Stefan Lessard

Stefan Kahil Lessard (born June 4, 1974) is an American musician, best known as the bassist for the Dave Matthews Band.

Early life

Lessard was born in Anaheim, California, to musicians Ron and Jacqueline Lessard. After moving a number of times during his childhood, Lessard and his family eventually settled in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1987. They had previously lived from 1980 to 1984 in Buckingham County, Virginia and in Richmond, Virginia from 1984 to 1986.

Career

After moving back to Charlottesville from Madison, Wisconsin in 1987, he enrolled in the Tandem Friends School, where he studied music under trumpeter John D'earth and bassist Peter Spaar. D'earth and Spaar recommended Lessard to Dave Matthews for inclusion in his new band, which was looking for a bassist. Lessard joined Dave Matthews Band just as it was forming, when he was sixteen years old. Due to his age, he sometimes had to sneak in the back door of the clubs where the band was playing due to prohibitions on persons under 21 entering venues that serve alcohol.

Lessard completed his junior year of high school and was accepted into the Jazz Studies program at Virginia Commonwealth University. He passed the GED examinations in the summer of 1991 in order to enter the program later that year. However, he withdrew after six weeks when it became evident that he could not pursue full-time college studies and simultaneously be a touring member of a band with rising popularity.

In 2006, Lessard began maintaining a

On November 29, 2007, Lessard's home in western Albemarle County, Virginia, burned down, with a loss estimated at over 2 million dollars. It took over 40 firefighters from five different fire departments to extinguish the blaze. The origin of the fire is unknown, but the Albemarle County Fire Marshal's Office cites the structure's cedar shake siding as a contributor to the rapid spread of the fire. Lessard and his son were home at the time of the fire, though they escaped unharmed.^[2][3]

Equipment

Lessard plays a variety of bass guitars, including those made by Nordstrand,

• 1968 Fender P-Bass
• Thomastik-Infeld Power Bass Strings
• Ampeg SVT-2 and SVT-4 Pro Heads
• Ampeg 8x10 and 2x15 Bass Cabinets
• Furman PL-8 Power Conditioner
• Shure U4D-UB Wireless Units
• Eventide GTR-7000 Ultra-Harmonizer
• Whirlwind 4ch Multi Selector
• Korg DTR-1 Digital Tuner
• Rane SM26B Splitter/Mixer
• Moog Taurus 3 Pedal

Solo discography

• "Beautifully Broken" (featuring Stefan Lessard) (2001) – Gov't Mule's The Deep End, Vol. 1
• "Burning Star" (featuring Stefan Lessard) (2012) –
  Pete Kilpatrick Band
  's Heavy Fire

References