Rivers Cuomo born June 13, 1970 is an American musician. He is the lead vocalist, guitarist, pianist, and songwriter of the rock band Weezer. Cuomo was raised in a number of Buddhist communities in the Northeast U.S. until the age of 10, when his family settled in Central Connecticut. He attended a number of public schools before moving to Los Angeles at age 18. Cuomo played in several bands in Connecticut and California before forming Weezer in 1992. Following the success of Weezer's self-titled debut album and the following tour, Cuomo spent time away from music. Convalescing after leg surgery, he enrolled at Harvard University, but dropped out to record Weezer's second album, Pinkerton (1996); he would later graduate from Harvard in 2006. 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.