Billy Joe Armstrong Biography

FULL NAME : Billie Joe Armstrong
BIRTHDATE : born February 17, 1972
HOMETOWN : Rodeo, California, USA
EYE COLOR : Green
NATURAL HAIR COLOR : Reddish Brown
HEIGHT : 5'7
MARTIAL STATUS : Married Adrienne Nesser (July 2, 1994)
CHILDREN : Joseph Marciano; born in March of 1995, and Jakob Danger; born September of 1998.
FAMILY : Billie's father, Andy, died of cancer when he was 10 years old (September 1982). His mom, Ollie, raised him from then on. He has 5 older siblings (David, Allen, Marcy, Holly, and Anna).
INSTRUMENTS : Guitar, harmonica, mandolin, drums, piano, and most recently, the saxophone.
RECORD COMPANY : Billie and Adrienne have co-ownership of Adeline Records.
OTHER BANDS : Billie still plays with Pinhead Gunpowder. He has also played with The Influents, Corrupted Morals, Rancid, the Lookouts, Goodbye Harry, and Blatz.


Billie Joe Armstrong was brought into this world on February 17, 1972, the youngest of six children. His father, Andy, was a part time jazz musician and a truck driver for Safeway, while his mother was a waitress at a local restaurant named Rod's Hickory Pit. Billie started singing when he was just 5 years old. He would go around to hospitals and sing to the patients to make them feel better. Then he got to record his first song, "Look for Love" at a local recording company named Fiat Records. Billie got his first electric guitar, the infamous "Blue" (a Fernandez Stratocaster), when he was 11. Billie still uses Blue to this day and has several replicas of it. At the age of 10, Billie's father died of cancer to the esophagus which spread throughout his body. His mother continued to work at Rod's Hickory Pit (a barbecue joint owned by Richard and Alice Cotton) in Vallejo, California, to support herself and her six kids. Billie Joe and Mike later worked there as busboys. Two years after the death of his father, his mother remarried to a man that Billie and his siblings detested.


Billie was 10 when he met Mike Dirnt in the school cafeteria in 1982. During sleepovers at each other's houses, they played songs by old heavy metal warhorses such as Ozzy Osbourne, Def Leppard, and Van Halen. Other influences would be the "thrash and drang" of the Bay Area's alternative music culture percolating throughout the eighties. Clubs such as Mabuhay Gardens and Berkeley's 924 Gilman Street regularly showcased local groups like the Dead Kennedys and Buck Naked. He wrote his first song, "Why Do You Want Him", a song about his mother and his step father, when he was 14. At the age of 15, Billie, Mike, and a drummer named John formed a punk band and named themselves Sweet Children. Their first gig was actually at Rod's Hickory Pit. One day before his 18th birthday, and halfway through his senior year of high school, Billie dropped out of high school (Pinole Valley High School) to devote all his time to Sweet Children. He knew what he wanted to do -- play music, and school was just getting in the way. At this point, Billie had the nickname "Two Dollar Bill", referring to the price of the joints he sold.


In 1990, John left the band to attend college. Billie and Mike were faced with the task of finding a new drummer. They knew the perfect fit, Tre Cool, a Gilman Street vetran, who was then playing in the Lookouts. Later, Sweet Children was renamed Green Day. Before they knew it, they were traveling all over the country in an old bookmobile with Tre's dad at the wheel. They did all this with little money and staying at fan's houses. It was in Minneapolis in 1990 when Billie first laid eyes on his future wife, a girl named Adrienne Nesser. They dated awhile and then were married on July 2, 1994, a 5 minute ceremony. The day after their wedding, Adrienne found out she was pregnant. Their son, Joseph Marcicano Armstrong, was born in March of 1995. Three years later on September 12, 1998, another boy, Jakob Danger was added to the Armstrong family. Today, Billie, Adrienne, Joseph, and Jakob reside in Oakland, California.


The Cottons sold Rod's Hickory Pit in 1988. It eventually became a Korean karaoke joint and was torn down last year to make way for a strip mall. - Courtney Smith
Early life

Billie Joe Armstrong was born in and grew up in Rodeo, CA, the youngest of six. His father, Andy Armstrong,[citation needed] was a retired minor league baseball player and a jazz drummer, who worked as a bartender and truck driver for Safeway to support the family. He died of cancer on September 10, 1982 when Armstrong was 10. The song "Wake Me Up When September Ends", is a memorial to his father. His mother Ollie worked at Rod's Hickory Pit, where Armstrong and Mike Dirnt got their first gig during their early years.

Armstrong's interest in music started at a young age. He recorded a song titled "Look For Love" at the age of five on the Bay Area label "Fiat Records".[1] As a teenager he originally was into metal music, but got into punk after hearing the Sex Pistols song "Holidays in the Sun".[2] Armstrong has also cited The Replacements and Hüsker Dü, both from Minneapolis, as major influences. He attended, Hillcrest Elementary School, John Swett High School, and then Pinole Valley High School, dropping out on February 16, 1990, a day before his 18th birthday, to pursue his musical career.

[edit] Career

In 1987, Armstrong formed a band called "Sweet Children" with childhood friend Mike Dirnt at the age of 15. In the beginning, Dirnt and Armstrong were both on guitar, with another person on guitar, and a man called Sean Hughes on bass. After a few gigs and a demo recording (later featured at the end of Green Day's Oh Shit!) He and Mike Dirnt decided to join up with drummer Al Sobrante in 1988. At the same time Dirnt switched to bass and they became a 3-piece band. They changed their name to Green Day in April 1989, allegedly choosing the name for their fondness of marijuana.[3] That same year they recorded the EPs 39/Smooth, 1,000 Hours, and Slappy, later combined into the LP 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours, on Lookout! Records. Tré Cool eventually replaced Sobrante in late 1990 when he left Green Day in order to go to college. California Punk band Rancid's lead singer Tim Armstrong asked Armstrong to join Rancid, but he refused due to the progress with Green Day. Tré Cool made his debut on Green Day's second album, Kerplunk!. With their next album, Dookie, the band broke through into the mainstream, and have remained one of the most popular rock bands of the 1990s and 2000s with over 60 million records sold worldwide.[4]

Apart from working with Green Day, and side-band Pinhead Gunpowder, Armstrong has proved himself busy in the music world, collaborating with many artists over the years. He has co-written for The Go-Go's ("Unforgiven"), former Avengers singer Penelope Houston ("The Angel and The Jerk" and "New Day"), co-wrote a song with Rancid ("Radio"), sung backing vocals with Melissa Auf der Maur on Ryan Adams' "Do Miss America", where they acted as the backing band for Iggy Pop on his Skull Ring album ("Private Hell" and "Supermarket"). Armstrong has produced an album for The Riverdales, and is also rumored to be part of a side project, The Network. The Network released an album called Money Money 2020. Many Green Day fans who listened to the record remarked the similarity between the two bands.[citation needed] Money Money 2020 was released on Adeline Records, a record label co-owned by Armstrong.

[edit] Equipment

Armstrong received his first electric guitar, a Fernandes Stratocaster copy that he named "Blue", when he was eleven. Armstrong said he had surprised when his mother bought the guitar from Armstrong's teacher, because he knew their family could not readily afford it. He initially installed a Bill Lawrence pickup but later switched to the Duncan JB model. He toured with this guitar from the band's early days and into their first few major-label tours. "Blue" also appears in several of their music videos starting with "Longview", "Basket Case", " Brain Stew/Jaded", and appearing most recently in "Minority". Armstrong has made several replicas of this guitar and uses them at concerts. He also owns several Gibson SGs.

Today Armstrong mainly uses Gibson and Fender guitars. Twenty of his Gibson guitars are Les Paul Junior models from the mid- to late-1950s.[5] His Fender collection includes: Stratocaster, Jazzmaster, Telecaster, and his Fernandes, "Blue". He states that his favorite guitar is a 1956 Gibson Les Paul Junior he calls "Floyd". He bought this guitar in 2000 just before recording their album Warning.[6]

Armstrong also has his own line of Les Paul Junior guitars from Gibson. He also uses his signature line now in many of his tours today.

[edit] Personal life
Armstrong after his arrest in January 2003
Armstrong after his arrest in January 2003

In 1990, Armstrong met Adrienne Nesser, whom he married on July 2, 1994. The following day, Adrienne discovered she was pregnant. Their first child, Joseph 'Joey' Marciano Armstrong, was born on February 28, 1995. Their second child, Jakob Danger Armstrong, was born on September 12, 1998. Adrienne is the co-owner of Adeline Records, along with Armstrong.

Armstrong has identified himself as bisexual, saying in a 1995 interview with The Advocate, "I think I've always been bisexual. I mean, it's something that I've always been interested in. I think people are born bisexual, and it's just that our parents and society kind of veer us off into this feeling of 'Oh, I can't.' They say it's taboo. It's ingrained in our heads that it's bad, when it's not bad at all. It's a very beautiful thing."[7][8] Armstrong briefly went vegetarian but began eating meat again after experiencing substantial weight loss.However his favorite meal is vegetarian lasange.[9]

Armstrong was arrested in January 2003 for drunk driving after being pulled over by police for speeding. He received a breathalyzer reading of 0.18, more than twice the state's legal limit of 0.08.[10] In April 2007, Armstrong and his wife sent photos of their spring break working with Habitat For Humanity, as well as a diary to GreenDay.net.

Billie Joe Armstrong supports Barack Obama for the 2008 presidential election.[11]

Awards

* Grammy for Best Rock Album for American Idiot - February 2005
* Grammy for Record of the Year for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" - February 2006
* Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance for Dookie - February 1995
* Won MTV VMA Moonmen for Boulevard of Broken Dreams and 1 for American Idiot - August 2005
* Won ASCAP Honor Awards for Creative Voice and Song of the Year ("Boulevard of Broken Dreams") - May 2006
* Won MTV Europe Awards for Best Album and Best Rock Group - November 2005

Discography

Green Day

* 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours (1990) -- Lead Vocals, Guitar
* Kerplunk! (1992) -- Lead Vocals, Guitar, Drums on "Dominated Love Slave"
* Dookie (1994) -- Lead Vocals, Guitar, Percussion on "All By Myself (hidden track)"
* Insomniac (1995) -- Lead Vocals, Guitar
* Nimrod (1997) -- Lead Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica on "King for a Day"
* Warning (2000) -- Lead Vocals, mandolin, Guitar, Harmonica on "Minority"
* Shenanigans (2002) -- Lead Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica
* American Idiot (2004) -- Lead Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica

Pinhead Gunpowder

Vocals and Guitar on all

* Fahiza EP (1992)
* Jump Salty (1995)
* Carry The Banner (1995)
* Goodbye Ellston Avenue (1997)
* Shoot the Moon EP (1999)
* 8 Chords, 328 Words EP (2000)
* Compulsive Disclosure (2003)

The Network

* Money Money 2020 (2003) -- Lead Vocals, Guitar

Foxboro Hot Tubs

* Stop Drop and Roll (2008) -- Lead Vocals

Adelleda

* A Reasonable Explanation For Life (2008) -- Producer

Notes

1. ^ Record Mecca
2. ^ Armstrong, Billie Joe (2005). ""The Sex Pistols"". Rolling Stone.
3. ^ Metropolis - Music and Concerts: Green Day
4. ^ Myers, Ben. "Green Day: American Idiot and the New Punk Explosion" April, 2006.
5. ^ Gibson USA & Green Day present
6. ^ Gibson USA & Green Day present
7. ^ (January 24, 1995)"Coming Clean"
8. ^ Libertarian Celebrities - Advocates for Self-Government
9. ^ Billie Joe Armstrong Trivia - Billie Joe Armstrong Facts - Billie Joe Armstrong Notes
10. ^ TSG Mug Shot: Billie Joe Armstrong
11. ^ Artists Lend Voices to Obama Campaign : Rolling Stone

External links
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
Billie Joe Armstrong
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Billie Joe Armstrong

* Green Day Official Website
* Green Day Idiot Club
* Billie Joe Biography, as well as information on his stint in Common Rider
* Billie Joe Armstrong at the Internet Movie Database
* Billie Joe Armstrong Signature Les Paul Junior