Billie Joe Armstrong
by Elena from Richmond
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| Young Billie Joe at one of his first performances. (http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/billie-joe-armstrong/i ()) |
My Hero
Billie Joe Armstrong is my hero. He is not only the leader guitarist for Green Day but also the lead singer. On top of performing for Green Day he is also a guitarist and vocalist for the rock band Foxboro Hot Tubs. Billie Joe started performing at a very young age and has pushed through countless challenges. As you will read, he used all his strength as well as the strength of his friendships to push him through. He never gave up and never stopped trying for a second. Billie Joe has also made an online presences where he reaches out to fans or starts support trends for those who may be struggling in life. His ambition and will to keep going has and will always inspire me.
Early life
Billie Joe was born on February 17, 1972, in Oakland, California, He grew up in Rodeo, CA as the youngest of six children. Billie loved music from the beginning, he even wrote his first song when he was five! Billie Joe's musical infatuation was a trait passed down from his music-loving truck driver dad, who unfortunately passed awasy when Billie was only ten years old. This was a tremendous loss for young Billie, so using the guitar his father gave him he wrote the famous song "Wake Me Up When September Ends". Not too long after his father's tragic death, Billie met his later to be musical partner Mike Dirnt. Both he and Billie were only in high school when they started to get their first gigs playing originally as the Sweet Children. After dropping out of high school to pursue his musical career, Billie and his group landed a huge deal with Lookout! Records. Green Day put out its first EP in 1989.
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| Green Day as a whole. (http://www.greenday.com/stillbreathing?ref=https:/ ()) |
Green Day
By the time the year 1992 came around, the band had formed an unstoppable trio with Dirnt and the new drummer Tre Cool. With the the success of their newly released album Kerplunk the band was able to move to a major record label. Green Daz made the debit on Reprise Records in 1994 with Dookie. Before long, Green Day was winning over millions of fans and their video for "Long view" was heavily played on MTV.
That same year, Green Day played at the Woodstock Festival and in the spirits of old times they even got into a mud fight with the audience. Only a year later, Green Day released yet another album called Insomniac. Also, Billie began working a little on the side performing and recording with Pinhead Gunpowder. In the next two years, Green Day released their album Nimrod. This new album really let the fans in on more of Billie's personal struggles. Such as, his substance abuse and ending of major relationships. Sadly, however, in the year 2000 their album Warning was not such a hit and marked a decline in sales for the band.
In 2004, Billie and his mates returned to the top yet again with American Idiot. He was then picked for a Grammy Award and the album was to be adapted into a play. The play debuted in 2009 and even had a run on Broadway. As well in 2009, Billie explored even more cultural issues through his music with 21st Century Breakdown.
Recent Years
Just as Green Day was about to release their most ambitious protect to date, Billie began to come undone after struggling with alcohol, pills and sleep problems for may years. The group was attempting to release three albums, ¡Uno!, ¡Dos!, ¡Tré! , just within weeks of each other in 2012. That September, Green Day was performing in Las Vegas at a musical festival and Billie had only been performing briefly before having a complete meltdown. Not long after his meltdown, Billie went into rehab. All of the upcoming performing dates to promote the new albums had to be canceled due to Billie's personal problems. The following year, Green Day released a different type of album for the group. Billie and Norah Jones had partnered up to create an album called Foreverly. This was their take on the Everly Brothers' 1958 album Songs Our Daddy Taught Us. In 2015, the group earned the special honor to be inducted into the Rock in Roll Hall of Fame. Billie, as he told the Rolling Stone magazine, was thrilled: "The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has always held something for me because my heroes were in there."
Page created on 6/6/2017 12:00:00 AM
Last edited 6/6/2017 12:00:00 AM
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