Edward Droste (born October 22, 1978) is an original member of the Brooklyn-based indie-rock group Grizzly Bear. The group began as the solo effort of Droste with the release of 2004's Horn of Plenty, originally released on Kanine Records. All songs were written and performed by Droste. By 2005, the group expanded into a four-piece, with Droste still as a contributing songwriter.
Droste was born in Massachusetts, the son of Diana (née Forbes) and Bruce F. Droste. His maternal grandfather was conductor and musicologist Elliot Forbes. Through his mother's Forbes line, he is related to singer China Forbes. He attended elementary school at Shady Hill School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where his mother is a music teacher, and high school at Concord Academy in Concord, Massachusetts. He attended Hampshire College for one year in 1999 before transferring to and graduating from New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study in 2003.