Eric Matthews (born 1969 in Compton, California) is an American composer, musician, recording artist, and record producer. Eric came to the world's attention as one half of the band Cardinal. Cardinal was formed with Australian singer-songwriter Richard Davies in 1992 while the two both lived in Boston, Massachusetts. Cardinal introduced Eric as a multi-instrumentalist and arranger while Richard contributed most of the songwriting. Cardinal, while not a huge commercial success, made a big splash among sophisticated music fans in most of the West's big cities and with its 1994 self titled debut cemented itself as one of the pivotal bands of the 1990s. Eric?s love of the symphonic tradition matched with his appreciation for the great Bee Gees and Beatles records of the 1960s were both a great blend for Cardinal as well as a template for what Eric hoped to achieve in his own music later.