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, Will 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 his 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.

James Christopher Monger
AllMusic.com