David John Matthews was born on January 9, 1967 in Johannesburg, the third of four children of parents John and Valerie Matthews. At the age of two years, Matthews moved with his family to Yorktown Heights in Westchester County, New York, where his father, a physicist, started working for IBM. In 1974, the Matthews family moved to Cambridge, England for a year before returning to New York, where his father died from lung cancer in 1977. Biographer Nevin Martell argues that Dave's father's death may be an impetus for his "carpe diem" lyrics.

Matthews focused primarily on songwriting and performances with the Dave Matthews Band from 1990 to 2003. DMB is an artistic blend of acoustic guitar, bass, sax, drums and fiddle music. 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 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 (many of whom performed on "Some Devil") under the name Dave Matthews & Friends. Dave has close friendship with banjoist Bela Fleck, the frontman and namesake of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, and with whom Matthews appears as guest vocalist on their 1998 release, Left of Cool and both Fleck and the Flecktones' bassist Victor Wooten have made numerous appearances both live 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' "Gravedigger" and the folk song "Long Black Veil", a song popularized by The Band. 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. The Dave Matthews Band opened for The Rolling Stones on their Bridges to Babylon Tour-1997-1998, and Matthews sang "Wild Horses", and "Memory Motel" alongside vocalist Mick Jagger.

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