Win Butler

Win Butler
Win Butler performing live in 2014
Background information
Birth name	Edwin Farnham Butler III
Born	(1980-04-14) April 14, 1980 (age 36) Truckee, California, U.S.
Origin	The Woodlands, Texas, U.S.
Genres	Indie rock, art rock, baroque pop
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, bass guitar, mandolin, keyboards, banjo
Years active	2000–present
Associated acts	Arcade Fire, DJ Windows 98
Notable instruments
Fender Jaguar Fender Telecaster Custom Mosrite Martin

Arcade Fire, DJ Windows 98

Edwin Farnham "Win" Butler III (born April 14, 1980) is an American lead vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter of the Montreal-based indie rock band Arcade Fire. His wife Régine Chassagne and younger brother Will Butler are both members of the band.

Butler was born in Truckee, California and raised in The Woodlands, Texas, with a Mormon upbringing. He lived in Buenos Aires before his brother Will was born.

His maternal grandfather was 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, Liza Rey, who also performed on the family TV show, plays jazz harp and sings. His father, Edwin Farnham Butler II, worked as a geologist for oil conglomerate Halliburton in Houston, Texas. They currently live on Mount Desert Island, Maine.

At the age of 15, Butler started attending the Phillips Exeter Academy preparatory school in New Hampshire, where he lived in Abbot Hall. There he played varsity basketball and club softball, and performed with several student bands. 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.