(born February 17, 1972) is an American musician, vocalist, guitarist, songwriter, best known as the leader and founder of the popular punk rock band Green Day.
Billie Joe Armstrong was born on February 17, 1972 in the small town of Rodeo, California. He has five older siblings: David, Alan, Marcy, Holly and Anna. He is the youngest in the family. His father worked as a truck driver and also worked part-time in clubs performing jazz. Billy Joe's mother was a waitress in one of the city's restaurants. In September 1982, when the future star was only 10 years old, his father, Andy, died of esophageal cancer. Two years after this, his mother remarried. Billy took this event hard, he began to hate this man. At age 14, Billy Joe wrote his first song (“Why Do You Want Him?”), which was about his mother and stepfather. Billy started singing quite early, at the age of 5. He often visited hospitals and sang to their patients there. Somewhat later, he had his own song “Look For Love”, recorded by the local company Fiat Records. At the age of 11, his mother gave him his first electric guitar, it was the famous “Blue”, which Billy plays to this day (in the black and white photo).
At the age of 10, Billy Joe met Mike Dirnt in the school cafe. Staying at each other's place overnight, they listened to and performed songs by such rock giants as Ozzy Osbourne, Def Leppard and Van Halen. Their music was also equally influenced by the Bay Area alternative band's work throughout the eighties. In 1988, Billy Joe and Mike invited drummer John Kiffmeyer to join Sweet Children under the pseudonym Al Sobrant and began their creative career. Their first, but far from last, performance took place at the Rods Hickory Pit club in Vallejo. The day before his eighteenth birthday, almost finishing school, Billy dropped out and decided to devote all his time to Sweet Children. Music became his calling.
Green Day were originally part of the punk rock scene that developed around the punk club 924 Gilman Street (Berkeley). Their first albums, recorded on independent company Lookout! Records allowed the group to earn a lot of fans. As a result, the group, along with other Californian punks (The Offspring, Rancid), raised a wave of enormous interest in punk music not only in the USA, but throughout the world. Green Day became the inspiration for such famous bands as Good Charlotte, Fall Out Boy, Simple Plan, My Chemical Romance, All Time Low.
In 2011, the trio was voted the best punk band in music history in a poll conducted by Rolling Stone magazine. In 2015, Green Day were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The group became one of the most popular and successful punk rock groups. As of 2012, Green Day had sold more than 85 million records, 30 of which were in the United States.
Armstrong's first guitar was a Cherry Red Hohner acoustic guitar that his father bought him. Then, when he was eleven, he got his first electric guitar, a copy of a Fender Stratocaster, which he named "Blue." His mom got "Blue" from George Cole, who taught Billy electric guitar for 10 years. Armstrong said in a 1995 MTV interview: "Basically, it wasn't guitar lessons because I never learned to read music, he just taught me hand placement." Cole bought the guitar new from David Margen of the band Santana. Cole gave Billy a Bill Lawrence Humbucking pickup and suggested it be installed in the bridge. After the pickup failed at Woodstock '94, Armstrong installed a Duncan JB.
“Armstrong fetishized his teacher's guitar, in part because it had the sound quality and Van Halen-esque smoothness that he couldn't get from his little red Hohner. He appreciated it more, however, due to his relationship with Cole, another father was involved after Andy's death. He has toured with this guitar since the band's early days and continues to use it to this day.
"Blue" is also featured in several of their music videos, starting with "Longview", "Basket Case", "Brain Stew/Jaded", "Hitchin' a Ride", and finally "Minority".
Today, Armstrong primarily uses Gibson and Fender guitars. Twenty of his Gibson Les Paul guitars are low-end models from the mid to late 1950s. His Fender Collection includes:. Stratocaster, Jazzmaster, Telecaster, Hollowbody Gretsch and its “Blue” copies. He states that his favorite guitar is a 1956 Gibson Les Paul Junior, which he calls "Floyd". He bought this guitar in 2000 shortly before recording their album Warning. Armstrong also has his own line of Les Paul Junior guitars from Gibson, modeled after "Floyd", Billy Joe's original 1956 Les Paul Junior.
He plays several other instruments quite well. He recorded harmonica and mandolin parts, piano parts on 21st Century Breakdown, and played drums during concerts from time to time. Also recently, Armstrong began to master the saxophone.
Billy became interested in singing when he was still very young. early age- when he was only 5 years old. He often visited hospitals (his father was seriously ill) and sang for patients. As a child, Armstrong wrote his first song, Look for Love. When he was eleven, his mother gave him the famous “Blue” guitar (a blue Fender Stratocaster) - an all-time favorite.
The musician's father died of esophageal cancer in September 1982. Armstrong Jr. was only 10 years old at the time, and this event greatly changed his life. Dedicated the song Wake Me Up When September Ends to Billy's father. After 2 years, the mother married a second time. Billy took her decision hard and literally hated his stepfather. At the age of 14, he wrote a song about this, Why Do You Want Him?
Billy met Mike Dirnt (Green Day's longtime bassist) at school at the age of 10. The guys quickly became friends and soon began to spend the night at each other's houses. They spent hours listening to Ozzy Osbourne, Def Leppard and Van Halen, trying to play them. The friends also delved into the local California alternative scene with interest, and they were especially fans of Rancid.
In 1986 they founded a group called Sweet Children. In 1988, with the arrival of drummer Al Sobrant (real name John Alan Kiffmeyer), the group took the name Green Day, hinting at the musicians' love of marijuana.
At school, Armstrong received the nickname “Two Dollar Bill”: the future world-famous musician sold marijuana cigarettes for $2 apiece. The nickname has a double meaning: translated from English, the word bill means bill. Billy’s ambiguities don’t end there: on his famous “Blue” there are the letters BJ - these are both initials and a slang abbreviation for the word blowjob, the translation of which you can look up yourself.
The musician has a large collection of guitars. In addition to copies of his most popular “Blue,” it contains various Fender models: Stratocaster, Jazzmaster, Telecaster, Hollowbody Gretch. Also one of his favorite guitars is a 1956 Gibson Les Paul Junior, which he named "Floyd". Armstrong launched his own line of Les Paul Junior guitars, using the Floyd as a model.
Billie Joe Armstrong is openly bisexual, as he himself stated in a 1995 interview with The Advocate, a magazine aimed at the LGBT community. He said the following: “I think I've always been bisexual. This is something that has always been interesting to me. I think everyone has fantasies about people of the same sex. I think people are born bisexual, but our parents and society lead us to believe that this is not the case. They say it's taboo. It is ingrained in our heads that this is bad, although it is not bad at all. This is wonderful".
In 2010, the musician spoke about his sexuality to Out magazine: “There were a lot of people who didn’t accept it, who were homophobic. The fact that it is a problem is the phobia within itself. Sooner or later you have to think, it just has to be accepted.”
At the beginning of his musical career, Armstrong adhered to vegetarianism, which was fashionable among ideological American punks, but later abandoned it.
Billy met his future wife Adrienne at one of the Green Day concerts in 1990. The couple got married in 1994. Billy and Adrienne have two sons: Joseph Marciano and Jacob Janger Armstrong, who also play music professionally. Together with Billy, Adrienne owns the Adeline Records label. At the end of 2011, the family released a Christmas album, The Boo. Billy played bass, Jacob played guitar, Joseph played drums, and Adrienne was responsible for the vocals.
In 2012, Billie Joe Armstrong was forced to go to a rehabilitation clinic to undergo treatment for alcoholism and sleeping pill abuse. According to many fans, the reason for this was a nervous breakdown during the show.
Billy is a multi-instrumentalist. In addition to the guitar, he is proficient in the harmonica, mandolin, piano and drums.
Billie Joe Armstrong was born on February 17, 1972 in Oakland, California. His father worked as a truck driver and earned extra money performing jazz in local clubs. Mother was a waitress. There were six children in their family and Billy Joe was the youngest.
When Billy was 10, his father died of cancer, and his mother married just two years later. This was a real blow to Billy Joe, and he hated his stepfather. A couple of years later, he wrote the song Why Do You Want Him?, in which he talked about this. This is how his very first song was born, Billy found solace in music.
By 1987, Armstrong was already playing in the band Sweet Children. Their first performance, which marked the beginning of Green Day's long musical career, took place at the Rods Hickory Pit club in Vallejo. A few years later, the first official album 39/Smooth was released.
In 1990, Armstrong met Adrienne Nesser at a Green Day show in Mankato, and they decided to get married in 1994. Adrienne gave Armstrong two sons, making him the happiest dad. Billy Joe now lives in California with his family.
Billie Joe Armstrong Quotes
- I'm a father. It's not just my life anymore. I don't want my child to find bottles in the house or see his father completely drunk.
- Punk is not just a sound, music. Punk is a way of life.
- Punk will never die to me. This is my life. I could never just give up this lifestyle. This is the embodiment of me.
- People are so damn scared that they might wake up one day and find that they are old.
- I think it's your own choice if you go from an angry young man to a bitter old bastard.
- Punk always does things his own way. For me this is the ultimate freedom and meaning of individuality.
- Making mistakes is better than doing nothing.
- What makes me angry is the arrogance of some people. They don't listen to our music, they decided in advance that they don't like it.
- I enjoy being misunderstood most of the time. This is wonderful.
- No one can be truly happy anyway. This is not human.
- I view the acoustic guitar more as a percussion instrument. She's fragile. I have no finesse when it comes to my guitar playing.
- The only thing I've learned is that you shouldn't give up hope on life, don't try and look too far ahead, and just enjoy the present, because most people don't really appreciate the present until it becomes the past.
- To be natural, to be yourself, to live with true feelings, to perceive the world with an open soul and not to be afraid of disapproval from others - this is the most difficult thing. Personality always turns out to be a black sheep.
It is difficult to call the American punk rock guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong a philosopher, but some of his statements are deep and accurate. How do you like this? Making mistakes is better than doing nothing. And many will agree with him on this.
Billy is the sixth, most youngest child in family. His date of birth is Oakland, (USA), February 17, 1972. The creative zest was initially embedded in the violent temperament of a child born under the sign of Aquarius. Billy loved his father. The latter worked as a truck driver, but fell ill with cancer early on. Frequent chemotherapy treatments tied his father to the hospital, where little Billy ran almost every day. To cheer up the patient, the baby sang. The first song he composed was called Look for Love, and his mother presented his first guitar (a blue Fender Stratocaster) to him on his 11th birthday.
When Billy turned 10, his father passed away, and two years later a stepfather appeared in the family, whom the boy did not accept and went to great lengths: he sold marijuana cigarettes, skipped classes, and had no intention of studying or working. Protesting his mother’s choice, at the age of 14 he recorded the song “Why did you need him? (Why Do You Want Him?), but it was impossible to change the situation.
Start
In 1986, Billy Armstrong, together with his childhood friend, bassist Mike Dirnt, formed a group, which two years later was renamed Green Day. Billy played excellently not only on the guitar, he played the harmonica, mandolin, masterfully improvised on the piano, and beat out intricate rhythms on the drums. The group performed their songs, adhering to the punk rock movement. Despite the fact that the repertoire contains lyrical themes, the main emphasis is on action music: energetic, fiery, sharp and defiant.
Personal
In 1990, Billy met his future wife Andrienne, whom they married 4 years later. They have two sons who are professional musicians. Billy is bisexual. He claims that if it weren't for public opinion, people's sex lives would look completely different. In his youth, he adhered to vegetarianism, but it was more a tribute to fashion than concern for health.
For most of his life, the elder Armstrong lived on the edge, abusing alcohol and sleeping pills. In 2012, having experienced an emotional crisis, he chose rehabilitation because he could no longer control his condition.