billie joe armstrong

Billie Joe Armstrong (born February 17, 1972, in Oakland, California) is the lead vocalist, main lyricist 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.

Billie Joe Armstrong was born and raised in Rodeo, California, a town 24 miles north of Oakland, as the youngest of six children.^[1] His father, Andy Armstrong,^[1] was a jazz drummer and truck driver for Safeway to support the family. He died of cancer on September 10, 1982 when Armstrong was 10.^[1] The song "Wake Me Up When September Ends", is a memorial to his father. He has five older siblings: David, Alan, Marci, Hollie, and Anna. His mother Ollie worked at Rod's Hickory Pit.^[1] 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 Oakland's 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".^[2][1] After his father died, his mother married a man whom her children despised, which made Armstrong retreat further into music. Armstrong dedicated a song to him called "Why Do You Want Him".^[1] At age 12 while attending Carquinez Middle School in Crockett, CA, he met Mike Dirnt, and they immediately bonded over their love of music.^[1] As a teenager he originally was into metal music, but got into punk after hearing the Sex Pistols song "Holidays in the Sun".^[3] Armstrong has also cited The Replacements and Hüsker Dü, both from Minneapolis, as major influences. He attended John Swett High School, also in Crockett, and then Pinole Valley High School, in Pinole, CA, dropping out on February 16, 1990, a day before his 18th birthday, to pursue his musical career.

In 1990, Armstrong met Adrienne Nesser, at one of Green Day's early shows in Mankato, Minnesota, 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 March 28, 1995 and was named after Joey Ramone. 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."^[10][11]

Armstrong was arrested by Berkeley police in January 2003 for drunk driving after being pulled over for speeding. He received a Breathalyzer reading of 0.18, more than twice the California legal limit of 0.08.^[12]

In April 2007, Armstrong and his wife Adrienne sent photos of their spring break working with Habitat For Humanity and a diary to GreenDay.net.