Nathanson was raised in Lexington, Massachusetts. His father is Jewish and his mother is Catholic. Nathanson attended Pitzer College in Claremont, California (majoring in English and world literature). Matt attended tony Fessenden School with his brother Neal, in West Newton, MA prior to going to high school. Despite living close by in Lexington, the two boarded during the week, before going home.
The ABC show Big Shots featured his song "Come On Get Higher," and the song "I Saw" was featured on Scrubs in the sixth season episode "My Best Friend's Baby's Baby and My Baby's Baby." Nathanson's song "Little Victories" was used on the Season 7 episode of Scrubs, "My Dumb Luck." On January 30, 2008, Nathanson and his band performed "Car Crash" on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. His song "Sooner Surrender" was used on the May 28, 2008 episode of Men in Trees, "New Dog, Old Tricks". Nathanson and his band performed "Come On Get Higher" on "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" on December 22, 2008. The CW show The Vampire Diaries featured his song "All We Are" in the first season episode, "Family Ties" and Life Unexpected in second season episode titled "Parents Unemployed". The song was also on the fifth season episode ("Family", episode 2) of the CBS show "NCIS" His song "Bulletproof Weeks" appeared in the episode "Another Second Chance" of the TV series Private Practice on January 14, 2010.
On February 13, 2009, Nathanson and his band performed "Come On Get Higher" on the Late Show with David Letterman. On March 3, 2009, he performed on Ellen, singing "Come On Get Higher".
In March 2009, Nathanson was the special guest for Episode 17 of "Live From Daryl's House", Daryl Hall's monthly Internet concert. They, along with Hall's house band, performed (among other songs) "Car Crash", "Come On Get Higher", "Still" and "All We Are", as well as Hall & Oates classics "Did It in a Minute" and "One on One". Matt Nathanson's "Come On Get Higher" is featured on the CD "Circle of Friends - Dave FM: Volume 2," an Atlanta based radio station.
Matt Nathanson recently appeared on the hit show The Bachelor (U.S. TV series) (season 16), where he serenaded bachelor Ben Flajnik and runner-up Lindzi Cox with his hit "Faster".
Matt Nathanson's cover of "Laid" by Manchester band James was featured on the American Wedding soundtrack, as well as American Pie Presents Band Camp. Matt also covered the Prince song "Starfish & Coffee" for the children's album "For The Kids Too". Matt also performed a cover of Cat Steven's "The Wind" for the album "Wake Up Everybody".
Recorded and mixed in February/March 1993 in a house in Van Nuys, California. Most of the songs were written while Nathanson was in high school and a freshman at Pitzer College in Claremont, CA. Before this, Nathanson had recorded only demos. This was his first collection of songs ever put on CD. Please was released in the spring of 1993.
Recorded in Nathanson's new hometown of San Francisco in the winter of 1997. An entirely acoustic record, the instrumentation is mostly acoustic guitar with some accordion, cellos and percussion . This record was mixed at Toast Studios in San Francisco, by Jaquire King.
This record is a compilation of unreleased material, the bulk of which was recorded in San Rafael, CA in the fall of 1997. Two other songs on this compilation, “You're Smiling” and “Wait Up” were recorded in Santa Barbara, CA in the summer of 1995. The final two songs, “Trace of a Cat's Eye” and “Vandalized” were taken from the unreleased record by Nathanson's college band Here Comes Everybody. The HCE album was recorded in Claremont, CA, in the spring of 1995 but was never released. Both these songs were written by the drummer in the band, Bill Foreman.
Recorded December 1998 in Cotati, CA. and January 1999 at Tiny Telephone in San Francisco, with Mark Weinberg. This record features David Immergluck & Charlie Gillingham of Counting Crows on tracks including the song "Loud," which was featured on the television show Dawson's Creek. The record was mixed at Different Fur in San Francisco and released spring of 1999.
Recorded in the Winter of 2002, at Trakworx in South San Francisco. An entire album of songs was recorded but the release was shortened to an EP when Nathanson signed to Universal Records halfway through the mixing process. Studio versions of “Princess” and “Fall to Pieces” appear only on this EP. It was produced by Mark Weinberg and Nathanson and released in the fall of 2002.
Recorded in Los Angeles in the winter of 2003, the team included drummer Matt Chamberlain, guitar player David Garza, and Glen Phillips, of the band Toad The Wet Sprocket, for background vocals. "Lucky Boy," from Still Waiting for Spring was re-recorded for this record, as were most of the songs from the When Everything Meant Everything EP/sessions. It was mixed by Mark Endert in Los Angeles and released in October 2003. "Suspended" and "I Saw" were released as singles and more than half the record was licensed to television shows like Scrubs, Tarzan, One Tree Hill, Joan of Arcadia and Men in Trees.
Upon deciding that the major label world was not for him, Nathanson got out of his contract with Universal Records and released "At the Point." Recorded live over the course of 2 nights at The Point in Bryn Mawr, PA in June 2005, this is Nathanson's only live album. This record was released in April 2006 and debuted at #29 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart the week of its release.
Some Mad Hope was recorded between August 2005 and March 2007 in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Cotati, CA. The album was made independently, and Nathanson partnered with Vanguard Records for its release in August 2007. It debuted at #60 on the Billboard Top 200 and was on the charts for 34 weeks. Various songs on the record were placed on television shows including CSI, One Tree Hill, Private Practice, Melrose Place, 90210, Vampire Diaries, American Idol among others.
Singles included “Come On Get Higher" (peaked at #2 at Triple A, #9 at Hot AC, #3 at Mainstream AC and #19 at Pop), “Car Crash” (peaked at #12 at Triple A, and #29 at Hot AC), “Falling Apart (peaked #29 at Hot AC), and “All We Are” (peaked at #26 at Triple A).
Some Mad Hope has sold over 300,000 copies and “Come On Get Higher” went platinum selling over 1.8 million in single sales.
Nathanson's album Modern Love was released in June 21, 2011. The first single, "Faster", was released in March. In addition to the second single with Sugarland, "Run", the album's title track "Modern Love" reached the top 15 on the MusicBase Adult Album Alternative chart in September of 2012 due to considerable airplay on AAA formatted radio stations. Nathanson is the opening act for Kelly Clarkson's Stronger Tour as of January 13, 2012 to April 10, 2012 on selected dates.
Matt Nathanson new album is coming out summer 2013, he already released one song, it's called Mission bells.
In the early 1990s, Nathanson relocated from Boston, Massachusetts to San Francisco, California. He currently resides there with his wife.
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