Benjamin Bridwell (born April 25, 1978) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and musician. He is best known as the lead singer of the American rock band Band of Horses and a former member of the band Carissa's Wierd. Early life Bridwell was born on April 25, 1978 and grew up in Irmo, South Carolina. He left home at age 16 and moved to Tucson, Arizona to live with his mother. Carissa's Wierd While living in Tucson, Bridwell worked with Mat Brooke and Jenn Champion, selling pizza. In 1997 the three moved to Olympia, Washington, but soon relocated to Seattle, where all three worked in a bar. Bridwell founded a record label, Brown Records, while Brooke and Champion formed the band Carissa's Wierd. Bridwell later received some basic drumming tuition from Brooke and subsequently replaced Carissa's Wierd drummer Robin Peringer, who left to play guitar on tour with Modest Mouse. Bridwell later moved on to bass guitar. Brown Records released the first two Carissa's Wierd albums, but Bridwell eventually gave up running the label and Carissa's Wierd released their third album on Sad Robot records, before splitting up in 2003. The band reformed for a few shows in 2010 and 2011, but Bridwell took no part in that reunion. Band of Horses Following the split of Carissa's Wierd, Brooke helped Bridwell learn to play guitar and he also began writing songs. He formed the band 'Horses' which soon had to change its name to Band of Horses, following the discovery that a long defunct band called Horses (featuring actor Don Johnson) were issuing re-releases. Band of Horses were briefly a trio featuring Bridwell (vocals and guitar), Tim Meinig (drums) and Chris Early (bass), but former Carissa's Wierd leader Mat Brooke (guitar and vocals) was added to the line up and the quartet released their debut album Everything All the Time in March 2006. In response to Bridwell's success, Brooke said, " I kind of feel bad, maybe Carissa's Wierd was holding him back, all this time...(I am) extremely proud. He took the ball and ran with it. At a time when we were all down he picked himself up, higher than anyone thought he could. It's kind of like seeing your kid brother blossom." Brooke, Early and Meinig quit soon after Everything All the Time was released, but Bridwell recruited new musicians and the band's popularity continued to grow.