Billie Joe Armstrong

Billie Joe Armstrong (born February 17, 1972) is the lead vocalist and guitarist for punk rock band Green Day. Armstrong was the youngest of six kids and lived in Rodeo, California. His father was a truck driver who died of cancer when Armstrong was ten, his mother was a waitress.

Right before Billie's father had died from cancer, he gave to his son a present, his first guitar, which Billie nicknamed "Blue". It was a Fernandes Stratocaster copy and to this day he still uses replicas of the guitar. Other instruments Billie can also play include the piano, drums, harmonica and the mandolin. The first song he wrote was called "Why Do You Want Him" and was written in 1986, when he was 13. (His mom was dating someone he didn't like at the time) . The song appears on Green Day's debut album on Lookout! Records, 39/Smooth.

During his stay in school he was nicknamed "Two Dollar Bill", because he was supplying the school with joints for two dollars. In 1989, Billie Joe's band with Mike Dirnt and Al Sobrante, Sweet Children. They changed their name to Green Day and started touring for the first time. The name Green Day comes from San Francisco slang for a day of pot smoking. In 1991 Sobrante left Green Day for college and was replaced with Tre Cool, but he remained a close friend of the band and produced their second album Kerplunk.

He and his wife are co-founders and part owners of the independent label Adeline Records, and he has a side band called Pinhead Gunpowder, which is on Lookout! Records.

Armstrong is a registered Libertarian Party voter in California.

Marriages and Children Armstrong's long time girlfriend Adrienne Nesser joined him in California in June 1994 after she graduated from Mankato State University, Minnesota with a degree in sociology.(They had met at a Green Day gig).They married in July 1994 and had two children, Joseph Marciano (born March 1995) and Jakob Danger (born September 1998).

External Links

• Billie Joe at GeekStinkBreath.net
• Billie Joe Biography, as well as information on his stint in Common Rider
• Fan Site