Billie Joe Armstrong
| Billie Joe Armstrong | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Billie Joe Armstrong |
| Also known as | Wilhelm Fink Reverend Strychnine Twitch |
| Born |
February 17, 1972 Oakland, California, U.S. |
| Origin | Rodeo, California, U.S. |
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| Years active | 1986–present |
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Billie Joe Armstrong (born February 17, 1972) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and actor who is best known as the lead vocalist, primary songwriter, and guitarist of the punk rock band Green Day, which he co-founded with Mike Dirnt. He is also a guitarist and vocalist for the punk rock band Pinhead Gunpowder and provides lead vocals for Green Day's side projects Foxboro Hot Tubs and The Network.
Raised in Rodeo, California, Armstrong developed an interest in music at a young age, and recorded his first song at the age of five. He met Mike Dirnt while attending elementary school, and the two instantly bonded over their mutual interest in music, forming the band Sweet Children when the two were 15 years old. The band changed its name to Green Day, and would later achieve massive commercial success. Armstrong has also pursued musical projects outside of Green Day's work, including numerous collaborations with other musicians.
In 1997, to coincide with the release of Nimrod, Armstrong founded Adeline Records in Oakland to help support other bands releasing music and signed bands such as The Frustrators, AFI and Dillinger Four. The record company has since come under the management of Pat Magnarella.
Billie Joe Armstrong was born in Oakland, California and raised in nearby Rodeo, the youngest of six children of Andrew "Andy" Armstrong and Ollie Jackson. His father worked as a jazz musician and truck driver for Safeway Inc. to support his family. He died of esophageal cancer on September 10, 1982, when Armstrong was 10. 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 worked at Rod's Hickory Pit restaurant in El Cerrito, where Armstrong and Dirnt played their first gig in 1987. Armstrong is of Scotch-Irish, English, Scottish, Italian (Sicilian), Spanish, German, and Welsh descent.
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