John Charles Wiltshire-Butler (born 1 April 1975), professionally known as John Butler, is an American-Australian singer, songwriter, and music producer. He is the front man for the John Butler Trio, a roots and jam band that formed in Fremantle, Western Australia, in 1998. The John Butler Trio has recorded five studio albums including three that have reached number one on the Australian charts: Sunrise Over Sea, Grand National and April Uprising. His recordings and live performances have met with critical praise and have garnered awards from the Australian Performing Right Association and Australian Recording Industry Association. Butler was born in the United States and moved to Australia at an early age. He began playing the guitar at the age of sixteen. In 2002, Butler, along with several partners, formed their own record label. He is also the co-founder of a grant program that seeks to improve artistic diversity in his home country, Australia, where he resides with his wife and children. Early life and education John Charles Wiltshire-Butler was born on 1 April 1975 to an Australian father, Darryl Wiltshire-Butler, and an American mother, Barbara (née Butler).[A] He was named after his paternal grandfather, John Wiltshire-Butler, a forestry worker who died fighting a bushfire in Nannup. Butler has British, Bulgarian, and Greek ancestry through his father. His genealogy was investigated on an episode of the SBS Television series Who Do You Think You Are?, which aired on 1 November 2009. The show traced his family history from his deceased grandfather's war diaries through to ancestors in Bulgaria and the events of the 1876 April Uprising. In January 1986, after his parents divorced, Butler's father moved the family to Western Australia. They eventually settled in Pinjarra, a small country town, and Butler attended Pinjarra Primary School and Pinjarra Senior High School. He began playing guitar at the age of sixteen after his grandmother gave him a 1930s dobro belonging to his deceased grandfather. In 1996, he attended Curtin University in Perth and enrolled in an art teaching course, but eventually abandoned his studies to pursue a career in music. Some of his first musical performances were as a busker at the Fremantle Markets. Butler was also participant in the Western Australian skateboarding scene, and is recognised for his involvement with the internationally renowned "Woolstores" street spot in Fremantle. Career John travelled to Encinitas, California, after high school, where he spent two