Wilder was one-half of the Greenwich Village folk group Matthew & Peter in the 1970s. In 1978 he moved to Los Angeles, California, and sang for television commercials, and as a backing vocalist for Rickie Lee Jones and Bette Midler.
Wilder's debut album, I Don't Speak the Language (1983), reached #49 on the Billboard 200 chart, fueled by "Break My Stride", which reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Wilder had some continued success with the single "The Kid's American", which reached #33 in 1984, but the single failed to match the success of "Break My Stride". Wilder's second album, Bouncin' Off the Walls (1984), failed to gain much momentum — even with an innovative music video for the single "Bouncin' Off the Walls", with only the title track making the charts (#52), and was subsequently deemed a commercial failure.
Despite the collapse of his solo career, Wilder continued his career in the music industry as a songwriter and as a record producer for such acts as No Doubt, 702, Christina Aguilera, Kelly Clarkson, and Joanna Pacitti. He lent his singing voice to the character of Ling and was nominated for an Academy Award for Original Music Score (along with David Zippel and Jerry Goldsmith) for his work on the Disney film Mulan (1998). He has also done production work on Australian singer-songwriter Mig Ayesa's self-titled album released in April 2007 and has helped with production on Hayden Panettiere's album.
For theatre, Wilder has once again paired with Zippel to provide the music and lyrics for Princesses, a musical comedy update of Frances Hodgson Burnett's novel A Little Princess. The production ran at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle but has yet to open on Broadway.
Wilder produced the hit album Tragic Kingdom for the band No Doubt. He has also worked with singer Miley Cyrus on her Hannah Montana song "G.N.O. (Girls Night Out)".
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