Matisyahu

Matthew Paul Miller was born on June 30, 1979, in West Chester, Pennsylvania. His family eventually settled in White Plains, New York. He was brought up a Reconstructionist Jew and attended Hebrew school at Bet Am Shalom, a synagogue in White Plains. He spent much of his childhood learning the tenets of Judaism, but by the time he was a teenager, Miller began to rebel against his upbringing. At one Phish concert, Matisyahu dropped acid for the first time, an experience he recounted in 2016 "changed my life." In autumn 1995, Miller attended a two-month program at the Alexander Muss High School in Hod Hasharon, Israel. During the program's first month, he was restricted to staying on campus for disciplinary reasons. He became more interested in Judaism and started to identify more as a Jew. After he finished Muss, he returned to New York. He started taking drugs and dropped out of White Plains Senior High School on the first day of his senior year, becoming a self-professed "Phish-head", taking hallucinogens and following the rock band Phish on tour. A stint in a rehabilitation center in upstate New York followed. Miller then attended a wilderness expedition school for teenagers in Bend, Oregon, where he completed high school. "It was not necessarily for drug rehabilitation, but that was part of the reason I was out there," he explained to The Forward in 2008. In Oregon, he identified himself as "Matt, the Jewish rapper kid from New York." Miller has contrasted this time in Oregon to his life in New York City. "I was suddenly the token Jew. This was now my search for my own identity, and part of Judaism feeling more important and relevant to me." After being exposed to reggae and hip hop at the school, he began playing open mic sets. He returned to New York, began taking classes on Jewish spirituality at The New School, and started developing his reggae style, spending hours in his room, writing and practicing to the accompaniment of hip-hop tapes. At the same time, he started going to The Carlebach Shul, an Orthodox Jewish synagogue on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and bought a prayer book and prayer shawl. He began attending religious services every Sabbath at the synagogue and started to wear a yarmulke (head covering) and tzitzit (a fringed undergarment). One morning after getting drunk the night before, Matisyahu encountered Rabbi Dave Korn of the Chabad House at NYU, later moving into Korn's house to study Torah all day. By November 2001, Miller identified as a member of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement and moved to Crown Heights in early 2002. He delved into Hasidus and removed himself from popular culture.Miller performed for over a year as MC Truth in Bend, Oregon. In 2004, after having signed with JDub Records, he released his first album, Shake Off the Dust... Arise, under the name Matisyahu. At Bonnaroo 2005, Trey Anastasio of the band Phish invited Matisyahu for a guest spot on his set. Matisyahu also opened for a few Dave Matthews Band shows during their mid-2006 tour, including guesting on the song "Everyday" at the June 14, 2006, Darien Lake show. Matisyahu's second release, Live at Stubb's, was recorded in Austin, Texas, and produced for Or Music by Angelo Montrone. It was distributed to Or Music by Sony/RED, and later upstreamed to Sony/Epic. In 2005 and 2006, Matisyahu toured extensively in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. He made a number of stops in Israel, including a performance as the supporting act for Sting in June 2006. The live version of the song "King Without a Crown" broke into the Modern Rock Top 10 in 2006. The song was also included on Matisyahu's second album, Youth, which was produced by Bill Laswell and released on March 7, 2006; it features minor contributions by pop producers Jimmy Douglass and the Ill Factor. On March 16, Youth was Billboard magazine's number-one digital album. In 2006, Matisyahu once again appeared at Bonnaroo, this time performing a solo set. In late 2006, he released No Place to Be, a remix album featuring re-recordings and remixes of songs from his three earlier albums, as well as a cover of "Message in a Bottle" by the Police (written by Sting). On March 1, 2006, right before the release of Youth, he informed JDub that he no longer needed its management services. He has since been represented by former Capitol Records president Gary Gersh. JDub claimed the artist had three years remaining on a four-year management contract. JDub managed his act, but was not his record label. Since his debut, Matisyahu has received positive reviews from both rock and reggae outlets. In 2006, he was named as Top Reggae Artist by Billboard as well as being named a spokesperson for Kenneth Cole. In 2006, Esquire magazine awarded Matisyahu the "Most Lovable Oddball" award in their "Esky" Music Awards, calling him "the most intriguing reggae artist in the world." At the 2007 Slamdance Film Festival, the film Unsettled, in which Matisyahu appears, won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary Feature. While attending the festival, he performed in an impromptu concert at the Park City Film Music Festival in Park City, Utah. In the summer of 2007 he joined 311 on their Summer Unity Tour. He also performed in the 2008 documentary Call + Response. His third studio album, Light, was released on August 25, 2009, along with the live EP Live at Twist & Shout. Around 2008–2009, he also began his longstanding collaboration with members of the Dub Trio. From July 10–30, 2010, Matisyahu (along with The Dirty Heads) supported Sublime with Rome (the new version of the band) on their Sublime with Rome Tour. In November 2009, NBC used Matisyahu's song "One Day" as background music for their advertisement of the Olympic games. This stirred up speculation that "One Day" might become the theme song for the 2010 Olympics. However, it remained only NBC's top pick, and was not announced to be the theme song. On August 2, 2010, Matisyahu revealed to OC Weekly that he has been writing new songs for his next album, which was expected to be recorded within weeks of his statement. On November 3, 2010, he performed his music accompanied by a single acoustic guitarist, recited poetry and answered questions at the University of Central Florida. On November 26, 2010, Matisyahu released "Two", a special edition Record Store Day Black Friday 7" vinyl record, for independent record stores. He recorded a Sephardic music-influenced hip hop song "Two Child One Drop" for Sephardic Music Festival, Vol. 1, a compilation album released by Shemspeed, alongside artists such as formerly-Hasidic rapper Y-Love, Israeli hip-hop group Hadag Nahash, and psychedelic rock/Sephardic fusion group Pharaoh's Daughter. On August 18, 2010, Matisyahu returned to Stubb's in Austin, Texas, for another live recording for Live at Stubb's, Vol. 2. He released the album on February 1, 2011. That year, he embarked on a concert tour throughout the United States in support of the album with his backing band, Dub Trio. In March 2011, Matisyahu was featured on the DeScribe song, "Pure Soul". On July 17, 2012, Matisyahu released his fourth studio album, Spark Seeker, which was produced by Kool Kojak and featured two collaborations with rapper Shyne. The album also featured the single "Sunshine". On June 3, 2014, Matisyahu released Akeda, which is slightly different from his previous work. Matisyahu himself described it as a "stripped back sound" and in a style as he describes as "less is more". Akeda was in the iTunes Top 10 a week later, ranking at No. 6 which was the same week he began his new tour. The tour started at Kakaako Waterfront Park in Honolulu, Hawaii, as part of the Republik Music Festival 4. On August 17, 2015, the Rototom Sunsplash festival in Spain canceled Matisyahu's scheduled appearance, at the request of the BDS Movement, due to his refusing to sign a letter stating he supports a Palestinian state, and would not bring up Israeli politics on stage. This led to many organizations around the world criticizing the organization of showing racism toward Jews. Two days later the Spanish government condemned the decision to cancel his appearance. On August 19, the festival apologized to Matisyahu and re-invited him to perform as originally scheduled, following outrage around the world. The organizers released a statement saying they "made a mistake, due to the boycott and the campaign of pressure, coercion and threats employed by the BDS." Matisyahu's performance was peaceful with some Palestinian flags waved by the audience, however Matisyahu later said the racism he experienced was worse than anything else before. On October 10, 2015, Matisyahu performed in Israel at the Sultan's Pool in Jerusalem against the backdrop of escalating stabbing attacks in the city. Matisyahu stated that it is important for "American Jews like [him]self to come to Israel no matter what's happening here". Jerusalem's mayor, Nir Barkat, thanked Matisyahu and said before the performance that "Everyone who came here today and is maintaining their regular routine is a partner in fighting terror." Before singing "Jerusalem (Out of Darkness Comes Light)" (his ode to the city), Matisyahu said, "Jerusalem, I'm home." In 2016, Matisyahu went on a tour of 12 US college campuses as a response to being disinvited from the Rototom Sunsplash festival in 2015. The tour was co-sponsored by various Hillel chapters. On November 18, 2016, Matisyahu released Release the Bound, a five-song digital EP featuring brand new music. The EP includes collaborative efforts with relative mainstay Stu Brooks as well as The Polish Ambassador and Salt Cathedral. Matisyahu released his sixth studio album, Undercurrent, on May 19, 2017, via Fallen Spark and Thirty Tigers. In the fall of 2017, he went on a European tour in support of the album. Matisyahu's "One Day" was featured in the MacGillivray Freeman Film, Dream Big playing in IMAX theaters beginning in February 2018. In October 2021, Matisyahu released the single, "Chameleon". He followed that in January 2022 with the single "Keep Coming Back For More". The two songs served as the first singles off of his self-titled album which was released on March 25, 2022, through Thirty Tigers and distributed by The Orchard. Produced by Colombian band and production duo Salt Cathedral, it was Matisyahu's seventh studio album and his first since 2017's Undercurrent. In February 2024, two concerts in the Southwest US, in Tucson, Arizona, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, were cancelled due to "safety concerns related to the reggae singer's staunchly pro-Israel stance," and in March 2024 another concert was cancelled in Chicago. Pro-Palestinian activists credited themselves for the cancelations. Matisyahu responded to the cancellations by saying, "they do this because they are either anti-Semitic or have confused their empathy for the Palestinian people with hatred for someone like me who holds empathy for both Israelis and Palestinians." Matisyahu sent a message to his fans expressing sadness over the cancellations, ending with the message that "we will not respond to hate with hate." Following the security threats and canceled shows, Matisyahu traveled to Israel to perform two live shows in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber issued a statement, saying "there is a significant difference between protesting the policies of the Netanyahu government in Gaza and shutting down the performance of a Jewish-American artist in Santa Fe."