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Dave Matthews

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File:Dave Matthews Color 1 low res.jpg
Dave Matthews, 2003

David John Matthews, popularly known as Dave Matthews, (born January 9, 1967 in Johannesburg, South Africa) is the lead vocalist and guitarist from Dave Matthews Band (DMB).

Early Life

At the age of two, Matthews and his devoutly Quaker family immigrated to Westchester County, New York, where his physicist father went to work for IBM. Then, in the early 1970s, he moved to Cambridge, England before returning to New Jersey, where his father died of Hodgkins disease, in 1977. Dave took piano lessons as a child before picking up the guitar at age nine. The family moved back to South Africa in 1980, where Matthews went to a few different schools.

In 1986 Matthews relocated to Charlottesville, Virginia, where his parents had lived before he was born. Though he also logged time back in South Africa and in Amsterdam, it was in Charlottesville that he became part of the local music community. His first professional musical performance was 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.

Formation of DMB

Matthews had originally envisioned someone else singing his songs. 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 Greisar 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.

Other Ventures

In the late 1990s, Dave Matthews was a common featured guest at 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 released a solo album in late 2003, 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 them performed on Some Devil, under the name Dave Matthews & Friends. This side project of Matthews continues to be active when DMB is on hiatus.

Since 2001, Matthews has been one of the directors of Farm Aid. Matthews owns 1,260 acres of farmland near Scottsville, Virginia where he provides organic vegetables, flowers, and herbs to people who sign up for his community-supported agriculture program. Close to the farm, Matthews maintains the four acre Blenheim Vineyards which utilizes a gravity flow winemaking technique.

Dave Matthews has also acted in two feature films. 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.

Matthews and his wife, Ashley Harper, have twin daughters born in 2001, Stella Busina and Grace Anne. The family splits their time between Seattle, Washington and Charlottesville.

Discography

See also: Dave Matthews Band discography

Studio albums

Live albums

1997: "Live at Red Rocks"

2001: "Live in Chicago"

2002:"Live At Folsom Field"

Guest appearances

  • nancies.org — Established DMB fan website begun in July 1998
  • DMB rhyme and reason — A thorough, near-daily, DMB newsletter begun in July 2001
  • AntsMarching.org — A fan-created site with DMB concert downloads, news, show trading and personal show statistics, forum, setlists begun in January 2002
  • DMB Almanac — Song and concert history and statistics begun in April 2002
  • Amidreaming.org — Dave Matthews Band archive, art and message board begun in May 2002
  • DMBTabs.com — A site containing accurate guitar tablature for DMB's songs begun in September 2002
  • WeeklyDavespeak.com — A fan site with news, opinions and forums begun in 2004
  • Article appearing in Food and Wine in October 2005
  • Blenheim Vineyards Homepage -— Dave's Vineyard.
  • LiveInOurGraves.Org -— A website sharing many of the recorded live shows from the Dave Matthews Band, Dave solo or with Dave Matthews and Friends.
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