The Band From 1989 to Today
Childhood friends Billie Joe Armstrong (guitar, vocals) and Mike Dirnt (bass), born Mike Pritchard formed their first band, Sweet Children, in Rodeo, California when they were 14 years old. By 1989, the group had added drummer Al Sobrante and changed their name to the presant Green Day. That same year, the band independently released their first EP, 1,000 Hours, which was well-received by the Public. Soon, the group had signed a contract with the local independent label, Lookout! Records. Green Day's first album, named 39/Smooth, was released later that year. Shortly after its release, the band replaced Kiftmeyer with Tre Cool (born Frank Edwin Wright, III.)Tre Cool became the band's permanent drummer. Throughout the early '90s, Green Day continued to cultivate a cult following, which only gained strength with the release of their second album, 1992's Kerplunk. The underground success of Kerplunk led to a wave of interest from major record labels; the band eventually decided to sign with Reprise. Dookie, Green Day's major label debut, was released in the spring of 1994. Thanks to MTV support for the initial single "Longview," Dookie became a major hit. The album continued to gain momentum throughout the summer, with the second single "Basket Case" spending five weeks on the top of the American modern rock charts. At the end of the summer, the band stole the show at Woodstock '94, which helped the sales of Dookie increase. By the time the fourth single "When I Come Around" began its seven-week stay at number one in the modern rock charts in early 1995, Dookie had sold over five million copies in the US alone; it would eventually top eight million in America, selling over eleven million copies internationally. Dookie also won the 1994 Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance.
Green Day quickly followed Dookie with Insomniac in the fall of 1995. During the summer, they hit number one again on the modern rock charts with "J.A.R.," their contribution to the Angus soundtrack. Insomniac performed well initially, entering the US charts at number two, and selling over two million copies by the spring of 1996, yet none of its singles -- including the radio favorite "Brain Stew/Jaded" -- were as popular as those from Dookie. In the spring of 1996, Green Day abruptly cancelled a European tour, claiming exhaustion. Following the cancellation, the band spent the rest of the year resting and writing new material. The end result is what is called by many, the best album of their career, Nimrod. Nimrod was well recieved by most critics and fans. The album sold 80,000 copies in it's first week to land at #10 on the Billboard charts. The first single from Nimrod was "Hitchin' A Ride". The single made it to #5 on the modern rock charts and was in heavy rotation on MuchMusic and MTV. The next single the band released would not make it to number one (it's highest position was #2), but it is now probably the most well known song Green Day ever wrote. Featuring Billie Joe on accoustic guitar and vocals, "Time Of Your Life" became THE song to play in any remotely sad situation. The song was even used on the last ever episode of the hit TV show Seinfeld (it was also the most watched finale in the history of TV). Along with Seinfeld, the song was also played on E.R on two different shows and the Howard Stern show. Nimrod has sold about two million copies, the lowest sales total out of their three major label albums, but it probably gave the band more respect than they could have expected with another Dookie or Insomniac. The band also vastly improved their live show to pick up the "Best Live Performance" at the Kerrang awards.


Billie Joe
Born on February 17, 1972 the youngest of six children. His Dad was a jazz drummer / truck driver who died of cancer when Billie was 10 years old. His mother was a waitress at Rod's Hickory Pit.
When he was five, Billie would sing at hospitals to cheer patients up. He also recorded the song "Looking For Love". The first album BJ bought was Elvis Presley's "The Sun Sessions". Soon after a couple friends got him hooked on punk bands like DOA, TSOL, and the Dead Kennedys. The first song Billie ever wrote was "Why Do You Want Him" when he was 12 years old, which was released on the 39/Smooth Album.
He has played / produced / wrote with several other bands but most notably, Pinhead Gunpowder, with whom he has recorded a couple E.P.'s and records. In July 1994 he married his girlfriend Adrienne Nesser. The ceremony only lasted 5 minutes and both he and Adrienne drank beer before hand to calm their nerves. The day after the wedding Adrienne discovered she was pregnant with Billie's baby. Nine months later, in March 1995, Joseph Marcicano Armstrong was born. The couple has since had another child, Jakob Danger Armstrong. Billie is also the co-owner of the record label Adeline Records. Adeline is home to the Criminals, One Man Army, AFI, and most notebly, BJ's other band, Pinhead Gunpowder.

Mike Dirnt
Mike Dirnt, formerly Micheal Pritchard, lived in poverty, born to a heroin-addicted mother and a white father. When Dirnt was seven, his adoptive parents divorced, and Dirnt bounced between the two until finally settling in with his adoptive mom and older sister. That, too, was short lived, and soon Dirnt struck out on his own, working, among a handful of jobs, at Rod's Hickery Pit where Billie Joe's mom was a waitress. Dirnt rented a room on the side of Billie Joe's house at one point. Mike married his girlfriend Anastasia in August of 1996, they now have a daughter named Estelle-Desiree born in April 1997. Mike was born on May 4, 1972. The pressures of being in Green Day have become to much for Mike and Anasasia's marriage to withstand and they are now seperated. Mike says he is still very good friends with her and calls his daughter his "hero".

Tre Cool
Tre Cool, born Frank Edwin Wright III, grew up in the Mendocino mountains, where his father, a Vietnam vet, raised Tre and his two siblings. Tre's dad built many of the houses in that area, including that of Lawrance Livermore, Tre's nearest neighbor and the founder of Green Day's original label, Lookout! Records. At the age of 12, Tre joined Livermore's pop-punk band, the Lookouts, recorded an album, and began gigging regularily at Berkeley's punk club. When John Kiffmeyer, the drummer on Green Day's debut 39/Smooth, left the band for college, Tre, with Livermore's blessing, hopped aboard. Tre married his girlfriend Lisea Lyons in March of 1995, they have a daughter together named Ramona. They have since seperated but are apparently still on good terms. In March, 2000, Tre married again, this time to his girlfriend Claudia