Among the few African American singers to pursue a classical career in the middle 20th century, Inez Matthews made several recordings. In 1950, Matthews scored her first big break as she performed for eight months as Irina, the lead female role, in Kurt Weill's musical Lost in the Stars. She was probably most often heard, although she remained invisible, as the singing voice of actress Ruth Attaway in the 1959 film of George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. Matthews made three LP recordings as a soloist for the Period Records label, including one of African American spirituals. Much of what is known about her comes from a 1994 article by Kari Paulson, "Conversations with Inez Matthews," in the Journal of Singing. Matthews' recordings of Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin, D. 795, and Winterreise, D. 911, were reissued in 2023.