Benjamin Levi Madden

Benji Madden is a great man, a great guitar player, and a great inspiration to me. To be a hero i think you have to have faith, confidence, and you have to inspire people. A hero has to be someone very important to you and important to your life. All of this applies to my hero, Benjamin Levi Madden.

Benji was born March 11,1979. He has a twin brother named Joel. He grew up in Waldorf, Maryland, where they were born. Benji's family was not so wealthy when he was growing up. Benji called Waldorf "the middle of nowhere suburbs". Benji's father left on Christmas when Benji was only 16 and never came back. Life without dad was hard for the brothers but they had eachother and their mom. Dad leaving made Benji and his brother turn to music. Benji learned how to play the guitar at the age of 16.

The brothers started getting into music. They wanted to start a band. Joel was the lead vocals. Benji was the Bass guitar. They had friends named Billy and Paul and they both knew how to play the guitar. They joined the band. They named their band after a children's book named Good Charlotte. They had a drummer but he was on and off. After school they would go to their room and write songs and play music.

They went to Califoria after graduation (mom bought tickets for them)because they thought they would have more of a opportunity there. After a while they got signed. They started recording there self-titled ablum in May of 2000 and it came out in September. They didn't do very well on their first album but that didn't stop them.

Good Charlotte thought they would put out another album in 2002. Their album was titled the Young and The Hopeless. They had very inspiring songs on this cd. Songs about their dad, being yourself, and about suicide. You can tell that they matured and were going to do great on this cd. They put out there frist single "rich and famous," and this video got alot of air time. Next thing you know cd sales went up and Good Charlotte was known everywhere. They finally got to do what they loved and that was to make music.

So as you can see, I know alot about my hero. He inspires me by telling me things in his music. He helps me get though hard times even though I don't know him and probably never will. Benji's music inspires me to be myself and to follow my dreams, not everyone else's. He also gives me the faith to move on and to realize that life is short so enjoy it well you can. His music is so inspiring to me and these are some of the many reasonw Benjamin Levi Madden is my hero.