Billy Armstrong

His great-great-grandparents Pietro Marsicano and Teresa Nigro were Italian immigrants from Viggiano, who settled in Boston prior to relocating to Berkeley, California, in 1869.

Armstrong attended Hillcrest 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.

After his father died, his mother married a man whom her children disliked, which resulted in Armstrong's further retreat into music.

At the age of 10, he met future bandmate 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 the genre by his brothers.

He has cited Van Halen, Ramones, The Replacements, and Hüsker Dü as musical influences.

Billie Joe Armstrong (born February 17, 1972) is an American musician who is the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of the rock band Green Day, which he co-founded with Mike Dirnt in 1987.

He is also a guitarist and vocalist for the punk rock band Pinhead Gunpowder, and provides lead vocals for Green Day's side projects Foxboro Hot Tubs, the Network, the Longshot and the Coverups.

Armstrong has been considered by critics as one of the greatest punk rock guitarists of all time.

Armstrong developed an interest in music at a young age, and recorded his first song at the age of five.

He met 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 14 years old.

The band later changed its name to Green Day.

Armstrong has also pursued musical projects including numerous collaborations with other musicians.

Armstrong was born in Oakland, California, on February 17, 1972, the youngest of six children of Ollie Jackson (born 1932) and Andrew Marsicano Armstrong (1928–1982).

He was raised in Rodeo, California.

His father, a jazz musician and truck driver for Safeway, died of esophageal cancer on September 10, 1982, when Armstrong was 10 years old.

The song "Wake Me Up When September Ends" is a memorial to his father.

Armstrong has five siblings, including three older sisters, Marci, Hollie, and Anna, and two older brothers, David and Alan.

The first concert he ever attended was Van Halen in 1984.

After Hillcrest Elementary, Armstrong attended Carquinez Middle School and John Swett High School, both in Crockett, California, and later transferred to Pinole Valley High School in Pinole, California.

His mother worked as a waitress at Rod's Hickory Pit in El Cerrito, California, where he and Mike Dirnt later played their first gig in 1987.

In 1987, aged 15, Armstrong formed a band called Sweet Children with his childhood friend Mike Dirnt.

In the beginning, Armstrong and Dirnt both played guitar, with Raj Punjabi on drums and Sean Hughes on bass.

Punjabi was later replaced on drums by John Kiffmeyer, also known as Al Sobrante.

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.

In 1989, Green Day 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.

In 1990, Armstrong provided lead guitar and backing vocals on three songs for The Lookouts' final EP IV, which featured Tré Cool on drums.

Tré became Green Day's drummer in late 1990 after Sobrante left in order to go to college.

Cool made his debut on Green Day's second album, Kerplunk (1991).

In 1991, Armstrong joined the band Pinhead Gunpowder, consisting of bassist Bill Schneider, drummer Aaron Cometbus, and fellow vocalist/guitarist Sarah Kirsch.

The group has released several extended plays and albums from 1991 to the present, and performs live shows on an intermittent basis.

Kirsch left the group in 1992, and was replaced by Jason White.

In 1993, Armstrong played live several times with California punk band Rancid.

Armstrong's business ventures include founding Adeline Records to help support other bands in 1997, coinciding with the release of Nimrod.

Adeline signed acts such as the Frustrators, AFI, and Dillinger Four.

Armstrong also co-founded Oakland Coffee Works in 2015.

The record company shut down two decades later in August 2017.

On his 18th birthday, he dropped out to pursue a musical career.