David John Matthews (born January 9, 1967) is an American musician and the lead vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist for the Dave Matthews Band (DMB).
Matthews was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and moved frequently between South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States while growing up. He started playing acoustic guitar at the age of nine.
From 1991 to 2003, Matthews predominantly focused on songwriting and performing with the Dave Matthews Band, which he started in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1991. He also has done various solo performances and produced other records. The band relentlessly toured and performed yearly for nearly two decades through 2010, beginning with college party shows and quickly growing into arena and stadium tours by the late 1990s; between 2000 and 2009, the band grossed more revenue than any other act in North America. The band's 2012 album Away from the World made them the only group to have six consecutive studio albums debut at number one on the Billboard charts. This record was extended to seven consecutive number one albums with the 2018 release, Come Tomorrow.
In addition to music, Matthews has had multiple acting roles. He has also won two Grammy Awards: one with the Dave Matthews Band in 1997 for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group ("So Much to Say") and one in 2004 for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance ("Gravedigger") from his solo album.
David John Matthews was born on January 9, 1967, in Johannesburg, the third of four children born to South African parents, John and Val Matthews. At age two, Matthews moved with his family to Yorktown Heights, New York, where his father, a physicist, started working for IBM.
In 1974, the Matthews family moved to Cambridge, England, for a year, then returned to New York, where his father died from lung cancer in 1977 when Matthews was ten years old. At some point, while residing in New York, Matthews attended his first concert, when his mother took him to a performance by Pete Seeger. The family returned to Johannesburg in 1977.
Matthews naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 1980.
Upon Matthews's graduation from secondary school in 1985, he was faced with conscription into the South African military just as civil disobedience to the practice was becoming widespread. As a Quaker (and consequently pacifist), Matthews left South Africa to avoid service.
Matthews moved to New York in 1986 where he worked for IBM for a short time, then joined his mother that same year in Charlottesville, Virginia, a town Matthews's family had lived in before he was born. In Charlottesville, he became part of the local music community, rehearsing in a warehouse owned by Roulhac Toledano. Although Matthews had started playing the guitar at age nine, it was only in Charlottesville that he started performing publicly. Matthews met local star (and future collaborator) Tim Reynolds through mutual friend, Nic Cappon. In time, Reynolds had Matthews join him on stage, and Matthews was persuaded to record some of his own songs. This led to his first professional musical gig at a modern dance performance by the Miki Liszt Dance Company, based at McGuffey Art Center in Charlottesville, singing "Meaningful Love", composed by John D'earth and Dawn Thompson. In 1991, he hatched the idea to form his own band. Before recording his first demo, Matthews bartended at Miller's in Charlottesville.
After writing his first few songs, including "I'll Back You Up", "The Song That Jane Likes" and "Recently", Matthews formed Dave Matthews Band in early 1991 with LeRoi Moore, Carter Beauford, Stefan Lessard, Peter Griesar (who left the band in 1993), and Boyd Tinsley while working at Miller's as a bartender. The band's first show was on March 14, 1991, as part of a benefit for the Middle East Children's Alliance at Trax Nightclub in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Dave Matthews Band released its debut studio album, Under the Table and Dreaming, on September 27, 1994. It features the hits "What Would You Say" (featuring John Popper of Blues Traveler on harmonica), "Satellite", and "Ants Marching". The album was dedicated to the memory of Matthews's older sister Anne, who was killed by her husband in 1994 in a murder–suicide. Under the Table and Dreaming brought the band worldwide fame and was certified six times platinum. Under the Table and Dreaming and its follow-up album, Crash, brought the band a Grammy Award and four additional Grammy nominations. The band won the 1996 Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group for "So Much to Say", and was nominated for Best Rock Album for Crash and the Best Rock Song for "Too Much". The band had also been nominated in 1995 for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group and Best Music Video, Short Form, for "What Would You Say". The band achieved hits with "Crash into Me", "Too Much", and "Tripping Billies".
The band is known for playing songs differently in each performance; this practice has become a staple of their live shows since the early 1990s. As of 2018, the band has sold 20 million concert tickets.
Dave Matthews Band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on October 19, 2024.
Matthews focused primarily on songwriting and performances with Dave Matthews Band from 1990 to 2003. The band's sound blends acoustic guitar, bass, saxophone, drums and violin. In 1994, DMB signed with RCA Records. Since that period, he has occasionally ventured outside the band in various solo performances and records.
Matthews sang on the track "Sing Along" on Blue Man Group's second album The Complex in 2003. Later that year he released the 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 (many of whom performed on Some Devil) under the name Dave Matthews & Friends.
Dave often collaborates with banjoist Béla Fleck. Fleck is the frontman and namesake of Béla Fleck and the Flecktones; Matthews appears as guest vocalist with the band on their 1998 release, Left of Cool. Both Fleck and the Flecktones' bassist Victor Wooten have made numerous live appearances and in studio with the Dave Matthews Band. Wooten soloed in the second part of the Daniel Lanois song "The Maker", and also in "#41" on the 1998 live album Live in Chicago. The Flecktones also opened for DMB on several tours. Matthews performed a duet with Emmylou Harris on "My Antonia" on her 2000 album Red Dirt Girl. They also appeared together on the musical television show CMT Crossroads, where the two performed Matthews's "Gravedigger" and the folk song "Long Black Veil".
Matthews played a cover of Neil Young's song "The Needle and the Damage Done" at the 2010 tribute MusiCares Person of the Year, honoring Young on January 29, 2010.
In the early 1990s, before he was known as a musician, Dave Matthews was an amateur actor, appearing on stage in several productions at Charlottesville's Offstage Theatre and Live Arts theater. The role for which he is best remembered is as a used car salesman in Offstage Theatre's "Just Say No", directed by John Quinn, co-starring Kylie Suture.