Carter Beauford was born to Roland and Anne Beauford on November 2, 1957. He developed an interest in music at an early age as a result of his father playing with his band as jazz trumpeter, as well as listening to the jazz albums that his father constantly played while Carter was growing up. He is an ambidextrous, self-taught drummer who began paying the drums at only 3 years of age. He had his first gig when he was just nine years old, playing with a local jazz group with musicians in their twenties and thirties. Carter stayed with that group through his high school years.

While attending the Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, Virginia, Carter became good friends with Billy Drummond, a New York jazz drummer. He learned a great deal from Drummond, but, though his skills and confidence were growing greatly, Carter decided to study occupational therapy and became a teacher instead of studying music. He taught at various elementary and high schools in North Carolina for the next twelve years, after which he decided to quit teaching to play music full time.

From 1984 to 1990, Carter played with a band called Secrets. After Secrets ended, he went to California to try out for the a spot on the Arsenio Hall Show, but an unsuccessful attempt caused Carter to come back to the east coast, where he was able to get a job on pianist Ramsey Lewis's BET jazz show, "Bet on Jazz." He kept that job for four years and left around the same time he started playing gigs with DMB.

Carter was the first person Dave Matthews would ask to help him in making his recording. He and the others would later go on to become the Dave Matthews Band. In addition to playing with DMB in 1990, Carter was also playing with a jazz trio with Leroi Moore and Jeff Decker. However, it wasn't long before he was a permanent member of DMB.

-Jim Powell