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Music lead vocalist, main lyricist, and guitarist for the rock band Green Day, Billie Joe Armstrong picture(s)/pic(s), wallpaper and photo gallery, albums covers pictures.
Born: February 17, 1972, in Oakland, California, USA. Billie Joe Armstrong biography (bio): Armstrong grew up in Rodeo, California, the youngest of six children. His father, Andy Armstrong, was a retired Minor League Baseball catcher, who worked as a jazz musician and truck driver for Safeway to support the family. He died of cancer on September 10, 1982 when Billie Joe was 10. The song Wake Me Up When September Ends is a memorial to his father. 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, a day before his 18th birthday, 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 at the age of 15. After a few gigs and a demo recording (later featured at the end of Green Day's Kerplunk!) He and Mike Dirnt decided to join 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 EPs 39/Smooth, 1000 Hours, and Slappy, later combined into the LP 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours, on Lookout! Records. Tré Cool eventually replaced Sobrante when he left Green Day in order to go to college. 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 60 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's first guitar was indeed a "Cherry Red Hohner' acoustic which he received from his dad(As mentioned in Nobody Likes You.)Billie Joe received his first--and most famous-- electric guitar, a Fernandes Stratocaster copy that he named "Blue", when he was eleven. Billie was shocked when his mother bought the guitar from Billie's teacher, because he knew their family were no where near to be able to afford it. 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. He also owns several Gibson SG models which he has removed all of the sound/tone knobs except for one volume. 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,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: Armstrong was arrested in January 2003 for a DUI after being pulled over for speeding. After taking a Breathalyzer test, Armstrong received a score of .18, more than twice the state's legal limit of .08. Billie Joe Armstrong has stated that he is bisexual, which is probably 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 concert as per tradition. In 1990, Billie met his future wife Adrienne Nesser. They later married and now have two children named Joseph and Jakob. She is also the co owner of Adeline Records, along with Billie Joe. In April of 2007, Billie Joe and wife Adrienne sent GreenDay.net webmaster photos of their Spring Break working with Habitat For Humanity as well as a diary. |
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