Dave Matthews

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Dave Matthews <tr style="text-align: center;"><td colspan="3"> Dave Matthews in 2003 </td></tr>
Background information <tr><td>Birth name</td><td colspan="2">David John Matthews</td></tr><tr><td>Also known as</td><td colspan="2">Dave Matthews</td></tr><tr><td>Born</td><td colspan="2">January 9, 1967 Image:Flag of South Africa.svg Johannesburg, South Africa</td></tr><tr><td>Genre(s)</td><td colspan="2">Rock</td></tr><tr><td>Occupation(s)</td><td colspan="2">Musician, songwriter</td></tr><tr><td>Instrument(s)</td><td colspan="2">Guitar, singing, scat singing</td></tr><tr><td style="padding-right: 1em;">Label(s)</td><td colspan="2">RCA</td></tr><tr><td textalign="top" style="padding-right: 1em;">Associated acts</td><td colspan="2">Tribe of Heaven (1989-90) Dave Matthews Band (1991-present) Dave Matthews & Friends (2003-present)</td></tr><tr><td>Website</td><td colspan="2">davematthewsband.com</td></tr>

David John Matthews, (born January 9, 1967 in Johannesburg, South Africa) is the Grammy-award winning lead vocalist and guitarist from Dave Matthews Band. He has also worked as a solo artist and with other musicians, most often with Tim Reynolds. An occasional actor, he has appeared in two feature films.

1 Early life
2 Formation of DMB
3 Other ventures
4 Personal life
5 Equipment
6 Solo discography
- 6.1 Guest appearances
7 Awards
- 7.1 Grammys
8 References

[edit] Early life

Matthews was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1967. The Matthews family consisted of four children: Dave, two sisters (Anne and Jane) and a brother (Peter). Two years later, his family migrated to Yorktown Heights in Westchester County, New York, where his father, a physicist, went to work for IBM. The elder Matthews encouraged Dave to take piano lessons as a child before he picked up the guitar at age nine. After living in New York, his family moved to Cambridge, England in the early 1970s before returning to the States. His father died of lung cancer in 1977. In 1980, the family moved back to South Africa, where the young Matthews went to several schools. In 1994, while living in South Africa, his sister Anne was murdered by her husband just before he took his own life.<ref name="anne">http://experts.about.com/q/Dave-Matthews-Band-430/dave-matthews-sister.htm</ref> The Grammy nominated album Under The Table and Dreaming is dedicated to her.

Upon his graduation from St Stithians College high school, he faced a requirement by the South African government to put in two years of compulsory military service. Coming from a devoutly Quaker family, military service was not an option,<ref name=CNN> Whitefield, Fredricka (2005). "Profiles of U2 and The Dave Matthews Band" CNN.com (accessed May 3, 2006)</ref> and his mother implored the University of Virginia to accept her son in honor of his father, who had once taught there in the physics department. In 1986, Matthews was accepted and he relocated to Charlottesville, Virginia to begin his studies.

Though he also spent time back in South Africa, and also in Amsterdam, it was in Charlottesville that he became part of the local music community.<ref name=CNN /> Pursuing various interests, Matthews tried his hand on stage, acting in various local productions. While enthusiastic for music, and a popular bartender at a local watering hole called Miller's, Matthews was intimidated by the quality of the local actors and largely shied away from performing publicly. But local star (and future collaborator) Tim Reynolds finally goaded Matthews to join him on stage one night, and Matthews stunned the audience with his performance.<ref name=VH1>"Driven: Dave Matthews - About the Episode" VH1.com (accessed May 4, 2006)</ref> This eventually led to his first professional musical gig at a modern dance performance by the Miki Liszt Dance Company, singing "Sensitive Feelings," composed by John D'earth and Dawn Thompson. In 1990 he hatched the idea to form his own band.

[edit] Formation of DMB

Matthews had originally envisioned someone else singing his songs but instead decided to use his own vocals. Yet after writing his first few songs, including "The Song that Jane Likes" and "Recently", he began to consider starting his own band. Matthews formed The Dave Matthews Band in early 1991 with Boyd Tinsley, LeRoi Moore, Carter Beauford, Stefan Lessard, and Peter Griesar while he was working as a bartender at Miller's in Charlottesville. The band's first gig was on May 11, 1991, at a private rooftop party held by Lydia Condor at the South Street Warehouse in downtown Charlottesville.

[edit] Other ventures

In the late 1990s, Dave Matthews was a guest at two Rolling Stones concerts. He helped DMB manager Coran Capshaw found ATO Records in 2000, and he remains one of the principals of that label. Matthews sang on the track "Sing Along" on Blue Man Group's second album The Complex in 2003. Later that year he released a solo album, Some Devil, which went platinum; its single, "Gravedigger," won a Grammy Award in 2004. To support the album, Matthews toured with a group of musicians (most of whom performed on Some Devil) under the name Dave Matthews & Friends. This side project of Matthews continues to be active when DMB is on hiatus.

Matthews is also a close friend of banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck. Matthews appears as a guest vocalist on Bela Fleck and the Flecktones' 1998 release Left of Cool and both Fleck and Flecktones bassist Victor Wooten have made numerous appearances both live and studio with DMB. The flecktones also opened for DMB on several tours.

Since 2001, Matthews has been one of the directors of Farm Aid. Matthews owns 1,340 acres of farmland near Scottsville, Virginia named Maple Hill Farm, where he grows organic vegetables, flowers, and herbs through a community-supported agriculture program. Close to the farm, Matthews maintains the four acre Blenheim Vineyards which utilizes a gravity flow winemaking technique.^{[citation needed]}

Dave Matthews has also acted in two feature films, with a third on the way. He played Will Coleman in the 2003 adaptation of the novel Where the Red Fern Grows. He also portrayed the character Otis in the 2005 film Because of Winn-Dixie, which was based on the novel of the same name. He is currently shooting the indie flick "Lake City" with Sissy Spacek and Troy Garity.

[edit] Personal life

Matthews and his wife, Jennifer Ashley Harper, have twin daughters born in 2001, Stella Busina and Grace Anne. The family splits their time between Seattle, Washington and Charlottesville, Virginia. Although Dave was raised as a Quaker, he now considers himself to be agnostic.<ref>Boston Globe, March 4, 2001, quoted online at The Athiest Alliance</ref>

Matthews is a naturalized United States citizen and identifies strongly with American culture and politics. However, as he stated in his famous essay "My African Heart," "I go back to South Africa at least once a year, sometimes twice, and usually for a month...to both lose myself and gain awareness of myself." <ref name=MAH>Matthews, Dave (2001). "My African Heart" TIME magazine (accessed June 19, 2006)</ref> On his trips back to South Africa, Dave can often be found frequenting his local, the Roxy Rhythm Bar<ref>http://www.clubroxy.co.za/</ref> in Melville, a suburb of Johannesburg.