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Billie Joe Armstrong (born February 17 , 1972 , in Oakland , California ) is best known as the lead Vocalist , main Lyricist , and Guitarist for the Punk Rock Band Green Day . Armstrong is one of the most popular and influential guitarists in Rock Music today and is widely accredited with the revival of punk in the early 1990s . EARLY LIFE Armstrong grew up in Rodeo, California , the youngest of six children. His father, Andy Armstrong, was a retired Minor League Baseball catcher, who worked as a jazz musician and truck driver for Safeway to support the family. He died of cancer on September 10 , 1982 when Armstrong was 10. The song " Wake Me Up When September Ends " is a memorial to his father. His mother Ollie worked as a waitress at Rod's Hickory Pit, where Armstrong and Mike Dirnt got their first gig during their teen years. Armstrong's interest in music started at a young age. He recorded a song titled "Look For Love" at the age of five on the Bay Area label "Fiat Records".http://www.recordmecca.com/view_item.aspx?id=82 As a teenager he originally was into Metal Music , but got into punk after hearing the Sex Pistols song " Holidays In The Sun ".1 He attended John Swett High School , and then Pinole Valley High School , dropping out on February 16 , 1990 , a day before his 18th birthday, to pursue his musical career. While in high school he was nicknamed "Two Dollar Bill", because he was supplying the school with Joint s for two dollars.http://www.greendayauthority.com/TheBand/billiejoe.php CAREER In 1987, Armstrong formed a band called "Sweet Children" with childhood friend '', '' 1000 Hours '', and '' Slappy '', later combined into the LP '' 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours '', on Lookout! Records . Tré Cool eventually replaced Sobrante when he left Green Day in order to go to college. Tre Cool made his debut on Green Day's second album, '' Kerplunk! ''. With their next album, '' Dookie '', the band broke through into the mainstream, and have remained one of the most popular rock bands of the 1990s and 2000s with over 60 million records sold worldwide.Myers, Ben. " Green Day: American Idiot and the New Punk Explosion " April, 2006. Apart from working with Green Day, and side-band Pinhead Gunpowder , Armstrong has proved himself busy in the music world, collaborating with many artists over the years. He has co-written for The Go-Gos ("Unforgiven"), former Avengers singer Penelope Houston ("The Angel and The Jerk" and "New Day"), co-wrote a song with Rancid ("Radio"), sung backing vocals with Melissa Auf Der Maur on Ryan Adams ' "Do Miss America", where they acted as the backing band for Iggy Pop on his ''Skull Ring'' album ("Private Hell" and "Supermarket"). Armstrong has produced an album for The Riverdales , and is also rumored to be part of a side project, The Network . The Network released an album called '' Money Money 2020 ''. Many long-time Green Day fans who listened to the record remarked that it sounds just like a Green Day album, also ''Money Money 2020'' was released on Adeline Records , a record label co-owned by Armstrong. GUITARS Armstrong's first guitar was indeed a Cherry Red Hohner acoustic which he received from his dad, which he mentions in the book ''Nobody Likes You- Inside the Turbulent Life, Times and Music of Green Day''. Armstrong received his first-- and most famous-- electric guitar, a Fernandes Stratocaster copy that he named "Blue", when he was eleven. Armstrong was shocked when his mother bought the guitar from Armstrong's teacher, because he knew their family were no where near to be able to afford it. He modified the guitar to have a Humbucking pickup in the bridge position. He initially installed a Bill Lawrence pickup but later switched to the Duncan JB model. He toured with this guitar from the band's early days and into their first few major-label tours. "Blue" also appears in several of their music videos starting with " Longview ", and appearing most recently in " Minority ". Armstrong has made several replicas of this guitar and uses them at concerts. He also owns several Gibson SG models which he has removed all of the sound/tone knobs except for one volume. Today Armstrong mainly uses , Jazzmaster , Telecaster , and his Fernandes, "Blue". He states that his favorite guitar is a 1956 Gibson Les Paul Junior he calls "Floyd". He bought this guitar in 2000 just before recording their album '' Warning ''.http://www.gibson.com/bja/interview.htm Armstrong also has his own line of Les Paul Junior guitars from Gibson. PERSONAL LIFE In 1990, Armstrong met his future wife Adrienne Nesser . They later married and now have two children named Joseph Armstrong and Jakob Armstrong. She is also the co owner of Adeline Records, along with Armstrong. Armstrong has stated that he is magazine ''The Advocate'', he was quoted as saying, "I think I've always been bisexual. I mean, it's something that I've always been interested in. I think everybody kind of fantasizes about the same sex. I think people are born bisexual, and it's just that our parents and society kind of veer us off into this feeling of 'Oh, I can't.' They say it's taboo. It's ingrained in our heads that it's bad, when it's not bad at all. It's a very beautiful thing." Armstrong was arrested in January 2003 for a DUI after being pulled over for speeding. After taking a Breathalyzer test, Armstrong received a score of .18, more than twice the state's legal limit of .08.http://www.thesmokinggun.com/mugshots/billiejoemug1.html In April of 2007, Armstrong and wife sent GreenDay.net webmaster photos of their Spring Break working with Habitat For Humanity as well as a diary. http://www.greenday.net/no.html AWARDS
DISCOGRAPHY Green Day
Pinhead Gunpowder
The Network
NOTES EXTERNAL LINKS
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