Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo was born in New York City on June 13, 1970. As a child, Cuomo lived in an ashram run by the yoga guru Sri Swami Satchidananda in Pomfret, Connecticut. His mother allegedly named him Rivers because he was born on the island of Manhattan between the Hudson and East Rivers. Cuomo’s father, Frank Cuomo, was jazz drummer who is heard on recordings with Wayne Shorter. Rivers followed in his father’s footsteps, briefly studying at the Berklee College of Music in Boston before graduating from Harvard. His first break in the music business came after forming Weezer in Los Angeles in 1992. While speaking with CMJ in 2001, Cuomo recalls that he’s never been able to predict the band’s successes and failures. “When we put out the blue album, I never thought it would do anything. When we put out “Pinkerton” I never thought it would fail as miserably as it did.”