Jeffrey Scot Tweedy (born August 25, 1967) is an American musician, songwriter, author, and record producer best known as the singer and guitarist of the band Wilco. Tweedy, originally from Belleville, Illinois, started his music career in high school in his band The Plebes with Jay Farrar, which subsequently transitioned into the alternative country band Uncle Tupelo. After Uncle Tupelo broke up, Tweedy formed Wilco which found critical and commercial success, most notably with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost Is Born, the latter of which received a Grammy for Best Alternative Album in 2005. Across his career Tweedy has released 20 studio albums, including four with Uncle Tupelo, twelve with Wilco, one with his son Spencer, a solo acoustic album, three solo studio albums, along with numerous collaborations with other musicians, most notably Mermaid Avenue with Billy Bragg. Early life Tweedy was born in Belleville, Illinois, on August 25, 1967, the fourth child of Bob and JoAnn Tweedy (née Werkmeister). Bob Tweedy (died August 4, 2017) worked at Alton & Southern Railroad in East St. Louis while JoAnn was a kitchen designer. Tweedy has three siblings: older brother Greg Tweedy (died in 2013), brother Steven Tweedy, and sister Debbie Voll. Tweedy's mother bought him his first guitar when he was six years old, although he did not begin to play it seriously until he was twelve. Apparently Tweedy told people that he knew how to play the guitar once he got his first guitar, even though he couldn't. When he was twelve, Tweedy was injured in a bicycle accident and was laid up for the summer. He decided to learn how to play a few chords before somebody "called him out" on the lie. In 1981, when Tweedy was fourteen years old, he befriended Jay Farrar in an English class at Belleville Township High School West. All of the members of Farrar's family enjoyed playing music, so Farrar already had knowledge of the musical elements of rock and roll. By this time, Tweedy was a fan of The Ramones and country music while Farrar enjoyed The Sex Pistols. Tweedy attended Belleville Area College and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Career Early music In the early 1980s, Tweedy joined a rockabilly band called The Plebes with brothers Wade and Dade Farrar, which Tweedy joined in order to qualify for a battle of the bands competition, which they won. Tweedy pushed The