Matthew Strachan’s biography, net worth, fact, career, awards and life story

Matthew Strachan (/ˈstrɔːn/ or /ˈstrækən/; born 11 December 1970) is an English composer and singer-songwriter.

His best known work is the music for the television game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? written with his father Keith, and the BBC Radio 4 World War I drama series Home Front. He has also contributed music to film and television productions such as Extract, The Detectives, Question Time, Winning Lines, jingles for several television commercials, and scores for stage musicals.

As a singer-songwriter Strachan is regarded as having a bittersweet style, often employing satire and characterisation to make political points about unusual subjects such as social networking and the media. As a composer of stage musicals he is noted for writing songs with a complete narrative arc.

Strachan has won twelve awards from ASCAP (American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers) 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?

He is also the creator of the comic fictional 1970’s 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.

The first of the three novels was co-authored before the couple separated in 2019.

Biography

Strachan began writing songs as a teenager and his first professional job was to write five songs for the BBCTV drama Boogie Outlaws.

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 until concentrating on songwriting in Nashville, Tennessee where he collaborated with songwriters Don Henry, Tom Kimmel, J. Fred Knobloch, and Thom Schuyler.

Following two years in America he created score and lyrics for the stage musicals About Bill and Next Door’s Baby. 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.

A new studio album by Matthew Strachan titled Serious Men was released by Lonely Goat Records in August 2016.

Discography

Albums

Compilations

• Speed Limit Monkey, Nono Records (2008)
• Flot Some, Jet Some, Nono Records (2008)

Covered by other artists

Soundtracks and Musicals

A.k.a Klaus Harmony

Music for motion pictures

• Mostly Dead, UkFilm.co
• Love Is a Four Letter Word Worth Seven Points, Boxfly Media, (2015)
• In Limbo, Nine Ladies Films, (2015)

Music featured in motion pictures

• Extract, Composer – Wundercrotchen, Miramax Films, (2009)
• Slumdog Millionaire, Composer – Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Fox Searchlight, (2008)
• Millions, Composer – Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Fox Searchlight, (2004)
• Celador Films Theme, Celador Films
• About a Boy, Composer – Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Universal Pictures, (2002)
• A Kind of Hush, Composer/lyricist – Confusions, First Film Company/Metrodome, (1998)

Music for stage

Music for television and radio

Awards