Dave Matthews Band consists of Boyd Tinsley (acoustic and electric violins), Carter Beauford (drums; percussion; background vocals), Dave Matthews (vocals; acoustic guitar), Leroi Moore (alto, soprano, tenor, and baritone saxophones; flute; whistles), Stefan Lessard (bass; tac piano).
Dave Matthews Band is an American jam band, originally formed in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1991 by singer and guitarist Dave Matthews, bassist Stefan Lessard, Leroi Moore, who plays a wide variety of instruments from the saxophone to the flute, violin player Boyd Tinsley, drummer Carter Beauford, and keyboardist Peter Griesar (who left the band in 1993), all of whom Dave met in Charlottesville. Since 1998 the band has performed at most of their shows with keyboardist Butch Taylor, although he is not officially a member of the band. Moore, Beauford, Tinsley and Taylor also do back up vocals.
David John Matthews was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1967. Two years later, his family moved to Westchester County, NY. His father was a physicist and worked for IBM at the time. He has two sisters (Anne and Jane) and a brother (Peter). After living in New York, his family moved to Cambridge, England in the early '70s. The family returned to New York where his father died in 1977. In 1980, the family moved back to South Africa, where the young Matthews went to several schools and "got more wise about the evils of government, there and in general." In 1994, his sister Anne died in a domestic tragedy at her home in South Africa. The Grammy nominated album Under The Table and Dreaming is dedicated to her.
By 1997, the band had reached great popularity across the country and, to some degree, the world. To combat an increasingly and illegally profitable bootleg market, the band released a live album, Live at Red Rocks 8.15.95. This album featured popular songs from the band's three previous albums and included longtime collaborator and guitarist Tim Reynolds. In late 1997 the band returned to the studio with producer Steve Lillywhite and an array of collaborators, including banjoist Béla Fleck, vocalist Alanis Morissette, guitarist Tim Reynolds, keyboardist Butch Taylor, and the Kronos Quartet, to compose and record Before These Crowded Streets, their third album with RCA. Before These Crowded Streets represented a great change in direction. Instead of relying on upbeat hit singles, the album as a whole stunned many with its complexity and would be regarded as the band's greatest studio effort.( disputed — see talk page) In 1999 Dave Matthews released a solo live album, Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds Live at Luther College, from a 1996 acoustic concert played by Matthews and longtime friend guitarist Tim Reynolds, and the band released a live album, Listener Supported, a concert from September 1999 that was also partially shown on PBS.