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Billie Joe Armstrong

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Billie Joe Armstrong
Musical artist

Billie Joe Armstrong (born February 17, 1972, in Oakland, California) is best known for his role as the main songwriter, lead vocalist, lyricist, and guitarist for the rock band Green Day. He has recently stated to the media that he has come out of the closet. He has addmitted that he is now fully gay, not BI as many thought he was. Him and his wife had also recently split.

Early life

Armstrong grew up in Rodeo, California. He's the youngest of six children. His father, Andy, was a retired Minor League Baseball catcher, who worked as a jazz musician and truck driver for Safeway to support the family. He died from esophageal cancer on September 10, 1982 when Billie Joe was 10. His mother Ollie worked as a waitress at Rod's Hickory Pit, where Billie Joe and Mike Dirnt got their first gig during their teen years.

Billie Joe's interest in music started at a young age. He recorded a song titled "Look For Love" at the age of 5 on the Bay Area label "Fiat Records". As a teenager he originally was into metal music, but got into punk after hearing the Sex Pistols song Holidays in the Sun. He attended John Swett High School, and then Pinole Valley High School, dropping out on February 16, 1990, to pursue his musical career. While in high school he was nicknamed "Two Dollar Bill", because he was supplying the school with joints for two dollars.

Sweet Children and Green Day

In 1987, Armstrong formed a band called "Sweet Children" with childhood friend Mike Dirnt. In 1989, they joined up with drummer Al Sobrante and became known as Green Day, allegedly choosing the name for their fondness of marijuana.. That same year they recorded the EP 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours, on Lookout! Records. Sobrante eventually left Green Day in order to go to college, Tré Cool replaced Sobrante. Tre 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 85 million records sold worldwide.

Collaborations

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-Gos ("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 long-time Green Day fans who listened to the record remarked that it sounds just like a Green Day album, also Money Money 2020 was released on Adeline Records, a record label co-owned by Billie Joe.

Guitars

Billie Joe received his second--and most famous--guitar, a Fernandes Stratocaster copy that he named "Blue", when he was eleven. He modified the guitar to have a humbucking pickup in the bridge position. 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, and appearing most recently in Minority. Billie has made several replicas of this guitar and uses them at concerts.

Today Armstrong mainly uses Gibson and Fender Guitars. Twenty of his Gibson guitars are Les Paul Junior models from the mid to late-1950s. His Fender collection includes: Stratocaster, Jazzmaster, Gretsch, 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:.

Armstrong also has his own line of Les Paul Junior guitars from Gibson.

Personal life

In Minneapolis, in 1990, Billie first met his wife, Adrienne Nesser. They dated for a while and had a short split. In this time both Billie and Adrienne met other partners; Adrienne was engaged to be married, and Billie was seeing another girl. However Billie and Adrienne were eventually married on July 2, 1994 in a 5 minute ceremony. The day after their wedding, Adrienne found out she was pregnant. Their son, Joseph, was born on February 28, 1995. Three years later on September 12, 1998, another boy, Jakob Danger Armstrong, was born.

Billie Joe Armstrong has stated that he is bisexual, which is the subject of Dookie track "Coming Clean". In his 1995 interview, he explained his sexual attraction to men and women. He also kisses men in concerts.


Awards

  • Esquire awarded him an "Esky" for Best Frontman in the Esky Music Awards in the April 2006 issue.
  • Kerrang! magazine awarded him the Worst Dressed Star and Hero of the Year in 2005
  • The California Music Awards awarded him Outstanding Male Vocalist in 2001 and 2004
  • Nickelodeon's Kid's Choice Awards Blimp for Favorite Band/Group - April 2005 and 2006
  • Nickelodeon's Kid's Choice Awards Blimp for Favorite Song for Wake Me Up When September Ends - April 2006
  • Grammy for Best Rock Album for American Idiot - February 2005
  • Grammy for Record of the Year for Boulevard of Broken Dreams - February 2006
  • Won 6 MTV VMA Moonmen for Boulevard of Broken Dreams and 1 for American Idiot - August 2005
  • Won 2 American Music Awards for Favorite Pop/Rock Album (American Idiot) and Favorite Alternative Artist - November 2005
  • Won 2 ASCAP Honor Awards for Creative Voice and Song of the Year (Boulevard of Broken Dreams) - May 2006
  • Won 2 MTV Europe Awards for Best Album and Best Rock Group - November 2005
  • Accidentally tripped down stairs on the way down at the KCA'S/Kids Choice Awards while receiving his award for best album/song

Discography

Green Day

Pinhead Gunpowder

The Network

Notes

  1. http://www.recordmecca.com/view_item.aspx?id=82
  2. Armstrong, Billie Joe (2005). ""The Sex Pistols"". Rolling Stone. Retrieved October 28. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  3. http://www.greendayauthority.com/TheBand/billiejoe.php
  4. http://metropolis.co.jp/tokyomusicconcerts/concert/359/tokyomusicconcertsinc.htm
  5. http://www.gibson.com/bja/interview2.htm
  6. http://www.gibson.com/bja/interview.htm
  7. "Rock's Rude Boy"
  8. "Coming Clean", The Advocate interview with Billie Joe Armstrong (24th January, 1995)
    "I think I've always been bisexual. I mean, it's something that I've always been interested in. I think everybody kind of fantasizes about the same sex. 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."
  9. Green Day Authority - Didja Know
    "It's an old tradition of Billie's that at every one of his concerts he kisses a guy."

External links


Green Day
Studio albums
Live albums
Compilations
EPs
Tours
Associated acts
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