Win Butler
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| Win Butler | |
|---|---|
 Win Butler performing live in 2011. |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Edwin Farnham Butler III |
| Born | April 14, 1980 |
| Origin | Houston, Texas USA |
| Genres | alternative rock, indie rock, art rock, baroque pop |
| Occupations | Musician, songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals, Mandolin, Guitars, Violin, Keyboards, Piano, Synth, Bass, Harmonica |
| Years active | 2000–present |
| Associated acts | Arcade Fire |
| Notable instruments | |
| Fender Jaguar Fender Telecaster Custom Mosrite Martin |
Win Butler (born April 14, 1980) is the lead vocalist and songwriter of the Montreal-based indie rock band Arcade Fire. His wife Régine Chassagne and his brother William Butler are both members of the band.[1][2]
[edit] Life and career
Born Edwin Farnham Butler III in Truckee, California and raised in The Woodlands, Texas with a conservative Mormon upbringing. [3][4] Butler is the maternal grandson of jazz steel guitarist Alvino Rey, a pioneer bandleader whose career spanned eight decades. His maternal grandmother, Luise, was a member of The King Sisters, who starred in a weekly variety program on ABC called The King Family Show. His mother, Janis, plays harp and sings.
At the age of 15, Butler started attending the Phillips Exeter Academy preparatory school in New Hampshire, where he lived in Abbot Hall.[5] There he played varsity basketball and club softball, and performed with several student bands, including Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. He also worked with the administration to establish "Winter Thaw," in which students got a long weekend's worth of rest in the middle of typically cold, grueling New England winters. After graduation he studied photography and creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College, but left after a year.
Butler moved to Montreal in 2000 to attend McGill University, where he met his future wife, Régine Chassagne whom he married in 2003. Butler has a degree in religious studies.
Butler participated in the 2005 UNICEF benefit project, "Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?", along with his wife Régine. He co-wrote the music for the Richard Kelly film The Box along with Chassagne.
[edit] References
- ^ MP3.com Bio on Win
- ^ Denver Post Article on Butler, 9/13/2007
- ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/nov/28/arcade-fire-interview-sean-ohagan
- ^ http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/05-05-11-the-big-win-arcade-fire-tells-tales-and-talks-texas-in-its-return-home-to-the-woodlands/
- ^ http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/columns/intelligencer/14585/index2.html
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Win Butler |
- NY Times article mentioning Win Butler's slam poetry at Sarah Lawrence College.
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- 1980 births
- American expatriate musicians in Canada
- American male singers
- American rock singers
- American songwriters
- Arcade Fire members
- Living people
- McGill University alumni
- Musicians from Houston, Texas
- Musicians from Montreal
- Phillips Exeter Academy alumni
- Sarah Lawrence College alumni
- Anglophone Quebec people
- American indie rock musicians
- Grammy Award winners
