Billie was the youngest of 6 kids in a family from Rodeo, California. His father was a truck driver and part time jazz musician. He died of cancer when Billie was 10. His mother was a waitress and country music fan and it has been said that she spelt Billie's name wrong on his birth certificate because she was still high from painkillers given to her during childbirth. As a child, Billie would sing at hospitals to cheer patients up. He recorded a song called "Look For Love" when he was 5. He was interviewed after this recording. Read the transcript here .
Shortly before he died, Billie's dad gave him his first guitar, a blue Stratocaster that he named "Blue", that he still plays. In 1982, Billie met Mike Dirnt at school and then 2 of his brothers, Matt and Eric, introduced them to punk, a growing scene in The Bay area in California. He became fans of punk bands like DOA, TSOL and the Dead Kennedys. He wrote his first song, "Why Do You Want Him", when he was 14.
Mike and Billie met a drummer called John and formed the band "Sweet Children". Before his 18th birthday, and part-way through his last year of high school, he dropped out to devote his time to the band. John decided he wanted to attend college so dropped out of the band. Tre Cool took over as drummer. The band changed their name to Green Day.
In Minneapolis in 1990 when Billie met Adrienne Nesser. They dated for a bit and married on July 2nd 1994, in a 5 minute ceremony. The next day she found out she was pregnant. Joseph Marcicano Armstrong was born in March 1995 and 3 years later, on September 12th 1998, Jacob Danger was born. They now live in Berkeley, California. Billie Joe is the co-founder and partial owner of the independant label Adeline Records.
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N.B. Billie made a guitar out of different parts, which he call's "Frankenstein". When asked about what brand his accoustic guitar is, Billie says: "I don't know, one with strings and a hole in the middle!" Billie says a lot of his sound comes from strumming, "I use my thumb. It's that half-pick and half-thumb that gives it that thwack. Also, I don't play with my wrist, I play with my shoulder and hit it really hard."
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'A guy comes up and asks me, "What's punk?" So, I kick over a garbage can and go, "That's punk". Then he kicks over a garbage can and goes, "That's punk?" And I go, "No, that's trendy!"'
'We put the "fun" back into "dysfunctional!"'
'It's fun until someone gets hurt...then it's hilarious!'
'School is practise for the future, and practise makes perfect, but nobody's perfect...so why practise?'
'I sound like an Englishman impersonating an American impersonating an Englishman.'
'There's nothing wrong with being a loser, it just depends on how good you are at it.'
(At a foreign concert) 'What? You can heckle me if you want. It's OK I won't understand.'
(About Slipknot) 'Those masks are so frickin' retarded.'
I think the little Bush is a bit stupid, and more or less a puppet of his old man.'
'My mum was from Oklahoma, hence the name Billie Joe...It's not William Joseph, it's just Billie Joe.'
He used to have a nose ring but he took it out because it kept getting caught on his guitar.
His birthday is the same day as America's National Cabbage Day.
At age 15, Billie tried to go to an Operation Ivy concert, but he was refused entry. One of the members of the band heard he wasn't allowed in, so they came out and personally esorted him into the show.
It's an old tradition of Billie's that at every one of his concerts he kisses a guy.
The first album Billie Joe bought was Elvis Presley's "The Sun Sessions".
Billie Joe got expelled from 2 schools.
In early 2001 Billie Joe was mugged at gunpoint and is now terrified of guns.
Billie is a vegetarian and his favourite food if vegetarian lasagne.
Billie's favourite drink is root beer.
He occasionally suffers from panic attacks and anxiety.
If he could choose any film role in history he would choose Austin Powers.
