Who is Billie Joe Armstrong?

Grammy-winning ‘Green Day‘ singer Billie Joe Armstrong, during a concert in London, announced that he is “renouncing” his American citizenship following the US Supreme Court’s ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade.

“I’m renouncing my citizenship. I’m coming here,” the 50-year-old said onstage. 

“There’s just too much stupid in the world to go back to that miserable excuse for a country. Oh, I’m not kidding. You’re going to get a lot of me in the coming days,” he added. 

Also read: Why Roe v Wade is more than abortion

Who is Billie Joe Armstrong?

Born in Piedmont, California, Billie Joe Armstrong was the youngest of six children of Ollie (Jackson) and Andrew Marsicano Armstrong, who was a jazz musician. His father died of esophageal cancer in 1982. 

The singer went to Hillchest Elementary School in Rodeo and gained an interest in music. One of the school teachers got him to record a song titled “Look for Love” on the Bay Area label Fiat Records. He was 5 at the time. 

At 10, Armstrong met Mike Dirnt in his school’s cafeteria and they started bonding over their mutual love of music.

Armstrong then attended John Swett High School and later Pinole Valley High School, but dropped out to pursue his career in music.

Also read: Roe v. Wade overturned: State-wise list where abortion is illegal

At the age of 15, Armstrong formed a band called Sweet Children with Mike Pritchard, who was his childhood friend. With Sean Hughes on bass and John Kiffmeyer on drums, Pritchard and Armstrong played guitar at the beginning. Hughes, however, left the band following a few performances.

The band then changed its name to Green Day in April 1989 and in the same year, they released their debut EP 1,000 Hours through Lookout Records. They released their debut studio album 39/Smooth the following year.

Frank Edwin Wright III eventually joined the band as a drummer in late 1990. Green Day remained one of the most popular rock bands of the 1990s and 2000s with more than 60 million records sold worldwide.

Over the year, Armstong collaborated with several other musicians. He has co-written a song with Rancid (“Radio”), and sung backing vocals on Ryan Adams’ “Do Miss America”.