Edward Droste (born October 22, 1978) is an American singer-songwriter and musician, formerly of the

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Grizzly Bear The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America. In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos hor ...

. The group began as the solo effort of Droste with the release of 2004's '' Horn of Plenty'', originally released on

Kanine Records Kanine Records is an independent record label based in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York started at the end of 2002 by Lio and Kay Kanine. Their first release, ''NY: The Next Wave'', was a 20 track compilation featuring mostly unsigne ...

. All songs were written and performed by Droste. By 2005, the group expanded into a four-piece, with Droste still as a contributing songwriter. He left the group in 2020.

Early life

Droste was born in

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, the son of Diana (née Forbes) and Bruce F. Droste. His maternal grandfather was conductor and musicologist

Elliot Forbes Elliot Forbes (August 20, 1917, Cambridge, Massachusetts – January 9, 2006, in Cambridge), known as "El", was an American conductor and musicologist noted for his Beethoven scholarship. Life and career Forbes came from a Boston Brahmin family; ...

. Through his mother's Forbes line, he is related to singer China Forbes. He attended elementary school at

Shady Hill School Shady Hill School is an independent, co-educational day school in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1915, Shady Hill serves students in pre-kindergarten (called 'Beginners' by the school) through 8th grade. The school has an enrollment of appr ...

in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where his mother is a music teacher, and high school at

Concord Academy Concord Academy (also known as CA), established in 1922, is a coeducational, independent college preparatory school for boarding and day students in grades 9-12. The school is situated in Concord, Massachusetts. In 1971, Concord Academy became ...

in Concord, Massachusetts. He attended high school with Refinery29 founder

Philippe von Borries Philippe von Borries is a German-born entrepreneur. He co-founded Refinery29 and served as co-CEO of the company. He is currently entrepreneur-in-residence of Red Ventures and president of Lonely Planet. Biography von Borries was born in Cologn ...

. He attended

Hampshire College Hampshire College is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was opened in 1970 as an experiment in alternative education, in association with four other colleges in the Pioneer Valley: Amherst College, Smith College, Mo ...

for one year in 1999 before transferring to and graduating from New York University's

Gallatin School of Individualized Study The Gallatin School of Individualized Study (commonly referred to as Gallatin) is a small interdisciplinary college within New York University (NYU). Students at Gallatin design an interdisciplinary program that meets their specific interests a ...

in 2003.

Career

Droste began composing and performing songs on a solo basis as

, releasing the album ''Horn of Plenty'' in 2004, with some contributions from drummer Christopher Bear. The two then joined with Chris Taylor, and eventually

Daniel Rossen Daniel Raphael Rossen (born August 5, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the guitarist and co-lead vocalist of the indie rock band Grizzly Bear, with whom he has recorded four studio albums. Ross ...

, to form the current four-piece band. Droste has said of the gestation of the band, "Daniel ossenand I are the principal songwriters, but we also have the most issues with being performers. I strongly reject the notion that I have to do stage kicks or be some sort of persona. I respect artists that have an act, a look, a shtick. That’s all fine and dandy, but with our songs, it would feel like the biggest farce. It took us a long time to get comfortable; the whole thing was four people growing into each other." In a 2020 episode of ''Lunch Therapy'', Droste announced that he left Grizzly Bear to become a therapist.

Other musical collaborations

* April 2007 – Edward appeared as a guest vocalist on "To a Fault" from

Dntel James Scott "Jimmy" Tamborello, also known by his stage name Dntel , is an American electronic music artist and DJ. Aside from his main solo project, Tamborello is also known as a member of the groups The Postal Service, Headset, and Figurine ...

's fourth album, '' Dumb Luck'', released on

Sub Pop Records Sub is a common abbreviation of words beginning with the prefix "sub-". Sub or SUB may also refer to Places * Juanda International Airport, Surabaya, Indonesia, IATA code SUB Computing and technology * , an HTML tag for subscript * SUB designate ...

. * September 2007 – Edward sang with

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

in the video for their song "Cliquot" for La Blogothèque's video series. * March 2008 – Edward joined

Owen Pallett Michael James Owen Pallett (born September 7, 1979) is a Canadian composer, violinist, keyboardist, and vocalist. Under their erstwhile moniker of Final Fantasy, Pallett won the 2006 Polaris Music Prize for the album '' He Poos Clouds''. Palle ...

to cover

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct three-octave vocal range and eccentric persona, she has de ...

's "

Possibly Maybe "Possibly Maybe" is a song by Björk, released as the fifth single from her second album ''Post (Björk album), Post'' (1995). It is a song with deep electronic tones and soft beats that reflects on potential love. Released in the United Kingdom ...

" for ''

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several awa ...

''s tribute to Björk's album, ''

Post Post or POST commonly refers to: *Mail, the postal system, especially in Commonwealth of Nations countries **An Post, the Irish national postal service **Canada Post, Canadian postal service **Deutsche Post, German postal service **Iraqi Post, Ira ...

''. * February 2011 – Edward collaborated on the song "I'm Losing Myself" with

Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes is an American indie folk band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 2006. The band consists of Robin Pecknold (vocals, guitar), Skyler Skjelset (guitar, mandolin, backing vocals), Casey Wescott (keyboards, mandolin, backing vocals), ...

frontman Robin Pecknold in Los Angeles. * May 2016 – Edward and Little Joy's Binki Shapiro collaborated on a cover of the

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...

song "Loser" for the Grateful Dead tribute album ''

Day of the Dead The Day of the Dead ( es, Día de Muertos or ''Día de los Muertos'') is a holiday traditionally celebrated on November 1 and 2, though other days, such as October 31 or November 6, may be included depending on the locality. It is widely obser ...

''. * July 15, 2016 – Edward appeared as a guest at

Montreux Jazz Festival The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annual ...

to cover "Go" with

Woodkid Yoann Lemoine (; born 16 March 1983), known professionally as Woodkid, is a French music video director, graphic designer and singer-songwriter. His most notable works include his music video direction for Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream", Taylor ...

* April 2017 – Edward collaborated on the duet "Faultline" with singer DEDE and producers Kingdom and

Tim K Tim K, born Timothy John Kvasnosky, is a Los Angeles-based music producer and film composer who was born in Seattle, Washington, United States. Tim K composed the score (along with collaborator Jake Shears of the Scissor Sisters) to the 2015 Sun ...

on the label Fresh Selects * June 2019 – Fresh Selects releases a remix of DEDE and Ed's duet "Faultline" by

Honey Dijon Honey Redmond (known professionally as Honey Dijon) is an American DJ, producer, and electronic musician. She was born in Chicago and is based in New York City and Berlin. She has performed at clubs, festivals, art fairs, galleries and fashion ...

and

* October 2020 - Featured on the single "For the Sky" by Haerts

Personal life

In September 2011, Droste married his long-time boyfriend, interior designer Chad McPhail. On August 4, 2014, Droste announced his divorce from McPhail via Twitter, stating that he's "amicably and lovingly divorcing ishusband". Droste has been in a relationship with Simon Renggli since 2015. Droste was featured on the cover of '' Hello Mr.'' in 2013. Edward is a second cousin on his father's side to another Ed Droste, who is a co-founder of the

Hooters Hooters is the registered trademark used by two American restaurant chains: Hooters, Inc., based in Clearwater, Florida, and Hooters of America, Inc. based in Atlanta, Georgia, and owned by the private investment firm Nord Bay Capital (with ...

restaurant chain. Droste has mentioned his struggles with

tinnitus Tinnitus is the perception of sound when no corresponding external sound is present. Nearly everyone experiences a faint "normal tinnitus" in a completely quiet room; but it is of concern only if it is bothersome, interferes with normal hearin ...

on several occasions.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Droste, Edward 1978 births 21st-century American singers American indie pop musicians American male guitarists American male singer-songwriters American gay musicians Hampshire College alumni LGBT people from Massachusetts American LGBT singers LGBT songwriters Living people Singer-songwriters from Massachusetts 21st-century American guitarists Guitarists from Massachusetts Concord Academy alumni New York University Gallatin School of Individualized Study alumni 21st-century American male singers Grizzly Bear (band) members 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people Shady Hill School alumni Forbes family