Biography

Will Butler is an Academy Award-nominated singer/songwriter and composer best known as the acrobatic, multi-instrumental core member of the spirited Grammy Award-winning indie rock collective Arcade Fire. In addition to work with his celebrated band, Butler produced a smattering of notable side projects as well as solo albums such as 2020's Generations. Butler was born in Northern California and spent his formative years in Southern Texas. The son of a geologist (father) and a classically trained musician (mother), Butler graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 2001 and joined Arcade Fire, which was the brainchild of his older brother, Win, and Win's wife, Régine Chassagne, in 2003. He made his first recorded appearance on the group's acclaimed 2004 Merge Records debut, Funeral, and contributed heavily to all of the band's subsequent releases (Neon Bible, The Suburbs, Reflektor). In 2013, Butler joined up with fellow musical polymath Owen Pallett to compose the soundtrack to the Spike Jonze-directed futuristic romantic comedy Her, for which he received an Oscar nomination, and in 2015 he issued his eclectic debut solo album, the Merge-issued Policy. Butler staged a solo tour in support of Policy, accompanied by Miles Arntzen, Julie Shore, and Sara Dobbs. Several dates on the Policy tour were recorded, and in June 2016 Butler released a live album drawn from these tapes, Friday Night. One of the songs, "Sun Comes Up," was later turned into a 2018 remix by the Knocks. In 2020, Butler began issuing singles in advance of his second solo album, Generations. The record, once more released with Merge, came out in September of that year. ~ James Christopher Monger, Rovi