Billie Joe Armstrong

Billie Joe Armstrong (2017)

Billie Joe Armstrong [ ˈbɪli d͡ʒoʊ̯ ˈɑːɹmstɹɔŋ ] (born February 17, 1972 in Piedmont , California ) is an American songwriter , multi-instrumentalist and singer . He became known as the front man of the band Green Day . Armstrong is a co-owner of the clothing and record label Adeline Records .

Life

Billie Joe Armstrong is the youngest of the six children, Allan, David, Marci, Anna, Hollie and himself. When he was born, his oldest brother Allan was already 22 years old. Billie Joe's father Andrew Marciano Armstrong was a truck driver for Safeway and also played as a drummer in a jazz band. His mother, Ollie, worked as a waitress at Rod's Hickory Pit in Vallejo .

Armstrong's father died of esophageal cancer on September 10, 1982 when he was ten years old. He dedicated the 2004 song Wake Me up When September Ends from the album American Idiot to him .

Armstrong has been married to Adrienne Nesser since July 2, 1994. The couple have two sons. Joseph Marciano / Joey, has played drums in the band SWMRS since 2004 , and Jakob Danger,

works for the record company Burger Records.

During the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections , Billie Joe Armstrong supported Barack Obama .

Career

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

Foreverly (with Norah Jones )   DE 77 December 06, 2013 (3 weeks)   AT 29 December 06, 2013 (1 week)   CH 16 December 8, 2013 (9 weeks)   UK 63 07/12/2013 (1 week)   US 19th 01/25/2014 (11 weeks)

At the age of four, Billie Joe Armstrong learned to play the drums with his brother David . A year later he recorded the first record entitled Look for Love , which was released in 1977 by Fiat Records. On the B-side is an interview with Armstrong. An excerpt can be heard at the beginning of the Green Day song Maria . At the age of fourteen Armstrong wrote his first songs. His first composition is called Why do you Want Him? and is about his mother's second marriage.

In 1987 he founded the band The Sweet Children with his school friend Mike Dirnt and John Kiffmeyer , which was renamed Green Day in 1989. After John Kiffmeyer left, Tré Cool became the band's new drummer. In the early 1990s Armstrong also played live with the befriended band Rancid and is named as a co-author for their song Radio . Rancid frontman Tim Armstrong offered Armstrong to join Rancid as a full member, but he declined due to the progress made on Green Day.

The third album Dookie made the band Green Day known worldwide. After the release of Warning , however, Billie Joe developed writer's block for fear that Tré Cool and Mike Dirnt would criticize his songs and the band was about to break up.

He also plays in the bands The Network (under the pseudonym Fink ), Pinhead Gunpowder , The Boo and Foxboro Hot Tubs (under the pseudonym Reverend Strychnine Twitch ). He has been on the road with The Longshot project since 2018.

In 2011, Armstrong played the character of St. Jimmy for 50 appearances on Broadway in the musical American Idiot .

In November 2013 Armstrong released the album Foreverly with Norah Jones , a collection of traditional American songs in the style of the Everly Brothers .

In recognition of his work with Green Day, Rolling Stone named Armstrong 93rd of the 100 best songwriters of all time in 2015 .

At the concert One World - Together At Home he sang the song Wake Me Up When September Ends .

Instruments

Armstrong's first guitar was a Cherry Red Hohner acoustic guitar that his father bought for him. When he was eleven he got his first electric guitar, a blue Fernandes Stratocaster, a replica of a Fender Stratocaster , which he named "Blue". This previously belonged to his guitar teacher George Cole, but his mother had bought the guitar. Armstrong had the guitar rebuilt several times, and it is still one of his main instruments today, both in the studio and on stage, and in numerous music videos such as Longview , Basket Case , Brain Stew / Jaded , Hitchin 'a Ride and Minority .

Gibson launched the Billie Joe Armstrong Les Paul Junior Signature Guitar at the end of August 2006 . This guitar is available in three colors: Black, White and Vintage Burst. In the studio, however, he always plays his first Les Paul Junior from 1956, his favorite guitar, which he baptized “Floyd”. In addition, Armstrong often plays the western guitar , again preferring Gibson models. The company brought out a signature model called the Billie Joe Armstrong J-180 in his honor in the acoustic guitar sector.

In addition to the guitar, Billie Joe Armstrong also plays drums, piano , harmonica , diatonic accordion , mandolin , saxophone and banjo .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Artists lend voices to Obama campaign. In: Rolling Stone. July 2008.
2. ↑ Greendauauthority.com: Billie Joe and Adrienne Directly endorse Barack Obama for the US presidency . November 2012.
3. ↑ Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
4. ^ Fiat Records. Discogs , accessed May 31, 2018 . 
5. ↑ Dave Itzkoff: More Green Days at the Box Office? Billie Joe Armstrong Returning to 'American Idiot'. The New York Times , November 30, 2010, accessed December 1, 2010 . 
6. ↑ The 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time. Rolling Stone , August 2015, accessed August 7, 2017 . 
7. ↑ The Billie Joe Armstrong J-180 Signature on gibson.com , accessed May 11, 2012

Web links

• Billie Joe Armstrong on Allmusic (English)
• Billie Joe Armstrong in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Commons : Billie Joe Armstrong  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files