New Yorker Matt Beilis was born with his distinct voice. Some would say it’s unconventional, which would fit the personality of this singer/songwriter/pianist. Matt traded in his Ivy League education – along with a lucrative finance career – for a gig in a piano store, betting that his artistic talents would propel him beyond the comfort that his academic achievements guaranteed.
As a graduate of Columbia University, one might expect to rub elbows with pop culture icons like Ashton Kutcher and Bruno Mars at some point in life, but, for Matt, it all happened organically online. Like many young singers, he set up a Youtube page and started covering his favorite songs—just him and a piano. And like many of those Youtube stars, he found an audience of adoring fans and famous folks who loved his take on Top 40 hits. He also found a real career—a booking agent, well-paid tours at colleges across the country, and gigs at notable NYC venues like the Canal Room, Sullivan Hall, The National Underground, and The Bitter End. Matt’s wide-ranging appeal as a singer and performer also garnered him support slots for a “mixtape” of artists including Smokey Robinson, Secondhand Serenade, Javier Colon, and even legendary Wu-tang Clan member Inspectah Deck.
There’s no doubt Matt can rock the mic, but singing other people’s songs only gets you so far, so he wrote and wrote…and co-wrote… with musician and producer friends as well as professional pop writers like Kinetics & One Love, who penned the chorus to B.o.B’s “Airplanes.” Ironically, it is from those sessions that Matt found his voice. Now, instead of covering songs, the unique singer – identifiable before the end of the first verse – was creating them.
The songs that Matt crafted combined his singer-songwriter aesthetic with electronic beats and soaring pop hooks.
By choosing his dream over a career on Wall Street, Matt already walked away from a sure thing. Believing 100% in his own talent is the only bet he could make. And he’s all in!
