“I didn’t pursue music; music pursued me.”
Matthew Head creates Grammy-nominated as well as Emmy, NAACP Image, and Peabody Award-winning soundtracks while working out of the home he grew up in Marietta, Georgia. The family man’s work includes two seasons of OWN’s Greenleaf, BET’s Boomerang (produced by Halle Berry and Lena Waithe), two seasons of Carl Weber’s The Family Business on BET+, the upcoming P-Valley on Starz, and going it solo as a music producer after collaborating with Timbaland on Step Up: High Water Season 3. With over 75 credits, the film composer, music producer, and arranger has the unique ability to move an audience through music; to take a scene and accentuate key moments to increase the intensity of a line, word, glance, or motion.
“I don’t have your typical musical background and education that most composers have, which allows me to connect with the projects from a different space that directors and producers can appreciate,” Head says. “I am interested in using music to elevate and enhance the project instead of competing or overshadowing.”
The former elementary schoolteacher began playing piano at five and starting writing songs by the time he was 12. Head secured the position of music producer for OWN’s number one-rated show Greenleaf for two seasons and is Kenny Leon’s go-to guy for theater productions. In 2017, Head curated music for the reincarnation of Holler If Ya Hear Me and a star-studded production of Our Town that included Scarlett Johansson, Robert Downey Jr., and Mark Ruffalo. Head’s work Wilmington of Fire, which examined the Wilmington Massacre, a bloody attack on the African-American community by a heavily armed white mob with the support of the North Carolina government, and then AJC’s Doctors & Sex Abuse documentary which helped earn that team a Peabody Award – furthering his reputation as the region’s Renaissance man. Head’s solid work ethic, efficiency, and his impeccable knack for knowing what soundscape will draw viewers in continues to bring in the work.
