Toy Matinee | it

Toy Matinee was a short-lived American art-pop band, and also the title of their only album. Their sound was an array of mixed influences, including progressive rock, AOR and pop reminiscent of both The Beatles and The Beach Boys.

Toy Matinee was formed by producer/composer/keyboardist Patrick Leonard in collaboration with singer/lyricist Kevin Gilbert. Backed by a group of session musicians (drummer Brian MacLeod, guitarist Tim Pierce, and bassist Guy Pratt), and with guest appearances from several other musicians including Julian Lennon, the duo recorded just one self-titled album which was released on Reprise Records in 1990.

The album was engineered and produced by Bill Bottrell. Thematically, it covered a rather broad ground; two tracks were dedicated to Czech poet and political figure Václav Havel and painter Salvador Dalí, and "Queen of Misery" is about Madonna. (Leonard was the singer's longtime songwriting and producing partner and Gilbert had recently worked with her as an engineer.) Two of the other songs on Toy Matinee -- "The Ballad of Jenny Ledge" and "Last Plane Out" -- received wide play on album rock stations, both of them peaking at #23 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. Despite that, the album's highest U.S. chart position was #129.

The touring version of the band was notable for featuring Gilbert's then girlfriend, Sheryl Crow, on keyboards and Marc Bonilla on guitar.

After the album's release, Gilbert became busy working with Crow and on his own solo projects which included "Thud", released in 1994. In 1994, Leonard and former Mr. Mister frontman Richard Page released the album Meanwhile as 3rd Matinee.

Kevin Gilbert's untimely death in 1996 ended any possibility of a second Toy Matinee album. .