St. Matthew
St. Matthew - born Matthew Golding, was the last of five children born to Joseph and Beverley Golding in Kingston, Jamaica. At age thirteen his family moved to Hellshire Heights, St. Catherine. As a child Matthew was drawn to Music with an innate feeling to entertain. Matthew’s inspiration growing up was his older brother Mark other wise known at the time as RAMROD, whom at that time was into Deejaying, rap and hip hop Music.
Following Mark’s footsteps, Matthew attending St. Georges College, had begun writing rap in 1992 and careened his skills which later led him to become “Suicide,” known for his crazy ways and when penning his lyrics together in the group Marawdaz from 1996 through 2001. Once again Matthew a.k.a. “Suicide” still with Marawdaz changed style in 1998 to become a DJ (dancehall artiste). Life at that time was great for Matthew, as he was enjoying the growth of his career, and all the attributes that accompanied the lifestyle in entertainment, girls and all the other fan fare that came with it. Yet with all that, there was one area of his life that he had not conquered. The bleakness and profound emptiness within his soul that he couldn’t explain, couldn’t drink, smoke or use anything to chase away.
On September 11th 2001, when the world was waking up to the tragedy of the twin towers in New York succumbing to an outright terrorist attack, another attack of sorts was going on within Matthew. Seeing the grief and finally getting the courage to put a name to the confusion in his soul, Matthew decided not only to surrender his life to Jesus Christ but in doing so, resigned from Marawdaz and dropped his popular alias “Suicide”. Although this was a wonderful event, transition wasn’t easy as he was now a one man show without a name. Matthew felt he had to go back to basics, before all the girls, cars, money, jewellery, drugs, and alcohol. With this in mind, he started reflecting back to his childhood and remembered his inspiration which was his older brother Mark. Armed with this knowledge, Matthew being born again became St. Matthew aka “the Gospel defender” with a catch phrase to have you locked in-”READYBACK’ which means be ready, be prepared. He has now become a force to be reckoned with in Dancehall Gospel.
Life as St. Matthew has yielded many underground compact discs some of which are entitled: The Truth Book 1, The Truth Book 2, Mix Tape Volume 1, Mix Tape Volume 2: Streetz Disciple and THE TRILOGY. St Matthew is also featured on The Scroll (“Who you gonna live for”), Double Trouble, the Truth compilation, Kingdom Vibration and many other compilations.
Along with numerous shows on the Gospel and secular circuit he has been working on his latest cd entitled Godsta4Life. LIFE for me has changed 360 degrees at a time, losing his dad July 30th 2006 in a tragic car accident he has moved on and seems to have put the metal to the pedal. Yet, with all the changes St. Matthew has gone through both personally and professionally he humbly describes himself when asked, in his own words, “I am who I am” which is also the name of one of his upcoming cds…READYBACK.
- Have you seen: Where Does God Fit In?