David John "Dave" Matthews (born January 9, 1967) is a South African-born American singer-songwriter, musician and actor,best known as the lead vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist for the Dave Matthews Band. He performs mainly with acoustic guitar and favors rhythm rather than solos in his playing. During the period from 2000 to 2010, his band, the Dave Matthews Band, sold more tickets and earned more than any other act in North America.
David John Matthews was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, the third of four children of parents John and Valerie Matthews. At two years old, Matthews' family moved to Yorktown Heights in Westchester County, New York, where his father, a physicist, started working for IBM
In 1974, the family moved to Cambridge, England, for a year before returning to New York, where his father died from lung cancer in 1977.
Upon Matthews' graduation from St Stithians College high school in 1985, he was faced with conscription into the South African military just as civil disobedience to the practice was becoming widespread. A Quaker (and consequently pacifist), Matthews left South Africa to avoid service.
In early 1994, Matthews' older sister, Anne, who lived in South Africa, was murdered by her husband, who subsequently committed suicide, on or around January 27 of that year.
Before he was known as a musician, Dave Matthews was an amateur actor, appearing onstage in several productions at Charlottesville's Offstage Theatre and Live Arts theater.
Dave Matthews married longtime partner Jennifer Ashley Harper in 2000. The couple has twin daughters, Stella Busina and Grace Anne, born in 2001, and a son, August Oliver, born in 2007. They reside in Seattle, Washington.
No comments:
Post a Comment