Neal Matthews, Jr. (October 26, 1929 - April 21, 2000)

Biography

Neal Matthews, Jr. performed with the Oak Ridge Quartet in 1949 before that version of the Oaks left Wally Fowler to form the Stone Mountain Quartet. Matthews joined the Jordanaires in 1953 and sang with them until his death in 2000. As a member of the Jordanaires, he sang background vocals for many music legends including Elvis Presley.

Matthews was the inventor of the Nashville Number System, the now de facto standard music chord shorthand used by professional recording studios for traditional Country and Southern Gospel music production.