Below is an excerpt from a transcript Matt Flinders wrote to a friend early in 2004.Briefly: I was born in Egypt of mixed European parentage (French/Italian/English) and came out to Australia in 1951 after a year in England. The name I was known by was Louis Bonett at that stage. I started playing double bass with a couple of groups and toured Japan and worked around Australia until the early sixties when I went to England, formed my own group and worked in London for four years. On my return to Australia I had the band at the Chevron Hotel in Melbourne, still playing bass and singing. A Melbourne musician (Johnnie Hawker) used me in some singing commercials for radio and television and these came to the attention of Ron Tudor. Ron offered me a recording contract on behalf of Astor records and suggested the name change to Matt Flinders to make it easier for DJ’s to remember. My first record “Something is Happening” went to #14 on the charts. A year or so later, late 69, I recorded “Picking up Pebbles” still on Astor. This went to #1 and had the distinction of replacing the Beatles' hit Hey Jude. From then on I recorded on Ron Tudor’s label, Fable.
“Butterfly” was one of the biggest hit songs Matt had on the Fable label. It reached #6 in 1971. "Butterfly" according to Matt was recorded under very strange circumstances. Matt got the song offered to him but he thought the lyrics could be improved as the English translation he had didn't seem to work well. He wrote to the original song writer, Danyel Gerard (who had 3 different language versions of the song recorded), and asked if he could re-write the lyrics. Danyel said yes. Then when Matt's version of the song became a hit, Danyel insisted that he got all the royalties, even though Matt had given it new lyrics. Danyel Gerard's version on C.B.S. records was not a big hit in Oz. But the saga grew stranger...Danyel got Matt to sing the English version he had authored to seal the royalties. Matt has a second version in the can and below is the alternate version of "Butterfly" using the Danyel Gerard penned lyrics. It uses the same backing track as the hit single.
Matt says: I am not working in the business any more, and only perform rarely for charitable or other organisations in a very low-profile way. I am now a Civil Celebrant, doing Marriages, baby-naming and Funerals, and keeping busy and useful in my senior years.
Here is the alternate "Butterfly":
http://rapidshare.com/files/180034031/matt_flinders_-_butterfly__alternate_version_.mp3
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