Pete Wentz
Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz III (born June 5, 1979)[7] is an American musician who is the bassist and lyricist for the rock band Fall Out Boy. Before the band's formation in 2001, Wentz was a fixture of the Chicago hardcore scene and was the lead singer and songwriter for Arma Angelus, a metalcore band.[8] During Fall Out Boy's hiatus from 2009 to 2012, Wentz formed the experimental, electropop and dubstep group Black Cards. He owns a record label, DCD2 Records, which has signed bands including Panic! at the Disco and Gym Class Heroes.
Pete Wentz
- Musician
- singer
- songwriter
- record executive
1993–present[1]
Meagan Camper
(2011–present)
3
- Bass
- vocals
Fall Out Boy returned from hiatus in February 2013, and have since released four albums; Save Rock and Roll, American Beauty/American Psycho, Mania, and So Much (for) Stardust.[9]
Wentz has also ventured into other non-musical projects, including writing, acting, and fashion; in 2005 he founded a clothing company called Clandestine Industries.[10] He hosted season 1 & 2 of the TV show Best Ink and runs a film production company called Bartskull Films and owned a bar called Angels & Kings in Chicago. His philanthropic activities include collaborations with Invisible Children, Inc. and UNICEF's Tap Project, a fundraising project that helps bring clean drinking water to people worldwide,[11] People magazine states that "no bassist has upstaged a frontman as well as Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy."[12] He is also a minority owner of the Phoenix Rising FC, a USL Championship team.[13]
Early life[edit]
Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz III was born in Wilmette, Illinois, an affluent suburb of Chicago.[7] His parents are Dale Wentz (née Lewis), a high school admissions counselor, and Pete Wentz II, an attorney.[14][15][16] Wentz is of English and German descent on his father's side and Afro-Jamaican descent on his mother's side.[17] He has a younger sister, Hillary, and a younger brother, Andrew. His maternal grandfather, Arthur Winston Lewis, served as the U.S. Ambassador to Sierra Leone; Arthur Winston Lewis' cousin was General Colin Powell.[18][19][20][21]
Wentz' parents met in the 1970s while campaigning for Joe Biden's senatorial run.[1][22] Wentz recalled in a Rolling Stone interview that his earliest musical memory was listening to The Foundations' song "Build Me Up Buttercup" in the back of his father's car.[23] Wentz attended North Shore Country Day School, where he was an all-state soccer player.[22][24] He considered pursuing a professional career in the sport, but decided that music was a more fulfilling choice; he says that he "always had a magical connection to the ball. But it didn't feel like an adventure. Music was more of a challenge and, in the end, felt more interesting."[25]
During his first year of high school, he began skipping school regularly and smoking marijuana with friends, but later quit as it was affecting his grades at school. After graduating from high school in 1997, he attended DePaul University, where he studied political science, dropping out one quarter shy of graduation to focus on Fall Out Boy.[26]
Music career[edit]
Arma Angelus and other early projects (1993–2002)[edit]
Wentz was primarily involved in the Chicago hardcore punk scene and was in several bands in the late 1990s. He formed his first band, First Born, in 1993.[1] By the mid-1990s, he became an infrequent bass player for Racetraitor.[27]
Wentz formed the metalcore band Novena (later renamed to Arma Angelus) soon after, along with Adam Bishop of XshroudX and Extinction; Daniel Binaei of Racetraitor; and Timothy Miller. The band cycled through six bassists before recruiting Tim McIlrath, who had recently departed from Baxter. They released their debut EP the Grave End of the Shovel in 2000. Around this time, Binaei's partial relocation to California led to the hiring of Jay Jancetic of Extinction. McIlrath then departed from the band in 2000, in order to focus on Transistor Revolt and the Killing Tree, leading to the band's recruitment of, XshroudX and Restraint member, Christopher Gutierrez. In 2001, the released their debut album Where Sleeplessness Is Rest From Nightmares. In support of the album they toured with Throwdown and Hatebreed, and performed at Hellfest. These tours also saw the recruitment of bassist Joe Trohman, after Gutierrez's departure, however Trohman's severe stage fright led to the band bringing him back mid-tour, and residing Trohman to selling merchandise.[27]
Around this time, Wentz also played in Birthright, Extinction and Yellow Road Priest. He and Arma Angelus' bassist Joe Trohman founded the pop-punk band Fall Out Boy after Trohman introduced Wentz to a musical acquaintance, Patrick Stump. Andy Hurley agreed to drum part-time, but only joined the band full-time later. In 2002, Arma Angelus, played its last show.[28]