David Eric "Dave" Grohl is an American rock musician, multi-instrumentalist, and singer-songwriter, who is the lead vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter and founder of the Foo Fighters, prior to ... Wikipedia
- Born
- January 14, 1969 (age 48), Warren
- Spouse
- Jordyn Blum (m. 2003), Jennifer Youngblood (m. 1993-1997)
- Music groups
- Foo Fighters, Nirvana, Scream, Killing Joke, Melvana
'''David Eric "Dave" Grohl''' (born January 14, 1969) is an American rock musician, multi-instrumentalist, and singer-songwriter, who is the lead vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter and founder of the Foo Fightershttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foo_Fighters, prior to which he was the drummer in the grunge band Nirvana.
He is also the drummer and co-founder of the rock supergroup Them Crooked Vultures. Grohl has additionally written all the music and performed all the instruments for his short-lived side projects Late! and Probot, as well as being involved with Queens of the Stone Age numerous times throughout the past decade. He has performed session work (as a drummer) for a variety of musicians, including
- Garbage,
- Killing Joke,
- Nine Inch Nails,
- The Prodigy,
- Slash,
- Juliette Lewis,
- Tenacious D,
- Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and
- Lemmy.
Early life
As a child, Grohl's family relocated from Warren, Ohio, to Springfield, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C. Three years later, when Grohl was six, his parents divorced, and Grohl grew up living with his mother.
At the age of twelve, Grohl began learning to play guitar. He quickly grew tired of lessons and instead taught himself, and began playing in bands with friends. A year later, Grohl and his sister spent the summer in Evanston, Illinois, at their cousin Tracy's house. Tracy introduced them to punk rock by taking the pair to shows by a variety of punk bands. His first concert was in 1982 to see Naked Raygun at The Cubby Bear in Chicago when he was 13 years old. "From then on we were totally punk," Grohl explained. "We went home and bought Maximumrocknroll and tried to figure it all out." In Virginia, Grohl attended Thomas Jefferson High School as a freshman and sophomore. He was elected vice president of his freshman class and played bits of songs by bands like the Circle Jerks and Bad Brains over the school intercom before his morning announcements. During his junior year, Grohl and his mother decided that he should transfer to Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria because his marijuana usage was affecting his grades.
While in high school, Grohl played in several local bands, including a stint on guitar in a band called Freak Baby. While playing in Freak Baby, he taught himself to play drums. When Freak Baby kicked out its bass player, Grohl decided to switch to drums, and the new band called themselves Mission Impossible. During his developing years as a drummer, Grohl cited John Bonham as his greatest influence, and eventually had Bonham's three-circle logo tattooed on his wrist. Mission Impossible later rebranded themselves Fast before breaking up, after which Grohl joined the post-punk-influenced hardcore punk band Dain Bramage. Many of Grohl's early influences were gained at the 9:30 club, a live music venue in Washington D.C.:
"I went to the 9:30 club hundreds of times. I was always so excited to get there, and I was always bummed when it closed. I spent my teenage years at the club and saw some shows that changed my life."