Slaid Cleaves (born June 9, 1964) is a singer-songwriter born in Washington, D.C. and raised in South Berwick, Maine and Round Pond, Maine. An alumnus of Tufts University, where he majored in English and philosophy, Cleaves lives in Austin, Texas.

His full name is Richard Slaid Cleaves, but Slaid is the name that he has used his entire life.