Trey Anastasio was born in Fort Worth, Texas, on September 30, 1964. His given name is Ernest Joseph Anastasio III. He met his first musical collaborator, and future songwriting partner Tom Marshall, while attending Princeton Day School in Princeton, New Jersey. His first experience with writing music was as a teenager, helping his mother with writing songs for children's records. His mother Dina Anastasio, is well-known in children's book and children's music circles.Trey attended the University of Vermont where he brought together a group of artists including bassist Mike Gordon, drummer Jon Fishman, and guitarist Jeff Holdsworth and formed the band Phish. He transferred to Goddard Collage, located near Burlington, following an expulsion from University of Vermont for a prank that went sour. Goddard is an experimental college that is designed for creative adults.The format of the college proved to be a good experience for Anastasio, giving him the opportunity to study under composer Ernie Stires. He was also able to write and rehearse the complicated material that made up Phish's early music. Throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s Phish was Anastasio's main musical outlet. Eventually, however, he began to break away from his original group, and in 1996 he produced a new musical venture.Surrender to the Air, was a big-band jazz venture which included saxman Marshall Allen from Sun Ra, organist John Medeski, Marc Ribot an avante-garde guitarist, Bob Gullotti an experimental guitarist and many other talented musicians. He gradually transferred over to a more improvisational-based sound during the late ‘90s through the works The Story of the Ghost and The Siket Disc. He has worked with countless incredible artists and is constantly pushing the limits of his musical and compositional abilities. Most recently he has once again reconvened with his band Phish, which split up in 2004, and is rumored to be getting ready for a national tour.