Matthew Strachan | |
|---|---|
 Strachan in 2016 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 11 December 1970[1] |
| Origin | London, England[1] |
| Died | 8 September 2021 (aged 50) Twickenham, London, England |
| Genres | Rock/pop, country |
| Occupation(s) |
|
| Instrument(s) | Piano |
| Years active | 1986–2021 |
| Labels | Nono, Nessus, Lonely Goat Records |
| Website | matthewstrachan |
Matthew Strachan (/ˈstrɔːn/ or /ˈstrækən/; 11 December 1970 – 8 September 2021)[2] was an English composer and singer-songwriter.
His best known work is the music for British television game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? written with his father Keith,[1] which would become a global franchise, and the BBC Radio 4 World War I drama series Home Front.[3][4] He also wrote music to film and television productions such as Extract,[5] The Detectives,[6] Question Time, Winning Lines,[7] jingles for several television commercials, and scores for stage musicals.[8]
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Strachan began writing songs as a teenager. His first professional job was to write five songs for the BBCTV drama Boogie Outlaws.[9][10]
After training at Dartington College of Arts and Goldsmiths College, University of London, he worked as a soundtrack composer throughout the 1990s creating music for television, radio and theatre productions[9] until concentrating on songwriting in Nashville, Tennessee where he collaborated with songwriters Don Henry, Tom Kimmel, J. Fred Knobloch, and Thom Schuyler.[11]
Following two years in America he created score and lyrics for the stage musicals About Bill[12] and Next Door's Baby.[13] In 2012 he announced the creation of a comedy oratorio based on the life of the Coronation Street character Ken Barlow for inclusion in his live shows.[14]
Strachan won twelve awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and in 2012 received the ASCAP Hall of Fame Award in recognition of ten consecutive wins for the soundtrack of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?[15]
As a singer-songwriter Strachan was regarded as having a bittersweet style, often employing satire and characterisation to make political points about unusual subjects such as social networking[16] and the media.[17] As a composer of stage musicals he was noted for writing songs with a complete narrative arc.[18]
A new studio album by Matthew Strachan titled Serious Men was released by Lonely Goat Records in August 2016.[19]
He was also the creator of the comic fictional 1970s composer Klaus Harmony. In March 2017 Simon & Schuster announced that it would be publishing a series of crime fiction books co-written by Strachan and his wife, Bernadette Strachan.[20]
In October 2020, he appeared at Lavender Hill Magistrates Court in London, charged with one count of arson.[21]
On 22 September 2021, the BBC reported that Strachan had died at his home in Twickenham, London, at the age of 50.[22]
