Caws was born in New York City, the son of Peter James Caws and Mary Ann Caws. Caws\' mother was born and raised in Wilmington, North Carolina. His father was born in Southall, Middlesex. Matthew Caws\' parents, both university professors, took sabbaticals in France—in Paris, and in the Vaucluse in Provence—which helped Matthew develop early skills in French. Caws\' mother, a Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature, English, and French at the Graduate Center at CUNY, lives in New York City. Caws\' father, University Professor of Philosophy at George Washington University, lives in Washington, D.C.. Caws\' parents divorced in 1987. In 2007, his mother married Dr. Boyce Bennett. His father married Nancy Breslin, M.D., M.F.A., a psychiatrist turned fine art photographer. Caws\' great-grandmother was painter Margaret Walthour Lippitt.\n', 'Caws has a half sister from his father\'s second marriage named Elisabeth Breslin Caws. Caws has an older sister, Hilary Caws-Elwitt. She is married to humorist and playwright Jonathan Caws-Elwitt, who also writes erotica under the nom de plume Jeremy Edwards. They formed the band The Silly Pillows together and live in Northampton, Massachusetts.\n', 'When the family returned to New York City, his parents sent him to the Lycée Français de New York. There he joined The Cost of Living in 1982 or 1983, a band formed by a teacher, Patrick Thouron, and a few students, including Daniel Lorca, Stéphane Dehais, and Fabrice Griffoulière-Frère, initiating a long friendship and a promising collaboration. Caws told a Boston audience in March 2018 that he and Lorca wanted to form a band sooner than their parents allowed at age 15.\n', '

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