Matt Berninger

Matt Berringer, born February 13, 1971 in Cincinnati, Ohio, rose to fame as the lead singer of The National, a band he founded with his college buddy Scott Devendorf, though not until Berringer was nearly 30. They became indie-rock darlings from their first album, 2001’s The National. Berringer branched out in 2015 forming the duo EL VY with Brent Knopf of Ramona Falls. He moved closer to a solo career by contributing “Walking on a String”, a duet with Phoebe Bridgers, to the soundtrack of Between Two Ferns: The Movie, and released his first proper solo album, Serpentine Prison, in October of 2020. The record, produced by soul legend Booker T. Jones, featured help from Devendorf and Knopf as well as a host of others and sounded not unlike the somber indie-rock that The National specialized in. The album went top 40 in numerous European countries and the title track was a top 10 hit in Belgium. Another track from the LP, “One More Second”, also went top 10 in Belgium and additionally hit the top 40 on the American Adult Album Alternative chart. Still singing for The National on 2023's First Two Pages of Frankenstein and Laugh Track, Berninger now located in Connecticut recorded his sophomore solo album Get Sunk (2025), with producer Sean O'Brien, featuring guests as trumpeter Kyle Resnick, gutiarists Harrison Whitford and Meg Duffy from Hand Habits, Julia Laws from Ronboy and Booker T. Jones on keyboards.