BEHIND THE SCENE: The Man “Matthew West”
His life inspires me never to give up no matter what, some days ago I was surfing through the net for latest songs on youtube and viola I came across MATTHEW WEST latest song “THE GOD WHO STAYS” [P.S: Click the link to read the lyrics and get your free Mp3 download], just imagine the expression on my face when I listened to his song, somehow I felt peace and calmness within me as I listened to this particular song paying attention to the lyrics, I came to a conclusion and what was that “I am definitely downloading all his songs, videos, mp3 whatever and I am going to blog on this”. Intrigued by this particular song of his, I went on research to know more about him; why haven’t I heard of him,? C’ mon he is definitely good; Matthew West has been singing from the year 1997 and I didn’t know about him. While carrying out my solo research, here are some of my findings I came across and like I mentioned in the first line of this post “His life inspires me never to give up no matter what”.
Little things you should know about Matthew West:
- He is an American Contemporary Christian Musician, Singer-songwriter, and Actor
- He has released five studio albums and these includes:
Happy (2003–2004)
History and vocal problems (2005–2007)
Something to Say (2008–2010)
The Story of Your Life, Into the Light, Live Forever and All In (2010–present) - He has worked as a songwriter for many Christian musicians and groups such as Point of Grace, Mandisa, Natalie Grant and Casting crowns, I love Natalie Grant and Casting crowns, so from my own point of view, they all are great musicians you should consider listening to.
- He acted in the following films which include: The Heart of Christmas, A Story of Joyful giving; and btw I haven’t watched any but I’m considering watching based on the good reviews I have read online as regards the films. Matthew West’s song titled UNPLANNED was used in the movie UNPLANNED.
Behind the Man called MATTHEW WEST
On July 26, 2002, Matthew sustained an injury to his left arm which threatened his musical career and guitar playing, he said thus “I locked myself out of my house. But I’d done that before, and I had a way of breaking in through a window. But this time, I had a really hard time getting the window open. I started pushing up on the window really hard and my hand broke through the glass. Blood starts spewing out of my left arm everywhere and I ran down my street screaming for help. After seeing so much blood, I went into shock and just blacked out in the middle of the street. The next thing I can remember is some construction workers praying over me in Spanish and then being taken to the hospital.” He was told that the chances of recovering full use of his arm were low due to the fact that the injury came close to severing a major artery, but he recovered, and after the accident, he was able to continue playing guitar and record his first studio album “Happy” [2003-2004]
as if the injury on his left arm wasn’t enough, Matthew was faced with another challenge when he said he began to experience some vocal fatigue in April 2007.
Before you go, CHECK OUT MY TOP 5 OF MATTHEW’S SONG:
He said “I had lost some of my vocal range, staying on higher notes and lower notes. I even began having a hard time speaking.” At a vocal check-up in response to the issue, his doctors at the Nashville Vanderbilt Voice Center discovered “hemorrhaging caused by some polyps” He was told by his doctors that vocal surgery was the only option since a few weeks had passed. The surgery took place on May 17, 2007, a process that West said was “career-threatening.” After the surgery, he released a documentary titled Nothing to Say and another album “Something to Say”, this album top No. 8 on Billboard Christian album chart. His song “THE MOTION” was Grammy-nominated for best gospel song making it his first Grammy nomination.
The year 2010, Matthew did something amazing, he reached out to his fans to share their life stories with him and West mentioned this in an interview with CBN.com “The first day, I got 1,000 stories. All of a sudden, I was like, ‘holy cow, something special is about to take place’. I rented a cabin in Tennessee, about 25 minutes from my house that felt like it was out in the middle of nowhere. And I spent two months in that cabin reading
10,000 stories”. And from the stories of his fans, he released a song titled “FORGIVENESS” inspired by Renee Napier. His latest single “THE GOD WHO STAYS” was released this year 2019, a song that led me to write this post. The story behind his latest song, you could perhaps be inspired by it: “It started as an honest, late-night conversation with God,” Matthew said. “I was sitting at the piano in my house playing and singing quietly because my family was all asleep in nearby rooms,” he added. This song is a kind of reminder that God is in it for the long haul and will always be in it. He is the God who doesn’t give up on His people and doesn’t easily get fed up. He remains faithful to His promises. God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you’.” (Hebrews 13:5)
Before you go, CHECK OUT MY TOP 5 OF MATTHEW’S SONG:
2 Responses
It’s funny reading this cause I just happen to listen to the song “A God Who Stays” today and I’m like, why haven’t I heard of Matthew West all these while? 😂
He is such an inspiring songwriter.
Matthew West is my favorite
His songs, always on repeat
Glad you listened to this
It is one of my favourite of his