Conor Mullen Oberst (born February 15, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter best known for his work in Bright Eyes. He has also played in several other bands, including Desaparecidos, The Faint (previously named Norman Bailer), Commander Venus, Park Ave., Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, and Monsters of Folk. Oberst was named the Best Songwriter of 2008 by Rolling Stone magazine. Conor Mullen Oberst was born on February 15, 1980, as the youngest in a family of three boys, and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, to Matthew Ryan Oberst, Sr., an information manager for Mutual of Omaha, and Nancy Oberst, an elementary educati