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Template:Infobox musical artist 2 Thomas Matthew DeLonge, Jr. (born December 13 1975), is an American musician, best known as one of the founding members of, and guitarist/singer in, bands blink-182 and Angels and Airwaves. He lives with his wife Jennifer, daughter Ava Elizabeth (born July 15, 2002), son Jonas Rocket (born on August 16, 2006 [1]) in Rancho Santa Fe, California. Tom DeLonge was raised by his mother and father in California. He has an older brother, Shon, and a younger sister, Kari. In 1990, on Tom's fifteenth birthday, he received his very first guitar from a friend who had found it lying in a dumpster. Tom was expelled from Poway High School during senior year after being caught drunk at a school basketball game. As Tom went to Rancho Bernardo High School, he met Anne Hoppus, Mark Hoppus's sister, which led to him meeting Mark Hoppus which led to the beginning of blink-182. When he returned to Poway High School during his senior year, the students voted him Prom King at his senior prom.
Instruments
Tom has used a range of guitars throughout his career but has been well known for his Custom Fender Stratocaster with a Seymour Duncan Invader Humbucking pickup which he used for the majority of blink-182 songs. Lately he is using a Custom Gibson Es-335 complete a Gibson Dirty Fingers Humbucking pickup. Both guitars only have the one volume knob. He is now using his signature Gibson ES-335 Ava style which is white with a black stripe and can be found with the variation of black with a black stripe
Political activities and views
During 2004, Tom played an active part in the campaign to elect John Kerry as President of the United States. He was involved in many rallies and spoke to different groups asking them to support John Kerry's election bid. In some cases, Tom and also fellow members of blink-182 aligned themselves with Punk Voter and had various political links on their websites.
On May 10, 2004, DeLonge told Rolling Stone and said if President George W. Bush won the election, he would move to Canada (echoing similar comments by many other celebrities). Bush won the election but Delonge remained in America.
In 2006, DeLonge implied the United States government was partially responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks. DeLonge interviewed James H. Fetzer of Scholars for 9/11 Truth during a stint as guest DJ on San Diego, California, radio station 91X. During the interview, DeLonge said "The [World Trade Center] came down in a fashion similar to a controlled demolition ... and the expertise that is needed to fly those gigantic planes into that exact ___location could never have been achieved by someone who just learned how to fly a small plane." [1]
He actively supports breast cancer research, and has sponsored events like "Keep A Breast" with his company Macbeth Shoes.
Discography
blink-182
- blink-182 — Flyswatter (1992), vocals and guitar
- blink-182 — Buddha (1994), vocals and guitar
- blink-182 — Cheshire Cat (1994), vocals and guitar
- blink-182 — Dude Ranch (1997), vocals and guitar
- blink-182 — Enema of the State (1999), vocals and guitar
- blink-182 — The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show: The Enema Strikes Back (2000), vocals and guitar
- blink-182 — Take off Your Pants and Jacket (2001), vocals and guitar
- blink-182 — (Blink-182) (2003), vocals and guitar
- blink-182 — Greatest Hits (2005), vocals and guitar
Box Car Racer
- Box Car Racer — Box Car Racer (2002) vocals, guitar, and bass
Angels and Airwaves
- Angels and Airwaves — We Don't Need to Whisper (2006), vocals, and guitar.
External links
- ^ Boddie, Neil. "BLINK 9/11. Former blink-182 singer questions Bush's honesty about the World Trade Center Attacks" Blender July 2006: 28., prisonplanet.com [2]