Biography

Dave Matthews

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David John Matthews is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record label owner. He is best known as the lead vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist for the Dave Matthews Band (DMB). Matthews was born in Johannesburg, and moved frequently among South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States while growing up. Matthews started playing acoustic guitar at the age of nine.
- IMDb mini biography by: Bonitao

Came to America at the age of 18 and began working as a bartender in a jazz club in Charlottesville, Virginia. This is where he heard the artists play that later became part of his band.
His father, John, a non-smoker, died of lung cancer when Dave was 10 years old.
Proposed to the same woman (Julia Grey) three different times, each time being told "no"
His wife gave birth to twin girls, Grace Anne and Stella Busina, in Seattle.
In 1993 his eldest sister, Anne, died in a domestic tragedy at her home in South Africa. The DMB album "Under the Table and Dreaming" is dedicated to her. Anne is survived by her two children.

I go back to South Africa at least once a year, sometimes twice, and usually for a month. And probably, I'm guessing, I'll spend more time back there as I get older. South Africa gives me a perspective of what's real and what's not real. So I go back to South Africa to both lose myself and gain awareness of myself. Every time I go back, it doesn't take long for me to get caught into a very different thing. A very different sense of myself. It's a melting pot, southern Africa. You find these cultural collisions that result in art and music, and it's pretty amazing.
Good music is good music, and everything else can go to hell.
A guy and a girl can be just friends, but at one point or another, they will fall for each other... maybe temporarily, maybe at the wrong time, maybe too late, or maybe forever.
We just enjoy ourselves and I think the tightness comes from just knowing each other. No two takes in the studio ever sound the same either, when we're in there, so it's sort of the same thing. No two nights repeat themselves too much.
I hope it isn't entirely my songwriting but it may be. We've had a few songs that have done well on the radio but my songs don't 'test' very well when they test markets, so I guess that's what's happened. My songs are like a three-legged dog - you have to get to know them to have any love for them.

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