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Revision as of 03:53, 2 September 2006 by 65.105.14.66 (talk) (→Notes)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)| Dave Matthews | |
|---|---|
| Occupation(s) | lead vocalist, Dave Matthews Band |
| Spouse | Jennifer Ashley Harper |
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.
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 immigrated to Westchester County, New York, where his physicist father 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, where his father died of Hodgkin's disease, in 1977. In 1980, the family moved back to South Africa, where the young Matthews went to several schools and "got more wise about the evils of government, there and in general." In 1994, his sister Anne died in a domestic tragedy at her home in South Africa. The Grammy nominated album Under The Table and Dreaming is dedicated to her.
Upon his graduation from high-school, he was required to put in two years of compulsory military service, a requirement of the South African government. Coming from a devoutly Quaker family, military service was not an option, and his mother implored University of Virginia to accept her son in honor of his father, who had once worked there in the physics department. So 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. 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. 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.
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.
Other ventures
In the late 1990s, Dave Matthews was a commonly 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 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.
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 provides 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.
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.
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. Despite his upbringing, Matthews identifies as agnostic.
Matthews self-identifies as a "White" immigrant American, However, he has been classified by some with the term African-American, since he was born and spent a large portion of his childhood in South Africa. However, as this term is usually reserved for Black Americans, the designation has met with dispute. Semantics aside, Matthews is a legal American 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."
In his spare time, Matthews enjoys being with his family.
Solo discography
- See also: Dave Matthews Band discography
Albums
- 1999: Live at Luther College (with Tim Reynolds)
- 2003: Some Devil
Guest appearances
- 1990: Imagine We Were by Tribe of Heaven
- 1996: In November Sunlight by Soko
- 1998: Left of Cool by Béla Fleck and the Flecktones
- 1999: Supernatural by Santana
- 2000: Red Dirt Girl by Emmylou Harris
- 2000: Sharin' in the Groove: Celebrating the Music of Phish (Various Artists)
- 2001: Mercury by Thompson D'earth
- 2002: Black Ivory Soul by Angelique Kidjo
- 2002: We Were Soldiers Soundtrack
- 2003: The Complex by Blue Man Group
- 2003: Next by Soulive
- 2003: True Reflections by Boyd Tinsley
- 2005: Haughty Melodic by Mike Doughty
- 2005: Tribe of Heaven by Mark Roebuck
- 2005: Live From Bonnaroo 2004 (Various Artists)
- 2006: Feedback by Jurassic 5
Awards
Grammys
- Best Male Rock Performance ("Gravedigger", 2004, Dave Matthews, solo) — WON
Quotes
I'm way more American than George Bush and Dick Cheney.
— Dave Matthews, Rolling Stone interview "The Devil and Dave Matthews" (January 22, 2004)
That's the magic of this band: shooting from the hip. The lights have to follow our cues, because we're not going to follow their cues. We're not going to stick to a song the way it's supposed to be. Everything is up to us. That's music to me. That's American music. We're an American band.
— Dave Matthews, Rolling Stone interview "The Boys of Summer" (June 16, 2005)
Remember that there are hundreds of thousands of things you can eat that are not cheese.
— Dave Matthews
Never eat Thai food if it's really late at night, and you haven't eaten anything all day.
References
- Driven, an episode of the VH1 show, featuring Matthews
External links
- FarmAid.org — Farm Aid's Official Website
- Dave Matthews Concert Tickets
- DMBand.com — Official website
- nancies.org — Established DMB fan website begun in July 1998
- DMB rhyme and reason — A thorough, near-daily, DMB newsletter / website begun in July 2001
- Carolyn's DMB Castle — fan site including lots of pics, news, articles, and more (established in 1997)
- 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
- J&A's DMB Fan Site — A fan site with forums, news, lyrics and all around info that begun in May 2005
- DavePosters.com — A collection of DMB concert posters and related art
- 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 -— Peter's (Dave's brother) 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.
- SeekUp.org - a website dedicated to sharing information regarding the live music trading of The Dave Matthews Band.
- ^ Whitefield, Fredricka (2005). "Profiles of U2 and The Dave Matthews Band" CNN.com (accessed May 3, 2006)
- "Driven: Dave Matthews - About the Episode" VH1.com (accessed May 4, 2006)
- ^ Eliscu, Jenny (2005). "The Boys of Summer" Rolling Stone (accessed June 19. 2006)
- Morse, Steve (2001)."Dave Matthews Gets Serious - and Playful" The Boston Globe (accessed May 29, 2006)
- Matthews, Dave (2004). "Voices for Change" Rolling Stone (accessed June 19, 2006)
- Page, Clarence (2004). "Essay: American Hyphen" PBS.org (accessed June 19, 2006)
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
TDADMwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - Matthews, Dave (2001). "My African Heart" TIME magazine (accessed June 19, 2006)
- 1967 births
- American agnostics
- American guitarists
- American male singers
- American rock musicians
- Dave Matthews Band
- People from Johannesburg
- Living people
- Naturalized citizens of the United States
- People from Charlottesville, Virginia
- South African-Americans
- South African musicians
- Quakers
- Rock musicians
- American rock guitarists
- Rock guitarists