Born in Tifton, GA., Dwayne started his musical journey listening to and learning from local gospel musicians. At the early age of 4, he began lessons on the drumset and was playing for choirs and gospel quartet groups around South Georgia by age 7. It was not until high school that Dwayne heard his first jazz recording. From then on he knew that jazz music was the type of music he wanted to play. He then signed up for the high school jazz band and won best soloist and best rhythm section awards two years in a row. After graduating high school, Dwayne attended Abraham Baldwin College becoming the first percussion major in school history. He also performed with the jazz band and the jazz chours touring around South Georgia. After two years at Abraham Baldwin College, Dwayne transferred to the University of Georgia where he studied percussion with Dr. Tony McCutchen, drumset with Dr. Arvin Scott, and performed with the UGA jazz ensemble. Under the direction of Steve Dancz, the jazz ensemble travelled to Montreaux, Switzerland to perform at the Montreaux Jazz Festival. He also got a special invitation to travel with Steve Dancz to Bangalore, India to perform at the World Sacred Music Festival and received the once-in-a-lifetime privelage of meeting the honorable Dalai Lama. While studying at UGA, Dwayne maintained an active night schedule, often performing with as many as seven bands around Athens and Atlanta. This also included recording with Adam Nitti, Beehive, and Athens-based bands Squat, Tibbets Street, and Apenas Atenas. In 2000, he also became a faculty member at The Atlanta Institute of Music teaching jazz performance and rhythm dictation classes. In 2001 Dwayne received his Bachelors of Music degree from UGA and moved to New York City where he had the opportunity to perform with Tituss Burgess. He also studied with Pat Patrillo and Bob Quaranta.

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