John Rzeznik
| John Rzeznik | |
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Rzeznik performing Sweetest Lie on July 23, 2010 at Darien Lake Performing Arts Centre
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | John Joseph Theodore Rzeznik |
| Born |
December 5, 1965 Buffalo, New York, U.S. |
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| Years active | 1981–present |
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| Website | googoodolls |
| Notable instruments | |
John Joseph Theodore "Johnny" Rzeznik (/ˈrɛznɪk/; born December 5, 1965) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and producer. He is best known as the guitarist and frontman of the rock band the Goo Goo Dolls, of which he is a founding member and with whom he has recorded eleven studio albums.
Rzeznik was born in Buffalo, New York, the youngest and only son of five children of Edith (née Pomeroy) and Joseph Rzeznik, a bar proprietor and postal clerk. Both of Rzeznik's parents were musicians, playing the clarinet and flute. Rzeznik had a strict Catholic upbringing in Buffalo's working-class East Side Polish neighborhood and attended Corpus Christi Grammar School. All four of Rzeznik's grandparents were born in Poland; the original pronunciation of his last name is Rzeźnik [ˈʐɛʑɲik], Polish for "butcher".
Rzeznik's father died on February 2, 1981, from a diabetic coma at the age of 55, when Rzeznik was 15 years old. On October 26, 1982, his mother died from a sudden heart attack in the family's living room at the age of 53. Having lost both of his parents, he was brought up by his four older sisters, Phyllis, Fran, Gladys and Kate, with help from their cousin John Guljas. He paid for his own apartment using Social Security Survivor Benefit checks. It was during this period and while attending McKinley Vocational High School that Rzeznik began playing the guitar. Rzeznik briefly attended Buffalo State College, dropping out after his first year.
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