Win Butler - Life and Career

Life and Career

Born Edwin Farnham Butler III in Carson, California and raised in The Woodlands, Texas with a Mormon upbringing, Butler is the maternal grandson of 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, plays harp and sings.

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.

Butler moved to Montreal in 2000 to attend McGill University, where he met his future wife, Régine Chassagne whom he married in 2003. Butler has a degree in religious studies.

Butler participated in the 2005 UNICEF benefit project, "Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?", along with his wife Régine. He co-wrote the music for the Richard Kelly film The Box along with Chassagne.

In September 2011, Butler played in a charity basketball tournament in Toronto known as, "Rock The Court." Several other celebrities and athletes participated, such as Matt Bonner of the San Antonio Spurs, whom Butler defeated in a 3-point competition.