert Tucker (drums), Graham Burris (bass), and Matthew Nelson (keyboard).
Accessed January 31, 2008.Chicago Flame interview
Accessed March 3, 2008. In 2006, Santos was featured on

's '' Food & Liquor'' album on the song "American Terrorist."Lansing Lowdown interview (December 5, 2007)
. Accessed January 8, 2008. Santos was featured on three additional tracks on Lupe Fiasco's '' The Cool'', released in December 2007; "

", "Streets On Fire", and "Fighters".Washington Times interview (January 25, 2008)
Accessed January 25, 2008, Santos joined Fiasco on his world tour in 2008, including appearances on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

's ''

Total Request Live ''Total Request Live'' (known commonly as ''TRL'') was an American television program broadcast on MTV that premiered on September 14, 1998. TRL featured popular music videos played during its countdown, and was also used as a promotion tool by ...

'' and ''Spring Break'', ''

Jimmy Kimmel Live! ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, broadcast on ABC. The nightly hour-long show debuted on January 26, 2003, at Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywood, California, as part of ABC's ...

'', ''

The Ellen DeGeneres Show ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' (often shortened to ''Ellen'' or ''The Ellen Show'') is an American daytime television variety comedy talk show that was created and hosted by its namesake Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it was pro ...

'', ''

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson ''The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Scottish actor and comedian Craig Ferguson. This was the third iteration of the The Late Late Show (American talk show), ''Late Late Show'' franchise, airing ...

'' and a debut talk show performance on

David Letterman David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host, comedian, writer and producer. He hosted late night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982 debut of ''Late Night with David Letterman' ...

's first live show after the

2007 Writers Guild of America Strike 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion, mythology, ...

.Pitchfork Forkcast: Matthew Santos on David Letterman (January 3, 2007)
. Accessed January 9, 2008.Columbia Chronicle interview (January 30, 2008)
. Accessed January 30, 2008. In 2007, Santos opened the mtvU Woodie Awards with

and performed at the 2008 mtv's Video Music Awards.The Michigan Daily interview (December 7, 2007)
. Accessed January 8, 2008. In addition, Santos performed at

Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...

Bonnaroo Festival The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival is an American annual four-day music festival developed and founded by Superfly Presents and AC Entertainment. Since its first year in 2002, it has been held at what is now Great Stage Park on a farm in Man ...

, the

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

Vegoose Music Festival,

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991 but several years later made Chicago the permanent location for the annual music festival. Musi ...

Chicago,

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, ...

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (commonly called the Coachella Festival or simply Coachella) is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colorado Desert. ...

Summerfest Summerfest is an annual music festival held in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. First held in 1968, Summerfest is located at Henry Maier Festival Park, adjacent to Lake Michigan and Milwaukee's central business district. Summerfest attracts app ...

, and Chicago's Around the Coyote Arts Festival. In 2009, Santos was featured on the single "Chaconne" by Twin Cities hip hop artist

Dessa Margret Wander (born May 23, 1981), better known by her stage name Dessa, is an American rapper, singer, writer, and former record executive. She is a member of the indie hip hop collective Doomtree. Early life Dessa was born to Robert Wander ...

, a member of

Doomtree Doomtree is an American hip hop collective and record label based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The collective has seven members: Dessa, Cecil Otter, P.O.S, Sims, Mike Mictlan, Paper Tiger, and Lazerbeak. The collective is known for incorporatin ...

, from her album ''

A Badly Broken Code ''A Badly Broken Code'' is the debut studio album by Dessa, a member of Minneapolis indie hip hop collective Doomtree. It was released by Doomtree Records in 2010. The album title comes from a line in the poem "Nostalgia" by American poet Billy ...

''. That summer, he was featured in

Chicago magazine ''Chicago'' is a monthly magazine published by Tribune Publishing. It concentrates on lifestyle and human interest stories, and on reviewing restaurants, travel, fashion, and theatre from or nearby Chicago. Its circulation in 2004 was 165,000, l ...

as one of the city's top singles.Chicago magazine's top singles: Matthew Santos (June 2009)
Accessed June 12, 2009. In 2010, Santos released the album ''This Burning Ship of Fools''.On Matthew Santos and his new record "This Burning Ship of Fools" (March 2009)
Accessed March 29, 2010. In 2012, Santos released the album ''Quickly Disappearing''.

Discography

Albums

*''As a Crow Flies'' EP (2006) *''Matters of the Bittersweet'' (2007, CandyRat Records) *''This Burning Ship of Fools'' (2010, Love Sick Fool Records) *''Quickly Disappearing'' (2012, CandyRat Records) *''Into the Further'' (2015, CandyRat Records)

Singles

Featured singles

Guest appearances

References

External links

Interview with Matthew Santos on Centerstage Chicago

The Official Matthew Santos Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Santos, Matthew 1982 births American folk singers American rock singers Singers from Chicago Living people Musicians from Minneapolis Atlantic Records artists American musicians of Filipino descent American people of Spanish descent American people of Danish descent Singers from Minnesota 21st-century American singers 21st-century American male singers