Billie Joe Armstrong

Billie Joe Armstrong was born on February 17, 1972, in Oakland, California, to Andrew Armstrong and Ollie Jackson. His father was a jazz musician and also worked as a truck driver. His mother worked at a restaurant. He grew up in Rodeo, California.

He was the youngest of six siblings. His siblings were David, Alan, Marci, Hollie, and Anna. His interest in music began after his brothers introduced him to punk music.

He attended Hillcrest Elementary School in Rodeo. At the age of five, his teacher encouraged him to record a song titled, ‘Look for Love’.

When he was 10, he met Mike Dirnt in the school. They became close friends owing to their love of music. He was highly influenced by the bands ‘The Replacements’ and ‘Hüsker Dü’.

His father died of esophageal cancer in 1982. The song ‘Wake Me Up When September Ends’ is dedicated to his father. After his father’s death, his mother married again.

In 1987, he along with his childhood friend Mike Dirnt formed a band, ‘Sweet Children’. They played the guitar while John Kiffmeyer played the drums and Sean Hughes was on bass.

After Hughes left the band, Dirnt started playing the bass. In April 1989 they renamed their band as ‘Green Day’,owing to their addiction to marijuana.

In 1989, they released their debut EP ‘1,000 Hours’. Their debut studio album ‘39/Smooth’ and the extended play,‘Slappy’ was recorded the next year. The compilation ‘1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours’ included both albums.

‘Tré Cool replaced Sobrante as Green Day's drummer and made his debut with their second album, ‘Kerplunk’. The band broke into mainstream with their next album, ‘Dookie’ in 1994, selling over 60 million records worldwide.

Armstrong co-wrote songs with various artists. Some of them being ‘Unforgiven’ for the all-female American rock band “The Go-Go's”, ‘The Angel and The Jerk’ and ‘New Day’ for Penelope Houston and ‘Radio’ with the American punk rock band “Rancid”.

In 2004, Armstrong’s ‘Green Day’ released their first rock opera, ‘American Idiot’. It sold over 15,000,000 copies and featured hit singles like ‘American Idiot’, ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’ and ‘Wake Me Up When September Ends’.

In 2009, his band published their second rock opera called ‘21st Century Breakdown’. It was also a huge commercial success and the band shot to great fame.