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Carter Beauford

Dave Matthews Band

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A founding member of Dave Matthews Band, Carter Beauford has become one of most popular and emulated drummers in the world. With the rare ability to play just as well on the left as on the right, Beauford and his incredible technique have become the subject of much buzz in the drum world. Beauford plays both the hi-hats and ride cymbal with his left hand, which are set on the left section of his drum set. He is also well known for his artful blending of jazz, blues, and rock drumming. His facility with odd time signatures and complex patterns has become a key component of the Dave Matthews Band sound.

Born in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1957, Beauford got his first taste of masterful drumming at a Buddy Rich concert when he was three years old. Soon after, his father bought him a small tin drum set with paper heads. It was love at first strike, and he's been playing ever since. He performed his first live show with a local jazz-fusion band when he was just nine. Later, he earned a music degree from the Shenandoah Conservatory Of Music.

In his twenties, Beauford was a key member of the music scene in Richmond and Charlottesville, where he played in a band called Secrets with future Dave Matthews Band saxophonist, LeRoi Moore. He met Matthews, then a bartender at Miller’s Bar in Charlottesville, and agreed to form a new band with the budding singer/guitarist. The band eventually came together with Moore, Matthews, and Beauford along with 16-year-old student bassist Stefan Lessard and violinist Boyd Tinsley. Their first album, Remember Two Things, was released in 1993 and was comprised almost entirely of live tracks. The band followed this album with the release of both their EP, Recently, and their first full-length studio album, Under The Table And Dreaming, in 1994. That record became a major success with songs like “Ants Marching,” “Satellite,” and “What Would You Say” coming to define the quirky, off-beat funk-pop that had Beauford's amazing beats at the forefront. 1996 brought Dave Matthews Band further success with the release of Crash, which earned them one Grammy Award and four nominations.

—Greg Dawson

Vitals

• BandDave Matthews Band
• Date of BirthNovember 2, 1957
• FactoidCarter’s ambidextrous drumming came about as an accident: As a child he set his drums in front of a mirror to watch himself play, and reversed his setup so the mirror image appeared as the right-handed drummers he was used to watching.