Full Name: Billie Joe Armstrong
Date of Birth: Febuary 17, 1972 age:33
Marital Status: Married to Adrienne (Nesser) on July 2, 1994
Children: Two sons, Joseph Marcicano (born 1995) and Jakob Danger (born 1998)
Family: Billie's dad died of cancer in 1982, and was raised by his mother from then on. He has 5 older siblings. Marcy, Anna, Holly, David, and his step-brother Steven.
Instruments: guitar, harmonica, mandolin, drums, piano, saxophone
Company?: Billie Joe and Adrienne co-own Adeline Records
Bands: Billie Joe plays with his side-band Pinhead Gunpowder. He used to play with Rancid, Goodbye Harry, The Influents, The Lookouts, Blatz, and Corrupted Morals.
Quote:"I dont want to compromise what I believe in"
Bio:
Billie Joe was born on February 17, 1972 in California as the youngest of six children to Ollie (a waitress at a local resturant) and Andy (a jazz musician and truck driver) Armstrong. Billie Joe began singing when he was 5 years old by visiting hospitals and singing for the patients to make them feel better. He later recorded his first song, called 'Look For Love' with Fiat Records. He recieved his first guitar (which to this day is his trademark guitar) that he named "Blue" (a blue Fernandes Stratocaster) from his father when he was ten years old (Blue is now retired, but Billie has replicas that he still uses in videos and on stage). Billie Joe recalls that the guitar was the last gift that his father gave him "right before he took his last breath." His father, Andy Armstrong died of cancer on September 16th, 1982 when Billie Joe was ten years old. After the passing of his dad, his mother continued to work at the resturant (Rods Hickory Pit) to support her family. Billie Joe and Mike later got jobs there. Two years after the death of his father, his mother remarried to a man that neither Billie, nor his siblings liked.
At the age of 10, Billie Joe met Mike Dirnt in 4th grade in the school cafeteria. Bonded by thier music, they would often listen to music at their houses or go to clubs such as 924 Gilman Street and listen to live local bands of the underground punk scene. At the age of 14, Billie Joe wrote his first song called 'Why Do You Want Him,' referring to his mom and his step dad. At age 15, he, Mike, and John Kiffmeyer formed the band Sweet Children, named after the first song that Billie Joe and Mike wrote together. They played their first gig at Rod's Hickory Pit. On February 16th (one day before his 18th birthday) he dropped out of Pinole High School to dedicate himself to Sweet Children. His older sister Marcy recalls on VH1's 'Driven' about their mother's reaction that "She wasn't happy, but I think she also believed in him as a musician, and saw that he had places to go other than school." By this time, he had earned his nickname of 2 Dollar Bill, because he sold joints for two dollars. Sweet Children changed to Green Day shortly before the release of their first EP, and the band was on their way.
In 1990, the band hit a major road block. John decided to leave the band to go to college. Facing the closest point to breaking up in the band's history, Billie and Mike were introduced to the one and only Tré Cool, a five year Gilman Sreet veteran and the perfect yin for their yang by Lawrence Livermore. Tré's dad gave them their first "tour bus"...an old bookmobile van. They started their first tour the day after Mike graduated from high school with little to no money and crashed the nights at fans houses. On their first tour in 1990, Billie Joe met a quiet girl named Adrienne Nesser. They dated for a while, but the distance between Minnesota and California proved difficult for the couple. Finally, in 1994, Billie Joe convinced Adrienne to stay with him for the summer. When she got there, Billie Joe proposed, and the couple threw together a wedding (a 5 minute ceremony) in 2 weeks. The day after their wedding (and shortly before Billie Joe left once again for tour) Adrienne found out that she was pregnant. Their son, Joseph Marcicano (Marcicano was the middle name of Billie Joe's father) was born in March of 1995. In September of 1998, the Armstrong household in Berkeley, California was completed when Jakob Danger, the couple's second son was born.
