Celebrity Stalkers

Billie Joe Armstrong

Full Name: Billie Joe Armstrong

Date of Birth; Place of Birth: February 17, 1972 (age 40); Piedmont, California, United States

Raised In: Rodeo, California

Height: 5'7"

Eye Color: Green

Hair Color: Black

Zodiac Sign: Aquarius

Band(s): Green Day; Pinhead Gunpowder; Foxboro Hot tubs; and The Network

Instruments Played: Vocals, Guitar, Piano, Drums, Percussion, Saxophone, Harmonioca, Mandolin, Bass Guitar, and Violin

Wife: Adrienne Armstrong

Child(ren): 2 Sons,  Joseph Marciano Armstrong, Jakob Danger Armstrong

Sibling(s): 3 Sisters and 2 Brothers,  Marci Armstrong, Alan Armstrong, Hollie Armstrong, David Armstrong, Anna Armstrong

Armstrong developed an interest in music at a young age, and recorded his first song at the age of five. He met Mike Dirnt while attending elementary school, and the two instantly bonded over their mutual interest in music, forming the band Sweet Children when the two were 15 years old. The band changed its name to Green Day, and would later achieve massive commercial success. Armstrong has also pursued musical projects outside of Green Day's work, including numerous collaborations with other musicians as well as serving as the primary vocalist for the bands Pinhead Gunpowder, Foxboro Hot Tubs and The Network.

Billie was the youngest of six children to Andrew "Andy" Armstrong and Ollie Jackson. His father worked as a jazz musician and truck driver for Safeway Inc. to support his family. He died of esophageal cancer on September 10, 1982. The song "Wake Me Up When September Ends" is a memorial to his father. His mother worked at Rod's Hickory Pit restaurant in El Cerrito. Armstrong and Mike Dirnt's first live performance was at Rod's Hickory Pit in 1987; their first performance under the name Green Day was in Davis, a college town approximately an hour's drive northeast of the San Francisco Bay area.  After his father died, his mother married a man whom her children disliked, which resulted in Armstrong's further retreat into music.

He attended Hillchest Elementary School in Rodeo, where a teacher encouraged him to record a song titled "Look for Love" at the age of five on the Bay Area label Fiat Records.  At the age of 10, Armstrong met Mike Dirnt in the school cafeteria and they immediately bonded over their love of music. He became interested in punk rock after being introduced to punk rock by his brothers. Armstrong has also cited Minneapolis-based bands The Replacements and Hüsker Dü as major musical influences. Armstrong attended John Swett High School, also in Crockett, and later Pinole Valley High School in Pinole, California, but then dropped out to pursue his musical career.

In 1987, aged 15, Armstrong formed a band called Sweet Children with his childhood friend Mike Dirnt. In the beginning, Dirnt and Armstrong both played guitar, with John Kiffmeyer, also known as Al Sobrante, on drums, and Sean Hughes on bass. After a few performances, Hughes left the band in 1988; Dirnt then began playing bass and they became a three-piece band. They changed their name to Green Day in April 1989, choosing the name because of their fondness for marijuana. That same year, they released their debut EP 1,000 Hours through Lookout! Records. They recorded their debut studio album 39/Smooth and the extended play Slappy in 1990, which were later combined with 1,000 Hours into the compilation 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours in 1991. Tré Cool eventually became Green Day's drummer in late 1990 when Sobrante left Green Day in order to go to college. California punk band Rancid's lead singer Tim Armstrong asked Armstrong to join his band, but he refused owing to the progress with Green Day. Cool made his debut on Green Day's second album, Kerplunk. With their next album, Dookie (1994), 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. In 2009, their hit American Idiot became a musical on Broadway.