As Mantler's second major and unique voice, Robert Wyatt has been inextricably linked with his music. His whimsical interpretations of songs with Edward Gorey's texts on The Hapless Child are classics, on Silence he not only provided vocals but also percussion tracks, on Many Have No Speech he sings Philippe Soupault's texts in French (!), and on The School of Understanding album he contributes one central song (which, despite his refusal to perform live, appears nevertheless during performances in a specially produced music video clip).

Their most recent collaboration is Hide and Seek, an album featuring duets with Susi Hyldgaard, with music composed by Mantler to texts of Paul Auster.

Wyatt was a founding member of the influential English group Soft Machine. Through successive albums, they soon moved toward a more jazz-based fusion with rock music, punctuated by Wyatt's distinctive drumming and vocals, attracting a massive following across Europe. After extensive touring, Wyatt left to pursue a solo career as a singer/composer, which resulted in a number of albums, including the unforgettable and highly acclaimed Rock Bottom and even a hit-single with his version of Neil Diamond's I'm a Believer. His surprisingly diverse career includes a wide range of events, from tours with Jimi Hendrix and recording with Carla Bley and Pink Floyd's Nick Mason, to supporting a variety of political and civil-rights causes, singing John Cage songs and working with Brian Eno. A Robert Wyatt biography/history, Wrong Movements, was published some time ago, and Virgin Records has released Going Back A Bit, a double CD retrospective of Wyatt's career. Among his latest recordings (on Rykodisc) are Shleep and Cuckooland (featuring the voice and compositions of another Mantler, namely Karen, Michael's daughter), and most recently, Comicopera (on Domino Records).