He was a member of the United States Marine Corps who graduated at Parris Island on May 25, 1966, and served during the Vietnam War.

[8] In 1975, he scored a musical hit in the UK Singles Chart, "Fool", which reached number 16 in the fall of that year.

[9] One of the session singers on the record was Maxine Nightingale who had appeared in the German production of Hair in the early 1970s.

[10] In August 1976, Al Matthews & the Last Word were appearing at the Clouds in Brixton, The Pavilion in Bath and the BLue Lagaoon in Newquay.

[14] Matthews played various acting roles, such as Ferguson in Rough Cut (1980), a workman in Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981), a Vietnam veteran in The Sender (1982), a fire chief in Superman III (1983), Benedict in The American Way (1986), Sergeant Apone in Aliens (1986), General Tudor in The Fifth Element (1997) and Master Sergeant #3 in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997).