sylis

BIOGRAPHY

Matthew Sylis Bucchanan was an “oops” baby born December 5, 1987 in Greenwich, Connecticut. His parents had what they thought would be their last child ten years earlier, and with two children to take care of, they saw no reason to try for a third. Accidents happen, however, and a week of morning sickness prompted Maureen Tyler-Bucchanan to take a pregnancy test on Mother's Day 1987. Although they weren't expecting another baby, the parents-to-be soon recovered from the initial shock and James Bucchanan began turning one of their spare rooms into a nursery. James and Maureen also learned their lesson, and to be sure the “oops” didn't happen again, James went in for a vasectomy in 1988.

Luckily for his parents, Matthew was a happy baby, and he turned into an equally as easy-going child. As he grew older, it became apparent that he also craved attention. In later interviews, he would blame it on being the youngest child – a desperate attempt to get attention from his parents in spite of his two older siblings. This trend followed him into grade school; in second grade, Matthew told his teacher that he liked to be called by his middle name, Sylis. He told her this because there was another boy in his class named Matthew, and he didn't like the idea of sharing his name. “Sylis” stuck, and it's the name most people know him by today.

Early on, it was pretty apparent that Sylis had a knack for singing. Even when he was very young, he would sing along in the car to whatever happened to be playing on the radio. He seemed to have a specific liking toward Michael Jackson – his parents have a home video of him singing and dancing along to Billie Jean. His appreciation for music grew as he got older, and when he entered middle school, he joined the school choir. Freshman year of high school, Sylis' mom signed him up for voice lessons at the insistence of his music teacher. He was in every school musical in high school, even though musical theatre wasn't really his thing. Though he had a very diverse taste in music, he was always more into pop, r&b, and hip-hop. Part of his liking came from the fact that he knew it was what girls liked – he took advantage of this on several occasions made many of his own mixtapes for his high school girlfriends.

He was so intent on making a name for himself that he felt like he needed to move to LA after high school. It wasn't completely crazy, after all his brother had already been in the area for 10 years and had made a name for himself in the entertainment industry. Breaking into the music industry turned out to be a lot more difficult that he expected, however, and he didn't get the immediate recognition or record contract that he thought he would. Some friends suggested he try his hand at acting, and Sylis was tired of having his parents pay all of his bills for him, so he went to a few auditions. It wasn't long before he landed a guest role on Veronica Mars. From there it seemed like music took a backseat, and Sylis kept auditioning – somehow it was easier to keep doing something he was already becoming successful at.

In March 2009, Sylis' father passed away unexpectedly from a heart attack. His whole family was devastated, and it was the first time in Sylis' life that he truly felt depressed. He was only 21, and as far as he was concerned, his father was supposed to be around for at least 20 more years. The guilt surrounding the fact that he hadn't been there when his father passed was almost too much. He kept working and auditioning to pass the time, but remained in a funk for most of the following summer. It wasn't until a conversation Sylis had with his mother that he was able to make peace with his father's death. It also renewed an interest for Sylis to do what he had originally moved to LA to do – make music. After all, as his father made very apparent, life was short. He began writing songs and going to vocal lessons again. He started a Youtube campaign, simply titled “Get Me a Record Deal”, in which he sang a combination of well-known songs and some of his own stuff. The campaign turned out to be successful; Sylis eventually landed a meeting with music executives. In August 2010, Sylis released his debut album. Although many people think its odd that an album mostly about relationships and girls is dedicated to his dad, anybody who knows Sylis knows it makes perfect sense. Although Sylis really loves acting, his main focus is music for the time being. And with a Grammy nomination on his list of accomplishments, he sees no reason to focus on anything else.