Rivers Cuomo

Rivers Cuomo ( KWOH-moh; born June 13, 1970) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He is the lead vocalist, guitarist, pianist, and songwriter of the rock band Weezer. Cuomo was raised on an ashram in Connecticut until the age of 10. He moved to Los Angeles when he was 18, where he played in several rock bands before forming Weezer in 1992. Burnt out after the success of Weezer's self-titled debut album, Cuomo enrolled at Harvard University, but dropped out to record Weezer's second album, Pinkerton (1996); he re-enrolled and graduated in 2008. Though Pinkerton was initially a commercial and critical failure and forced Cuomo to write more pop-based material, it is now frequently cited among the best albums of the 1990s and has been certified platinum. Cuomo has released several compilations of demos, including Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo (2007), Alone II: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo (2008) and Alone III: The Pinkerton Years (2011). He has collaborated with artists including B.o.B and Todd Rundgren; with Scott Murphy, he has released two Japanese-language albums under the name Scott & Rivers.