"So it was a gradual thing." After taking a break from writing and recording her own material after 2001's Beautiful View (she released two covers albums in 20), Matthews returned to writing in 2013 with her first album of originals in more than a decade titled The Welcome Fire. I really didn't know what I wanted to say musically until I was much older than most. "I guess I never had a burning desire to be a star up the front. And whether I was ready or not, I'm still sitting here so I suppose things happen the way they're supposed to. "I learned an awful lot - it was trial by fire. It's all just been life lessons and throwing it out there and being on the road with people as a backing singer. I've never learned my craft academically at all. I've never learned to read or write music. She decided to stay permanently, working as a backing singer for Jimmy Barnes, Richard Clapton, Icehouse, Tim Finn and Models. Born in Canada, she came to Australia in the early 80s to join Glenn Shorrock on a six-week tour. Matthews says her life as a singer all happened "by chance". The song picked up ARIA wins for Single of the Year and Highest Selling Single, and the album gave her the highest-selling record of her career so far. "So you just have to give up and put the microphone before the audience and let them go for a while." It is 23 years since Matthews released the touching piano ballad which was lifted from her hit album Lily. "Unfortunately the drunker the audience gets, sometimes it can be quite the football anthem," she laughs. "I've heard hundreds and hundreds of stories over the years about what that means to people and that's the brilliant thing about music - it means something different to everybody according to their life." Quite often, Matthews does not even have to sing the words at all - depending on how well-oiled the audience is by the time the song pops up in the set. "It just has a life of its own either through the eyes of the people I'm singing to and that are absorbing it or, you know, we're not exempt either - you go through things in your life and sometimes you get up on a stage when you feel a bit shaky and that song affects you. "It's sort of a no-brainer but I have to say The Day You Went Away," Matthews says. IT might be an obvious choice but Wendy Matthews has a clear favourite when it comes to her own music.
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