Singer-Songwriter Matthew Sweet Suffers Debilitating Stroke On Tour, Faces “Long, Uncertain Path To Recovery”

Singer-songwriter Matthew Sweet, who grew to fame in the 1990s with alt-rock hits including “Girlfriend” and “I’ve Been Waiting,” has suffered what his manager is calling a debilitating stroke that will prevent him from performing for the foreseeable future.

Sweet had the stroke while on tour in Toronto earlier this month. His management company Russell Carter Artist Management announced the situation on a GoFundMe page this week.

“Matthew Sweet, our longtime inspiration and dear friend, suffered a debilitating stroke this past week in Toronto while in the early days of a national tour,” said his rep Catherine Lyons in a statement. “He has been unexpectedly and tragically forced off the road and onto a long, uncertain path to recovery.”

Sweet played Toronto on October 13 with his tour mates, the ’90s hitmakers Hanson. Sweet’s national acoustic tour, which has included Hanson on only some dates, was scheduled to continue through November 16.

According to Lyons, doctors and hospital care in Toronto “were instrumental” in saving the singer’s life, and Sweet must now be flown back to the United States “on an ambulance transport plane with medical staff on board, to a specialized rehabilitation center, where he will receive around-the-clock care and therapy for six weeks.”

“He will then require months of treatment and rehabilitation that we hope will lead to a full recovery,” Lyons said. “Needless to say, the costs for all of this treatment will be overwhelming. We anticipate a total close to a quarter of a million dollars.”

Sweet’s rep says on the GoFundMe page that without insurance or touring income, the singer “faces an enormous financial burden.”

By Wednesday afternoon, the fund had raised $216,705, with donors including Judd Apatow, John Mayer, R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, Ken Jennings and Jon Cryer.

Sweet emerged from the Athens, Georgia music scene of the 1980s, scoring hits in the ’90s with “Girlfriend,” “I’ve Been Waiting,” “Time Capsule” and “Sick of Myself.” In the early 2000s he teamed up with Bangles frontwoman Susanna Hoffs to record a series of cover songs. He released his 15th and most recent album Catspaw in 2021. His songs have been featured in such films and TV shows as Austin Powers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Simpsons, and he was a lead consultant on Tim Burton’s Margaret Keane biopic Big Eyes in 2014.