Rivers Cuomo

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Biography

Rivers Cuomo (; born June 13, 1970) is an American musician and singer-songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter of the alternative rock band Weezer . Raised in an Ashram in Connecticut , Cuomo moved to Los Angeles at age 19, where he participated in a number of rock bands before founding Weezer in 1992. With Weezer, he has released nine studio albums.

In addition to fronting Weezer, Cuomo has also worked as a solo artist. In December 2007, he released his debut album, Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo , which featured home Demo (music)|demos that Cuomo recorded from 1992 to 2007. He released his second solo artist album, Alone II: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo , in November 2008. Alone III: The Pinkerton Years was released in December 2011. SPIN Magazine|SPIN article: "."

Childhood and youth

Rivers Cuomo was born in a Manhattan hospital to parents of Italian American|Italian and German American|German / English American|English descent, and raised on an ashram - run by the late yoga master Sri Swami Satchidananda in Pomfret, Connecticut|Pomfret , Connecticut .Luerssen D., John. ''Weezer' Edge: The Weezer Story . ECW Press, 2004, ISBN 1-55022-619-3 p. 4 His mother, Beverly, was inspired to name her son "Rivers" because he was born between the East River|East and Hudson River|Hudson rivers in Manhattan. Her appreciation of the sound of running water further reinforced her desire for this name. His father, Frank Cuomo, was a musician who played drums on the album Odyssey of Iska by jazz saxophonist Wayne Shorter .Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 3

During his early childhood Cuomo attended a private school on an ashram farm where his parents raised him and his brother Leaves.Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 5 Cuomo's parents moved to nearby Storrs, Connecticut when the ashram (known as Yogaville ) was relocated to a plot of land along the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia .Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 8 Cuomo attended E. O. Smith High School|E.O. Smith High School in Storrs, Connecticut under the name Peter Kitts,Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 15 but reverted back to his original name once he began attending Santa Monica College .Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 50 Cuomo went on to attend the Berklee College of Music and Harvard University , where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English language|English , after attending classes on and off from 1995 to 2006.Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 22 In high school, Cuomo played the role of Johnny Casino in the stage production of Grease (musical)|Grease . Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 20

Rock Music career

Weezer

After a series of musical projects in Los Angeles, Cuomo formed Weezer on February 14, 1992, with members from Sixty Wrong Sausages, including drummer Patrick Wilson (musician)|Patrick Wilson . The original Weezer line-up included Cuomo on vocals and guitar, Wilson on drums, Matt Sharp on bass, and Jason Cropper who at first played exclusively on acoustic guitar. Weezer signed with DGC, a subsidiary of Geffen Records , on June 25, 1993. They began recording Weezer (The Blue Album)|Weezer (also known as Weezer (The Blue Album)|The Blue Album ) in August 1993 at Electric Lady Studios in New York with producer Ric Ocasek . "Weezer" was Rivers' childhood nickname, given to him by his father when he was a toddler, although it wasn't because he had asthma.

Throughout 2002 Cuomo frequently posted on Weezer message boards as 'Ace' to discuss music with fans. He once had a website called the 'Catalog of Riffs' ('COR') in which he shared old demos of songs as well as scans of many personal items (letters, schedules, records). Since 2003 he has kept a MySpace page in which he has posted many blog entries including his original admission essay and two subsequent readmission essays to Harvard. Additionally he uses his MySpace blog as a clearinghouse for clarifications, corrections, and addenda to interviews and press reports about him. (This has included responding to misinformation on his Wikipedia entry.)

Starting on the Foozer tour in late 2005, Cuomo would invite fans onto the stage to play " Undone – The Sweater Song " on acoustic guitar. After the performance, fans were allowed to keep the guitars they played. In 2008, coinciding with the release of Weezer's new album, Weezer (2008 album)|The Red Album , Weezer announced a " Hootenanny Tour" in which radio stations would audition fans to play songs live with Weezer. This "hootenanny" style performance was replicated for the band's " Troublemaker (Weezer song)|Troublemaker " video and on their 2008 Troublemaker Tour. On November 25, 2008, Cuomo invited a small group of guests to a jam session at Fingerprints Records in Long Beach, CA. This marked the release of Alone II: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo . Fans chose the songs and played the instruments while Cuomo sang.

Other projects

One of Cuomo's earliest music projects was a progressive metal band known as Avant Garde (band)|Avant Garde .Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 17 Cuomo played under the name Peter Kitts, Kitts being the surname of his stepfather. The band played several shows in Connecticut. He moved with the band to Los Angeles California|Los Angeles in March 1989.Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 31 In late 1989 Avant Garde changed its name to Zoom though the band dissolved in the late spring of 1990.Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 37Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 40 Before Weezer, Cuomo worked as a roadie for King Size on their Guatemala tour. During a Weezer hiatus, Cuomo formed a musical project called Homie (band)|Homie , consisting of what he called "goofball songs" or his "country band". An album was planned, but only one studio recording, a song titled "American Girls", has been released. Cuomo has contributed to recordings by various other musicians ( Crazy Town , Cold (band)|Cold , Mark Ronson ). He also briefly managed the band AM Radio (band)|AM Radio in 2002 and 2003.

In early 2004 he made a surprise appearance onstage with ex-Weezer bassist Matt Sharp at his California State University, Fullerton show to play two old Weezer favorites ("Say It Ain't So" and "Undone"), a rare Weezer demo that they worked on together ("Mrs. Young"), and a new song they wrote together, "Time Song." Also, Sharp announced that they might work on a collaborative record together. But later that year, Sharp announced on his website that although they had come up with "15 or 16 new song ideas, some good, some not so good" for their new album, their "special brand of dysfunctionality" may keep them from finishing the project.

Cuomo is a big fan of association football|soccer . He can be seen playing in the "Photograph" video, and even planned his band's 2002 "World Cup Tour" around 2002 FIFA World Cup|World Cup games. In 2006 he wrote a song titled "My Day Is Coming" in tribute to the United States men's national soccer team|U.S. men's soccer team , and followed it up for 2010 FIFA World Cup|2010 by writing "Represent", which he considers to be an "unofficial" anthem for the U.S. team. The latter song was released as a Weezer single on June 11, the day before Team USA's 2010 FIFA World Cup Group C#England vs United States|World Cup opener against England national football team|England .

In March 2008, Cuomo started a video series on YouTube called "Let's Write a Sawng." Cuomo wrote a song in collaboration with YouTube users' suggestions. The end result was "Turning Up The Radio" which appeared on " Death to False Metal ". Additionally, Cuomo has had cameo appearance|cameos in a number of music videos. These include Crystal Method|Crystal Method's "Murder" and the video for The Warlocks|The Warlocks' "Cocaine Blues." Cuomo also makes a guest appearance on Sugar Ray 's "Boardwalk", the first single on their latest album, Music for Cougars . Cuomo featured on the song " Magic (B.o.B song)|Magic ", on B.o.B 's debut album B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray which was released in April 2010. In a May interview with HitQuarters , producer-songwriter Lucas Secon confirmed that he had recently worked with Cuomo on both a Steve Aoki single and "some Weezer stuff."

Cuomo is currently in the process of recording a Japanese album with Scott Murphy of Allister . He also collaborated with Japanese singer Hitomi for her first independent music|indie album Spirit (Hitomi album)|Spirit , even making a duet with her. Cuomo is featured on the new Simple Plan song "Can't Keep My Hands Off You" and Miranda Cosgrove's song, "High Maintenance".

Personal life

On June 18, 2006, Cuomo married Kyoko Ito, whom he had known since March 1997. He proposed to her in Tokyo shortly before Christmas of 2005. The wedding was held at a secluded beach on Paradise Cove in Malibu, California|Malibu and was attended by over a hundred people, including six of the seven members who played in Weezer ( Mikey Welsh being the only no show) as well as notables Kevin Ridel and Rick Rubin . The couple have a daughter, Mia, who was born in May 2007.

Cuomo was born with his left leg 44& nbsp;mm (1 in) shorter than his right leg. After the success of Weezer (The Blue Album)|The Blue Album , Cuomo underwent a procedure to correct the condition. This involved the surgical breaking of the bone in his leg, followed by several months of wearing a steel brace which required self-administered "stretching" of the leg four times daily; Cuomo likened the ordeal to "crucifying leg."Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 148–149 An x-ray of the leg is part of the album art for " The Good Life (Weezer song)|The Good Life " single, and the experience inspired him to write the song. Cuomo can be seen wearing the brace on an episode of The Late Show with David Letterman , which can be found on their DVD Video Capture Device .

On December 6, 2009, Cuomo was in his tour bus driving to Boston from Toronto with his family and assistants when the bus hit an icy road in Glen, New York and crashed. He suffered cracked ribs and internal bleeding. Due to this accident, Weezer canceled the rest of the 2009 tour dates, planning to reschedule them the following year. The band made their return to the stage on January 20, 2010, performing at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida .

Cuomo is a vegetarian.

Other interests

Cuomo practices Vipassana meditation and is a student of S.N. Goenka . As of mid-2009 he also teaches children's meditation as taught by S.N. Goenka. Cuomo recently helped acquire music rights and provided financial support to a documentary titled The Dhamma Brothers about Vipassana meditation being instituted in an Alabama state prison.

His favorite soccer player is Landon Donovan . He supports the U.S. Men's National team, Los Angeles Galaxy and English side Sheffield Wednesday . http://www.spin.com/articles/rivers-cuomo-theres-so-much-pain-my-voice In early 2008 he played in the Mia Hamm|Mia & Nomar Garciaparra|Nomar Celebrity Soccer Challenge and scored a goal in the game. His video for "Lover in the Snow" off of his Alone album dealt with this game and his love of soccer. He was also a celebrity backer for "Rise & Shine: The Jay DeMerit Story" In August 2009, Cuomo also participated in the Athletes for Africa 5v5 Charity Soccer Tournament in Toronto, Canada alongside actor Michael Cera. During Weezer 's performance at Leeds Festival 2010, Rivers would go to the side of the stage and play football (kicking the ball against a goal and/or a wall), at the beginning and end of the band's set.

In a 2001 Rolling Stone interview, he was asked of what kind of characters he played in Dungeons & Dragons ; he said he preferred elven or half-elven split-class fighter-thieves.

Image

Some of Cuomo's fashion trademarks include his horn-rimmed glasses and his lightning bolt guitar strap. He has sported a bowl cut , most notably in the music video for "Undone - The Sweater Song". Other notable fashion trends include sporting a life preserver-styled vest http://i.rollingstone.com/assets/rs/28/58/images/00106912_lg.jpg in early 2001, growing a thick beard in mid-2002 and a brief suit-and-tie phase in summer 2002. Cuomo has also been seen with a short moustache in the video for "Pork and Beans" and on the Red Album cover. Cuomo has said that he grew the moustache in honor of his daughter and that his father wore one just like his when Cuomo was born. During Weezer's hiatus between the albums Pinkerton and Weezer (Green Album) , Cuomo had braces on his teeth. They were evidently removed before the release of the Green Album. Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 280

Artistry

Cuomo has cited a wide variety of musical influences throughout the years, from artists as diverse as Kiss (band)|Kiss , Nirvana (band)|Nirvana , Lou Barlow , Pixies (band)|Pixies , Sonic Youth , Stevie Ray Vaughan , Brian Wilson and Giacomo Puccini . He took it upon himself to become a student of rock and pop music when in the late 90s, Cuomo created "The Encyclopedia of Pop" for himself, a three-ring binder which broke down the mechanics of pop and rock songs featuring songs by Nirvana (band)|Nirvana , Green Day and Oasis (band)|Oasis .Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 270

Cuomo has written and recorded over 801 tracks in his lifetime, either with Weezer , with earlier bands, or as self-recorded demos. Despite the large amount of unreleased material that has been made available by Cuomo on the internet, large chunks of his work remain unheard by fans. These include certain demos for Weezer (The Blue Album)|The Blue Album , various songs from the scrapped Songs from the Black Hole project, over a hundred songs he composed and demoed throughout 1999 (songs which he has described as ranging from "drone-y Romantic," "abrasive dissonance" and "riffy pop-rock") and well over a hundred songs that didn't make the cut for Make Believe (Weezer album)|Make Believe . Recently on Cuomo's MySpace he began satisfying fans' need to hear these unreleased demos "in the most legal way" he could by posting sheet music and lyrics for the Songs From the Black Hole tracks "She's Had A Girl", "Oh Jonas" and "Who You Callin' Bitch? " as well as the Blue Album-era demo "Getting Up and Leaving."

He almost never profanity|swears in any of his songs and often uses minced oath s such as "bee-yotch" instead of " Bitch (insult)|bitch ". He attributes this to The Beach Boys , saying "Weezer came up at a time when Jane's Addiction released '' Nothing's Shocking ''—everyone was trying to be controversial. We looked back to rock & roll's pre-drug days—to the clean images of the Beach Boys—that felt, ironically, rebellious." The word "fucking" does appear on Raditude 's "Can't Stop Partying", but it is used by guest rapper Lil Wayne , not by Cuomo. He also uses the word "Goddamn" in the first verse of "The Sweater Song", the third verse of "Across the Sea", the opening of "El Scorcho", and the bridge in "Falling for You".

He has been known to use experimentation to inspire his writing, for example, fasting for a day and then writing a song, as he did on "Hold Me." Cuomo has familiarity with a wide array of musical instruments: besides the guitar, he is also skilled at the piano, and bass guitar (he frequently demoed songs on his own, a la the 1995 Fort Apache Studios Pinkerton demos, and can be seen playing the bass in the Weezer DVD Video Capture Device ). Cuomo also plays clarinet (as heard on Alone and SFTBH track "Longtime Sunshine" and the .com-released demo "Clarinet Waltz"), drums (as heard on Alone , in concerts during "Photograph", two songs on the red album and some tracks on Hurley ), trumpet (as heard on "Victory on the Hill" from "Alone II") and harmonica.

Instruments

He is known to perform with customised Warmoth Stratocaster s. Throughout his career he has frequently played Warmoth stratocasters that are covered in stickers. Cuomo also notably played Gibson V's and Explorers onstage in late 2001 and throughout parts of 2002. He could also briefly be seen using an Explorer in the music video for Beverly Hills (song)|"Beverly Hills" . His guitar is adorned with a sticker of the Thai word Farang , meaning "a white foreigner." The sticker is found on the SG that he keeps in E flat tuning; a second SG, usually tuned to E, does not have this sticker. Some of his guitars have been known to be adorned with many stickers given to him by fans.

Discography

;With Weezer

Weezer (1994 album)|Weezer (The Blue Album) (1994)

Pinkerton (album)|Pinkerton (1996)

Weezer (2001 album)|Weezer (The Green Album) (2001)

Maladroit (2002)

Make Believe (Weezer album)|Make Believe (2005)

Weezer (2008 album)|Weezer (The Red Album) (2008)

Raditude (2009)

Hurley (album)|Hurley (2010)

Death to False Metal (2010)

;Solo albums

Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo (2007)

Alone II: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo (2008)

Not Alone – Rivers Cuomo and Friends: Live at Fingerprints (2009)

Alone III: The Pinkerton Years (2011)

? ??????? ( The Kumamoto Kid ) (2011)

;Guest contributions

Homie (band)|Homie – "American Girls," from the Meet the Deedles soundtrack (1998): vocals, guitar, songwriting and melody

The Rentals – "My Head Is in the Sun," from Seven More Minutes (1999): co-written with Matt Sharp , but does not appear on the track itselfLuerssen D., John, 2004 p. 257

Crazy Town – "Hurt You So Bad," from Darkhorse (2002): guitar solo

Cold (band)|Cold – " Stupid Girl (Cold song)|Stupid Girl ," from Year of the Spider (2003): vocals, songwriting

Mark Ronson – "I Suck," from Here Comes the Fuzz (2003): vocals, guitar, production

The Relationship – "Hand to Hold" (2007): co-written with Brian Bell (musician)|Brian Bell , a reworked version of the early Make Believe (Weezer album)|Make Believe era outtake "Private Message"

Sugar Ray – "Love Is the Answer" (2009): written by and featuring Cuomo

Adam Lambert - "Pick U Up" (2009): co-writer

B.o.B - " Magic (B.o.B song)|Magic " from The Adventures of Bobby Ray (2010): vocals, co-writer

Kevin Rudolf - "Must Be Dreamin'" from To the Sky (2010): vocals, co-writer

Katy Perry - "Work It" (unreleased track) from Teenage Dream (Katy Perry album)|Teenage Dream (2010): co-writer

Miranda Cosgrove - " High Maintenance (song)|High Maintenance " from High Maintenance (2011): vocals, co-writer

Simple Plan - " Can't Keep My Hands Off You " from Get Your Heart On! (2011): vocals

All Time Low - " I Feel Like Dancin' " from Dirty Work (2011): co-writer

Hitomi - "Rollin' wit da Homies" from Spirit (Hitomi album)|Spirit (2011): vocals, co-writer

Steve Aoki - "Earthquakey People" (2011): vocals

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Alternative Music Artists