In the early 1980s Matt Fretton was one of the first pop musicians to take advantage of the synthesizer and recording technology of the time to write & perform most of his music alone.
1981-3 Matt toured as the openinig act on the first Eurythmics tour, and toured or did one-off dates as support act with bands including the Boomtown Rats, Depeche Mode, Thompson Twins, Billy Idol, King Crimson and Gang Of Four.
In 1983 Matt signed to Chrysalis Records. His first single It's So High (produced by Phil Thornally, with backing vocals by Eddie Reader) reached No.50 in the UK charts & Matt appeared on the cover of Smash Hits. The follow-up Dance It Up (produced by Brian tench and making extensive use of the Fairlight music computer) reached No.75, but his third single It's All Over (produced by Adam Kidron) reached only No.150.
Matt then recorded Burning Hands (with Guy Pratt on bass) but this, along with the LP Matt recorded for Chrysalis (also produced by Adam Kidron), was never released. A last unreleased recording for Chrysalis, With Happiness, was one of the first pop records to be recorded digitally at CTS & Abbey Road Studios.
In 1986 Matt formed his own record label IDK with manager Rick Rogers (who had previously managed The Specials, The Damned, & Funboy 3) releasing one self-produced single Palpitating Heart b/w Caution To The Wind. The mini-album Avatar with promotional film by Derek Jarman was also never released.
The studio recording My Secret Heart dates from 1987 & was again self-produced, with Matt playing all the instruments apart from bass guitar (Matthew Seligman), and the unusual trumpet solo (Matthew Hart Dyke, who played on most of Matt's recordings and co-arranged all the brass & string parts).