Philadelphia-based singer and songwriter Matt Duke was born and spent his childhood in South Jersey, where he began playing piano at the age of seven and taught himself guitar a couple of years later. Moving to Philadelphia for his high-school years, Duke began playing coffeehouses in the area and eventually recorded a handful of song demos that ended up on a compilation released by Drexel University's student-run Mad Dragon Records. Response to Duke's contributions to the project led to him recording a full-length album, Winter Child, tracked at Shinebox Studios in N.Y.C. and produced by Stewart Lerman, Stewart Smith, and Jim Klein, which was released by Mad Dragon in 2006 and distributed by Ryko. A sophomore album, Kingdom Underground, also distributed by Ryko, appeared in 2008. ~ Steve Leggett