Matt Sharp

Matthew Kelly Sharp (born September 22, 1969) is an American songwriter and musician.

Matt Sharp was born in Bangkok, Thailand, to American parents on September 22, 1969.

The family moved to Arlington, Virginia, when he was one year old.

At the age of nine, he made his first musical purchase, a 45 rpm single of the song "Le Freak" by Chic.

At sixteen, he moved to San Diego.

In 1989, Sharp started fronting a goth band, the Clique, which lasted less than a year.

A few months after the Clique disbanded, Sharp befriended the drummer Patrick Wilson, with whom he created the band 60 Wrong Sausages.

The guitarist Jason Cropper soon joined.

Around this time, Wilson was also in another band, Fuzz, with the guitarist and vocalist Rivers Cuomo.

For a brief period, Cuomo, Wilson and Sharp shared an apartment.

During this time, Sharp worked as a telemarketer.

In mid-1991, Sharp moved north to Berkeley, California, to pursue what the Weezer collaborator Karl Koch described as "some sorta symphonic keyboard sequencing music".

In January 1992, Wilson showed Sharp material he and Cuomo had been working on.

Impressed, Sharp returned to Los Angeles to join the band.

Sharp became the group's bassist and de facto manager.

Cuomo, Wilson, Sharp and Cropper formed Weezer on February 14, 1992.

Their first show was on March 19, 1992, closing for Keanu Reeves' band Dogstar.

Cuomo gave Sharp one year to get the band a record deal before Cuomo accepted a scholarship at the University of California, Berkeley.

In November, Weezer recorded a demo, The Kitchen Tape, including a version of the future Weezer single "Say It Ain't So".

The demo was heard by Todd Sullivan, an A&R man at Geffen Records, who signed Weezer in June 1993.

He appears on their first two albums, the Blue Album (1994) and Pinkerton (1996).

In 1994, Sharp founded the Rentals, who have released five albums.

Sharp has also released an EP and an album as a solo artist.

Weezer released their self-titled debut album in May 1994.

In early 1994, Sharp founded the Rentals.

They released their debut album, Return of the Rentals, the following year, which featured the radio hit "Friends of P".

It was certified platinum in January 1995.

Weezer's second album, Pinkerton, was released in September 1996.

With a darker, more abrasive sound, Pinkerton was a commercial and critical failure, but attained critical acclaim later.

Following the mixed response to Pinkerton, Weezer went on a five-year hiatus.

Until 1998, he was the bassist for the rock band Weezer, which he cofounded in 1992.

In 1998, Sharp left Weezer due to differences with the band members.

In 1999, the Rentals released their second album, Seven More Minutes.

Among its contributors were Damon Albarn (of Blur and Gorillaz), Donna Matthews (of Elastica), Miki Berenyi (of Lush), and Tim Wheeler (of Ash).

Maya Rudolph (later of Saturday Night Live) was a member of the touring band during this time.

The track "My Head is in the Sun" was co-written with Cuomo.

The album sold considerably less than Return of the Rentals, and the Rentals went on hiatus in late 1999.

Sharp moved to the town of Leiper's Fork, Tennessee, and began recording.

In an interview with MTV News, Sharp said he was trying to cut ties to the music world.

In 2016, he said of his departure: "I don't really know how to speak on this because I don't know what should be kept private and what should be shared. I certainly have my view of it, as I'm sure everybody else has their sort of foggy things. When you have a group that doesn't communicate, you're going to have a whole lot of different stories."