Matthews, Dave (9th January 1967-Present)

He is a singer-songwriter, pianist, guitarist and actor born David John Matthews in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he was one of four children to a father who was a physicist. The family emigrated to Yorktown Heights, New York, when he was two years old and then relocated once again to Cambridge in England in 1974. They returned to New York after a year and then in 1980 returned to South Africa.

He studied at Johannesburg’s St. Stithian’s College and then returned to the Charlottesville, Virginia, sometime after graduation as he was unable to do carry out his military service term due to coming from a Quaker family. Here he began taking part as an actor in local productions and was a well-liked bartender, but although having a great love of music, he stayed in the shadows and just enjoyed the performances by the local artists.

Tim Reynolds, who was a local celebrity and who he has worked with regularly since, convinced him to get up on stage one night and he so captured the audience that a while later he was singing for a performance put on by the Miki liszt Dance Company. This must have been his musical turning point as 1990 came along and he decided that he wanted to put his own band together. So in 1991 the Dave Matthews Band was born and they made their debut at the Earth Day Festival in Charlottesville in April of that year.

Tragedy struck in 1994 when his brother-in-law murdered his sister in South Africa but because of his obligations in the US he had to return and perform in concert within 2 days of her death. He and his sister took the two children that were left behind and raised them in the US.

Continuing to work with his Dave Matthews band he saw further success with his Grammy Award winning “So Much to Say” in 1997. In 2000 he became a co-founder of ATO Records, and in 2001 he sang “Everyday” on the telethon America: A Tribute to Heroes. 2004 won a Grammy Award for his single “Gravedigger”. This led to him touring as Dave Matthews & Friends, which was a sideline during a time of the Dave Matthews Band being in temporary hiatus. In 2006 he recorded a live album at Abbey Road Studios and toured with Tim Reynolds with appearances at Radio City Music Hall among other venues.

During the course of his career he has appeared with many artists such as Jimmy Buffett, Bela Fleck & The Flecktones, John Mayer and Phil Vassar. He has appeared on many albums with a few of them including Before These Crowded Streets, Busted Stuff, Crash, Everyday, Imagine We Were, Live from Abbey Road, Recently, Remember Two Things, Some Devil, Stand Up and Under the Table Dreaming.

With other musicians he is now a director of Farm Aid with his co-directors John Mellencamp, Willie Nelson and Neil Young and uses the community-supported agriculture program on his farm in Scottsville, Virginia. He also maintains the Blenheim Vineyards, near to his farm. He gives many charity benefit concerts and established The Bama Works Fund of Dave Matthews Band, which supports charitable programs in and around Charlottesville.

Aside from his success in music, he has also taken his acting abilities to the movie and television screen and appeared in the movies Because of Winn-Dixie, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, Lake City, Where the Red Fern Grows and You Don’t Mess with the Zohan and in the TV series House M.D. In recent years his company, ATO, have also released the movie Joshua, with him writing and performing the end credits.

In 2005 he was awarded an honorary D.Ma by Haverford College in Pennsylvania.

Sources:

Matthews, Dave (9th January 1967-Present)

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