Born in 2001 in Hackensack, NJ, Matthew Whitaker grew up surrounded by music. His love for playing music first began at the young age of 3, after his grandfather gave him a small Yamaha keyboard. At age 9, Matthew began teaching himself how to play the Hammond B3 organ. Four years later, he became the youngest artist to be endorsed by Hammond in its more than 80-year history. At just 10 years old, he was invited to perform at Stevie Wonder’s induction into the Apollo Theater’s Hall of Fame, and at 15, he became the youngest musician to be named a Yamaha Artist.

Matthew is currently studying classical piano and drums at The Filomen M. D’Agostino Greenberg Music School of the Lighthouse Guild in NYC, the only community music school for the blind and visually impaired in the U.S. He also attends the Manhattan School of Music’s Precollege Jazz Program, and previously studied at The Harlem School of the Arts. A recipient of the Outstanding Soloist Award from Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Charles Mingus High School Competition & Festival, Matthew has toured both in the U.S. and abroad, performing before The Youth Assembly at the United Nations headquarters in NYC, and on other world-renowned stages.

He has performed with many outstanding musicians: Ray Chew, Christian McBride, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Rhoda Scott, Cameron Carpenter, Regina Carter, Jon Batiste, Cory Henry, Marc Cary, Arturo O’Farrill, James Carter, Roy Ayers, D.D. Jackson, The New York Pops Orchestra and Hamiet Bluiett and his Bio-Electric Ensemble. Having composed several original compositions, Matthew names a list of stellar musicians and composers/arrangers as his artistic influences, including: organists Dr. Lonnie Smith, Jimmy Smith, Jimmy McGriff, Rhoda Scott; pianists Stevie Wonder, Oscar Peterson, Art Tatum, Ahmad Jamal, Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Chick Corea, Jon Batiste, Cory Henry, Marc Cary, D.D. Jackson, Chopin, Bach; and drummers Roy Haynes, T.S. Monk, Herlin Riley, Otis Brown III, Otis Brown Jr. and Johnathan Blake.