Billie Joe Armstrong

Billie Joe Armstrong was born on February 17, 1972, in Oakland, California, the youngest of six children. He grew up in Rodeo, California, where his father, a jazz musician and truck driver, died of esophageal cancer on September 10, 1982, when Armstrong was ten years old. Armstrong later wrote the song "Wake Me Up When September Ends" as a memorial to his father. His mother worked as a waitress at Rod's Hickory Pit in El Cerrito, California. Armstrong has five siblings: three older sisters named Marci, Hollie, and Anna, and two older brothers named David and Alan. His great-great-grandparents Pietro Marsicano and Teresa Nigro were Italian immigrants from Viggiano who settled in Boston before relocating to Berkeley, California, in 1869.

Armstrong showed an early aptitude for music. At the age of five, a teacher at Hillcrest Elementary School in Rodeo encouraged him to record a song titled "Look for Love" on the Bay Area label Fiat Records. He met future bandmate Mike Dirnt at age ten in the school cafeteria, and the two bonded immediately over their shared interest in music. His brothers introduced him to punk rock, and he has cited Van Halen, the Ramones, the Replacements, and Hüsker Dü as musical influences. His first concert was a Van Halen show in 1984. Armstrong attended Carquinez Middle School and John Swett High School in Crockett, California, before transferring to Pinole Valley High School in Pinole, California. On his eighteenth birthday, he left school to pursue music professionally.

In 1987, at the age of fifteen, Armstrong and Dirnt formed a band called Sweet Children. The group's early lineup included Raj Punjabi on drums and Sean Hughes on bass, though Punjabi was later replaced by John Kiffmeyer. After Hughes departed in 1988, Dirnt shifted to bass and the band became a three-piece. They renamed themselves Green Day in April 1989. In 1990, after drummer Kiffmeyer left to attend college, Tré Cool joined the band, making his debut on Green Day's second album, Kerplunk, released in 1991. Green Day broke into the mainstream with their third album, Dookie, in 1994, and went on to sell more than 60 million records worldwide. Subsequent albums included Insomniac in 1995, Nimrod in 1997, Warning in 2000, and the rock opera American Idiot in 2004, which sold more than 15 million copies and produced the hit singles "American Idiot," "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," and "Wake Me Up When September Ends." Green Day released a second rock opera, 21st Century Breakdown, in 2009, followed by a trio of albums — ¡Uno!, ¡Dos!, and ¡Tré! — in 2012.

Beyond Green Day, Armstrong has participated in numerous other musical projects. In 1991, he joined the band Pinhead Gunpowder, which included bassist Bill Schneider, drummer Aaron Cometbus, and vocalist and guitarist Sarah Kirsch, who was later replaced by Jason White. The group released several extended plays and albums and has performed live on an intermittent basis. Armstrong was also the lead vocalist of the Green Day side project Foxboro Hot Tubs, which formed in 2007 and released the album Stop Drop and Roll!!! in 2008. He was part of another Green Day side project, the Network, from 2003 to 2005, which released Money Money 2020 that year and became active again in 2020 with Money Money 2020 Part II: We Told Ya So!. In 2009, Armstrong formed a band called Rodeo Queens with members of Green Day and punk musician Jesse Malin, releasing one song titled "Depression Times." In 2013, he and singer-songwriter Norah Jones released the album Foreverly, consisting of covers of songs from the Everly Brothers' catalog. Armstrong has also collaborated with a range of other artists, co-writing the Go-Go's 2001 song "Unforgiven," co-writing songs with Penelope Houston, contributing backing vocals to Ryan Adams' "Do Miss America," and serving as part of the backing band for Iggy Pop on the album Skull Ring. He also produced an album for the Riverdales and was credited as a co-writer on Rancid's 1993 song "Radio."

In 1997, Armstrong founded Adeline Records to support independent bands, coinciding with the release of Green Day's album Nimrod. The label signed acts including the Frustrators, AFI, and Dillinger Four. In 2015, Armstrong co-founded Punk Bunny Coffee, formerly known as Oakland Coffee Works.

Armstrong co-wrote the book and lyrics for American Idiot, a jukebox musical built around Green Day's songs, which opened on Broadway in 2010. The production won two Tony Awards. In addition to his role as book writer, Armstrong performed the role of St. Jimmy in the show during two stints in late 2010 and early 2011. Armstrong has also acted in films and television, with credits including Like Sunday, Like Rain, Ordinary World, King of the Hill, Haunted, and Drunk History. In 2013, he appeared on Season 3 of NBC's The Voice as an assistant mentor for Christina Aguilera's team.