• Faith: Agnostic
• Career: Musician
• Birthday:  January 09, 1967

Dave Matthews is a songwriter, musician, record producer, and political activist. He's best known as the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist for the Dave Matthews Band. He was born in Johannesburg and moved frequently between South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States as a child. Matthews started playing guitar when he was nine.

From 1991 to 2003, Matthew focused on performing and songwriting with the Dave Matthew Band, which he started in 1991 in Charlottesville, Virginia. He's also produced other records and has done several solo performances. From 2000 to 2010, his band sold more tickets and earned more money 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 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 had had multiple acting roles. He's also won two Grammys: one with the Dave Matthews Band for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group and one for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. Matthews was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, the third of four children. When he was two, the family moved to Yorktown Heights, New York, where his father worked for IBM.

In 1974, the family moved to Cambridge, England, for a year, then returned to New York. Tragically, his father died from lung cancer in 1977 when Matthew was ten years old. At some point, while living in New York, Matthews attended his first concert when his mother took him to a Pete Seeger performance. That same year, the family moved back to Johannesburg. In 1980, Matthews was naturalized as a U.S. citizen. When Matthews graduated from secondary school in 1983, he was faced with conscription into the South African military as civil disobedience to the practice was becoming widespread.

As a Quaker, Matthews left South Africa to avoid service. He moved to New York in 1986, where he worked for IBM for a short time before joining his mother in Charlottesville, Virginia. In Charlottesville, Matthews became part of the local music community and started performing publicly. Eventually, Matthews was persuaded to record some of his own songs, leading to his first professional music gig. In 1991, he got the idea to form his band.

What religion is Dave Matthews?

Matthews grew up as a Quaker, but now identifies as agnostic. In an interview, the musician said, 'It would be safe to say that I'm agnostic. However, I do feel as though we owe a faith to the world and ourselves. We owe a grace and gratitude to things that have brought us here. But I think it's very ignorant to say, `Well, for everything, God has a plan.' That's like an excuse. Maybe the real faithful act is to commit to something, to take action, as opposed to saying, `Well, everything is in the hand of God.'" However, Matthews has said he's not anti-Christian or anti-religion.