Grammy-winning Matt Fink is a down-to-earth guy in real life, but he has an epic past that impresses just about everyone. Matt Fink has worn many hats as a keyboardist, and dressed as a doctor on stage with the music icon Prince! That easily identifiable character who wore sunglasses and scrubs is known in pop music history as Dr. Fink.
Fink has a unique perspective on American music history. He witnessed the early part of Prince’s music development while performing with The Revolution, from 1978 to 1991. In those 13 years, Fink performed on the following Prince albums: Dirty Mind, Controversy, 1999, Purple Rain, Around the World in a Day, Parade, Sign O’ The Times, Lovesexy, The Black Album, and Graffiti Bridge!
He lent his skills to writing as well. Fink has co-writing credits on the songs “Dirty Mind,” “Computer Blue,” “17 Days”, “America,” and “It’s Gonna Be a Beautiful Night.”
Fink didn’t just play in The Revolution, he was also part of NPG, Madhouse. He even appeared in the movie Purple Rain (1984) and the film’s soundtrack. The Purple Rain soundtrack sold over 25 million copies worldwide!!
In 2016, The Revolution came back together after Prince’s death for live performances. Fans and loved ones mourned for Prince as the band returned back to the stage.
Collaborating with Music Giants
After taking the world stage with Prince, Fink became an engineer and staff producer in his home town of Minneapolis at the record label K-Tel/Dominion Entertainment. From 1991-1996, he recorded and produced 15 album projects!
Fink has regularly collaborated with other pop stars and legends as a songwriter, producer, engineer, and session player. His collaborators include, but are not limited to: The Time, Lipps Inc., The Jets, Vanity 6, The Rembrandts, 7 Aurelius (Ashanti), Shock G. (The Humpty Dance), House Techno EDM artist Kris Vanderheyden (Belgium), and Producers David Z., Bobby Z., P. Diddy, and Marc Mozart (Berlin).
Then in 2001 Fink released the Dr. Fink solo album “Ultrasound”. Some fun tracks to note are “Ecstasy”, “Nebulosity”, “Cyber Monkey”, and “Nobody Cried”.
Living Legacy
Dr. Fink has won three Grammys as well as three American Music Awards. That’s not all! For his work with Prince & The Revolution, as well as Japan-based artist Toshinobu Kubota, he has won numerous gold and platinum awards.
Moving on from performing on-stage, Fink developed into a music executive and composer. (He was formally trained in classical music before taking the stage in scrubs.)
Some fun projects he has delved into include composing for video games soundtracks for Headgames/Activision and King Show Games. He has even curated a lineup of composers and musicians for the Rhythm Rumble video game by Pixelakes. But his compositions don’t stop there, he has created works for PBS documentaries and collaborated with Mozart & Friends, a Berlin-based production company, in addition to working with Sony, Warner Bros, and Universal Music Group.
Now, his time is spent with the New York-based company V-Media Entertainment as Director of Catalogue and Licensing, and staff producer/engineer for their Minneapolis based recording studio River Rock Studios, where he continues influencing the music world.
Next Generation Musicians
The impact Fink has left in the music industry is irrefutable. Even his family is inspired by his work. Matt’s son Max Fink, known as MVXMILLI, is an up and coming musician who’s found success in the Los Angeles music scene thans to early lessons in music from his dad.
Matt Fink has a living legacy that inspires many, from his own family, to the musicians he works with. All of us at MediaTech Ventures had a blast getting to know the most iconic keyboard player in American music history.
Listen now to Matt Fink and MediaTech Venture’s Ted Cohen as they dive into making music with Prince, advice for musicians promoting themselves, and a special surprise visit from musician MVXMILLI.
