Duncan Scott Sheik (born November 18, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter. Born in Montclair, New Jersey, Sheik's upbringing was split between his parents' home in South Carolina and that of his grandparents in New Jersey. His grandmother, a piano graduate of The Juilliard School, taught him to play the piano and encouraged his musical development. He graduated from Phillips Academy in 1988, after which he studied semiotics at Brown University.