Matt Dennis was born into a musical family; his father was a singer and his mother a violinist, and the family business was a vaudeville act. There he made his debut as one of The Five Musical Lovelands. In 1933, he joined the Horace Heidt orchestra as piano player and vocalist. Several years later, he formed a band with Dick Haymes, one of the great popular baritones of the time. Haymes fronted the band, but Matt Dennis was the musical brain behind it.

At the same time, he was building a reputation as an arranger for popular singers. He worked as arranger, accompanyist and vocal coach for Martha Tilton, and helped out a new group that had recently formed called The Stafford Sisters. One of the sisters was named Jo, and in 1940, she when she had joined the Tommy Dorsey Band, she convinced TD to hire Matt as staff arranger-composer. In one year, Dorsey recorded fourteen of Matt's songs, including Everything Happens to Me, which was one of Frank Sinatra's early hits with the band.

You can hear a lovely rendition of Everything Happens to Me on the Emma Gilmartin Move CD, Tomorrow, just you wait and see.