Bernard Joseph Fanning (born 15 August 1969 in Brisbane , Australia ) is a musician and singer-songwriter . He is best known as the lead singer and frontman of Australian alternative rock band Powderfinger from its formation in 1989 to its dissolution in 2010.\r Born and raised in Toowong , Brisbane, Fanning was taught the piano by his mother at an early age. At the age of 12, while attending St. Josephs College, Gregory Terrace , Fanning began writing music, and upon graduating from St. Josephs, moved on to the University of Queensland , where he studied journalism for a short time. He would go on to drop out to pursue a music career, after meeting Ian Haug in an economics class. Fanning joined Haug, John Collins , and Steven Bishop , who had recently formed Powderfinger, and took the role of lead singer. After Bishop left and guitarist Darren Middleton joined, the band would release five studio albums in fifteen years and achieve mainstrea...