Dave Matthews Band (sometimes shortened to DMB) is an American rock band formed in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1991. Members include singer-songwriter and guitarist Dave Matthews, bassist Stefan Lessard, violinist Boyd Tinsley, and drummer Carter Beauford. Saxophonist LeRoi Moore, a founding member, was part of the band until his death in August, 2008.

The band is known for their annual summer-long, nationwide tours featuring lengthy improvisational renditions of their songs accompanied by video and elaborately choreographed lighting. They have sold over 31 million units in the United States alone, putting them in the Top 100 highest selling music acts of all time.RIAA

History

Songwriter David John Matthews, working in Charlottesville as a bartender at Miller's bar in November of 1990, made friends with a lawyer named Ross Hoffman. Hoffman convinced Matthews, usually reserved and scared of playing in front of people, to lay down a demo of the few songs he had written. Hoffman hoped Matthews could shop the songs in order to find other musicians to perform on some studio work with him. Hoffman encouraged Dave to approach Carter Beauford, a local musician on the Charlottesville music scene. Beauford had been in several bands and was currently playing on a jazz show on Black Entertainment Television (BET). After hearing the demo, Carter agreed to spend some time playing the drums, both inside and outside the studio. Dave also approached LeRoi Moore, another local jazz musician who often performed with the John D'earth Quintet to join them. Moore would be famous later for always wearing sunglasses during shows because of his stage fright.Nevin Martell, Dave Matthews Band: Music for the people, (New York: Pocket Books, 2004) 13; See also Morgan Delancey, The Dave Matthews Band: Step into the Light, (Toronto: ECW Press, 1998), 33 who said, "Moore has a reputation for being an intensely private person. One of the reasons he performs with sunglasses is that they help him to battle stage fright. He suffers so much that at times he doesn't even open his eyes on stage. But Moore doesn't necessarily doesn't see this fear of performing as a bad thing; it keeps you in top form, he insists, and infuses you with adrenaline and energy." Moore skeptically listened to the demo, but liked what he heard and decided that he too would give the young South African a chance. These three began working on Matthews' songs in 1991.In Nevin Martell, Dave Matthews Band: Music for the people, (New York: Pocket Books, 2004) 21 Dave recollects that, "...the reason I went to Carter was not because I needed a drummer, but because I thought he was the baddest thing I'd ever seen and Leroi, it wasn't because I desperately wanted a saxophone, it was because this guy just blew my mind. At this jazz place I used to bartend at [1]. I would just sit back and watch him. I would be serving the musicians fat whiskeys and they'd be getting more and more hosed, but no matter how much, he used to still blow my mind. And it was the sense that everyone played from their heart. And when we got together and they asked, 'What do you want the music to sound like?' I said, 'I know this is a song I wrote and I like what you guys play, so I want you to play the way you react to my song.' There was a lot of breaking of our inhibitions.'".