Billie Joe Armstrong

Infobox musical artist
Name = Billie Joe Armstrong


Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Billie Joe Armstrong
Alias = BJ, 2 Dollar Bill, Fink, The Reverend Strychnine Twitch
Born =birth date and age|1972|2|17
Oakland, California, United States
Instrument = Vocals, Guitar, Piano, Harmonica, Mandolin, Drums, Saxophone, banjo
Genre = Punk rock
Pop punk
Alternative rock
New wave
Garage rock
Occupation = Musician, Songwriter,
Years_active = 1987 - Present
Label = Reprise Records
Lookout! Records
Adeline Records
Associated_acts = Green Day
The Network
Pinhead Gunpowder
Foxboro Hot Tubs

Billie Joe Armstrong (born February 17, 1972, in Oakland, California) is the lead vocalist, main lyricist, pianist and guitarist for the punk rock trio Green Day. He is also a guitarist and vocalist for the punk rock band Pinhead Gunpowder and sings for garage rock band Foxboro Hot Tubs. He was the lead singer for New Wave group The Network.

Early life

Billie Joe Armstrong was born and grew up in Rodeo, CA, the youngest of six.Colapinto, John (2005-11-17), "WORKING CLASS HEROES". "Rolling Stone". (987):50-56] His father, Andy Armstrong, was a jazz drummer and truck driver for Safeway to support the family. He died of cancer on September 15, 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 later on she got a husband who Billie disliked and dedicated a song to him called "Why Do You Want Him" , Armstrong and Mike Dirnt got their first gig at Rod's Hickory Pit during their early years.

Armstrong's interest in music started at a young age. He attended Hillcrest Elementary School, where a teacher encouraged him to record a song titled "Look For Love" at the age of five on the Bay Area label "Fiat Records". [ [http://www.recordmecca.com/view_item.aspx?id=82 Record Mecca ] ] After his father died, his mother married a man that her children despised, which made Armstrong retreat further into music. At Carquinez Middle School, he met Mike Dirnt, and they immediately bonded over their passion for music. As a teenager he originally was into metal music, but got into punk after hearing the Sex Pistols song "Holidays in the Sun". [cite web | author= Armstrong, Billie Joe| year= 2005 | title="The Sex Pistols" | work=Rolling Stone| url=http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/7235474/58_the__pistols | accessmonth day= October 28 | access year=2006] Armstrong has also cited The Replacements and Hüsker Dü, both from Minneapolis, as major influences. He attended 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.

Career

In 1987, Armstrong formed a band called Sweet Children with childhood friend Mike Dirnt at the age of 14. In the beginning, Dirnt and Armstrong were both on guitar, with Teodor Boskov on drums, 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. [ [http://metropolis.co.jp/tokyomusicconcerts/concert/359/tokyomusicconcertsinc.htm Metropolis - Music and Concerts: Green Day ] ] 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" (1994), 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. [Myers, Ben. " [http://www.disinfo.com/site/displayarticle15670.html Green Day: American Idiot and the New Punk Explosion] " April, 2006.]

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") and former Avengers singer Penelope Houston ("The Angel and The Jerk" and "New Day"), co-written a song with Rancid ("Radio"), and 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 called 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.Fact|date=March 2007 "Money Money 2020" was released on Adeline Records, a record label co-owned by Armstrong.

Equipment

Armstrong received his first electric guitar, a Fernandes Stratocaster copy that he named "Blue", when he was eleven. Armstrong said he was surprised when his mother bought the guitar from Armstrong's teacher, George Cole, from band Break Neck Beach, 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, as the original Blue was damaged during a concert, and is too fragile to tour with today. Blue is supposedly still used for recording, but the large crack in the body makes it dangerous to use on stage; it might become too irreparably damaged to use. Copies of Blue have been in use since at least 1997 or 1998. 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. [ [http://www.gibson.com/bja/interview2.htm Gibson USA & Green Day present ] ] His Fender collection includes: Stratocaster, Jazzmaster, Telecaster, a Gretsch hollowbody and his copies of "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". [ [http://www.gibson.com/bja/interview.htm Gibson USA & Green Day present ] ]

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.

Personal life

In 1990, Armstrong met Adrienne Nesser, whom he married on July 2, 1994. The day after their wedding, 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." [(January 24, 1995) [http://web.archive.org/web/20050309020312/http://www.advocate.com/html/stories/822/822_greenday672_3.asp "Coming Clean"] ] [ [http://www.theadvocates.org/celebrities/billie-joe-armstrong.html Libertarian Celebrities - Advocates for Self-Government ] ]