William Pierce Butler (born October 6, 1982) is an American multi-instrumentalist and composer. He is best known as a former member of the

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band

Arcade Fire Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band from Montreal, Quebec, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury, and Jeremy Gara. The band's touring line-up includes former core ...

, with whom he recorded six studio albums. Butler was a member of the band for eighteen years, between 2003 and 2021, and played synthesizer, bass, guitar and percussion. He is known for his spontaneity, energy and antics during live performances and is the younger brother of Arcade Fire frontman

Win Butler Edwin Farnham Butler III (born April 14, 1980) is an American-Canadian singer, songwriter, musician, and multi-instrumentalist. He co-founded the Montreal-based indie rock band Arcade Fire with Josh Deu and his wife Régine Chassagne. Early l ...

. In 2010, he won a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

for Album of the Year as part of Arcade Fire. In 2014, Butler was nominated for the

Academy Award for Best Original Score The Academy Award for Best Original Score is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by ...

for his work on the original score of the 2013 film ''

Her Her is the objective and possessive form of the English-language feminine pronoun she. Her, HER or H.E.R. may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Music Performers * H.E.R. (born 1997), American singer * HIM (Finnish band), once kn ...

''. In 2024, Butler was nominated for two

Tony Awards The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cere ...

for his orchestrations & score of the play ''

Stereophonic Stereophonic sound, commonly shortened to stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configurat ...

'', which itself was nominated for and won Best Play. Butler has released three solo studio albums – '' ''Policy'''' (2015), ''Generations'' (2020), and ''Will Butler + Sister Squares'' (2023) – on

Merge Records Merge Records is an independent record label based in Durham, North Carolina. It was founded in 1989 by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan. It began as an outlet for music from their band Superchunk and music created by friends, and has expand ...

Life and career

Born in

Truckee, California Truckee is an List of municipalities in California, incorporated town in Nevada County, California, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 16,180, reflecting an increase of 2,316 from the 13,864 counted in the 2 ...

, United States, and raised in

The Woodlands, Texas The Woodlands is a Special district (United States), special-purpose district and census-designated place (CDP) in the U.S. state of Texas in the Greater Houston, Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan statistical area. The Woodlands ...

, Will is the son of Liza Rey, a classical musician, and Edwin Farnham Butler II, a geologist. His maternal grandfather was guitarist

Alvino Rey Alvin McBurney (July 1, 1908 – February 24, 2004), known by his stage name Alvino Rey, was an American jazz guitarist and bandleader. Career Alvin McBurney was born in Oakland, California, United States, but grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. Early i ...

. He graduated from

Phillips Exeter Academy Phillips Exeter Academy (often called Exeter or PEA) is an Independent school, independent, co-educational, college-preparatory school in Exeter, New Hampshire. Established in 1781, it is America's sixth-oldest boarding school and educates an es ...

in 2001, where he lived in Abbot Hall, and subsequently attended

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

, majoring in Poetry and Slavic studies. During this time, he worked as a DJ for the WNUR Rock Show, where he also hired Nathan Amundson of Rivulets to be a substitute DJ at WNUR-FM. He also served as the poetry editor of Northwestern's literary magazine, ''Helicon''. An excerpt of a poem from his senior thesis is quoted in Brian Bouldrey's book, ''Honorable Bandit: A Walk Across Corsica''. While at Northwestern, Butler lived in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. He moved to

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Quebec, Canada in the mid-2000s to join his brother

and band

. In January 2008 Butler married dancer Jenny Shore. In January 2014, Butler and

Owen Pallett Michael James Owen Pallett-Plowright (born September 7, 1979), known professionally as Owen Pallett, is a Canadian composer, violinist, keyboardist, and vocalist. Under their former pseudonym Final Fantasy, Pallett won the 2006 Polaris Music P ...

were nominated for Best Original Score at the

86th Academy Awards The 86th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best 2013 in film, films of 2013 and took place on March 2, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, beginning at 5: ...

for their original score of ''

''. Butler was a student at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government where he pursued a Mid-Career Master in Public Administration. In March 2022, Butler announced he had left Arcade Fire at the end of the previous year, stating "there was no acute reason beyond that I've changed—and the band has changed—over the last almost 20 years. Time for new things." The band's album '' We'', released on May 6, 2022, was Butler's last performance with Arcade Fire on a studio album. Butler is now part of Will Butler + Sister Squares.

Solo career

On March 3, 2015, Butler's debut solo album ''Policy'' was released under

, accompanied by an international tour alongside Arcade Fire drummer Jeremy Gara. According to Butler, ''Policy'' is intended to reflect his omnivorous musical taste. Butler wrote five songs for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', based on news headlines, with each song created and shared a day apart. They were mixed properly and released on ''Policy Deluxe'' in May 2015. Butler's song "Sun Comes Up" from the 2016 solo album ''Friday Night'' caught the ear of DJ B-Roc of The Knocks, and subsequently the Knocks-produced remix of the song was released alongside a video directed by Butler, filmed in part on the New York City subway system. Butler wrote original songs for David Adjmi's play ''

'', which was originally scheduled to premier in 2021, but due to the

coronavirus Coronaviruses are a group of related RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans and birds, they cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. Mild illnesses in humans include some cases of the comm ...

was pushed back until October 2023. Following the play's Broadway debut in 2024, Butler received two Tony nominations: one for Best Original Score and another for Best Orchestrations.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Policy'' (

, 2015) * ''Friday Night'' (Merge Records, 2016) *''Generations'' (Merge Records, 2020) *''Will Butler + Sister Squares'' (Merge Records, 2023)

Singles

* "Anna" (2015)

Music videos

* "What I Want" (2015) * "Anna" (2015)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, William 1982 births Living people Arcade Fire members Northwestern University alumni Phillips Exeter Academy alumni Musicians from Houston American indie rock musicians Grammy Award winners American expatriate musicians in Canada 21st-century American composers 21st-century American bass guitarists 21st-century American double-bassists 21st-century American guitarists 21st-century American keyboardists American multi-instrumentalists 21st-century American singers Harvard Kennedy School alumni Merge Records artists