List of Linkin Park band members

Linkin Park performing in Berlin in 2010. From left to right: Joe Hahn, Dave Farrell, Brad Delson, Mike Shinoda, Rob Bourdon and Chester Bennington

There are six members in American rock band Linkin Park: Chester Bennington, Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson, Dave "Phoenix" Farrell, Joe Hahn, and Rob Bourdon. Mark Wakefield was a member until he left the band in 1998 making way for Bennington. Apart from the brief departure of bassist Dave "Phoenix" Farrell (who returned just after the release of Hybrid Theory), the band has had no changes in their line-up.

Current

Chester Bennington

Main article: Chester Bennington
Bennington at the Rock Im Park 2014.

Chester Charles Bennington (born March 20, 1976 in Phoenix, Arizona), is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actor. He is best known as the lead vocalist of rock bands Linkin Park and Dead by Sunrise. He was originally the lead vocalist for Sean Dowdell And His Friends? and Grey Daze, and is the current lead vocalist for rock cover band Bucket of Weenies and was also the vocalist for Stone Temple Pilots (2013-2015). Bennington's parents divorced when he was eleven years old and his father gained custody of him. As a result of the divorce, Bennington started abusing marijuana, alcohol, opium, cocaine, methamphetamine,[1][2] and LSD. Bennington eventually overcame his drug addiction, and would go on to denounce drug use in future interviews.[3] During a Linkin Park tour, he started heavily drinking but claimed to have quit in 2011 noting, "I just don't want to be that person anymore".[4] In an interview, Bennington revealed that he suffered sexual abuse from an older male friend when he was seven years old. He was afraid to ask for help because he did not want people to think he was gay or lying and the abuse continued until age thirteen. The abuse and situation at home affected him so much that he felt the urge to kill and run away. To comfort himself, he drew pictures and wrote poetry and songs. Later, he revealed the abuser's identity to his father but Bennington chose not to continue the case after he realized the abuser was a victim himself.[2] At the age of seventeen, he moved in with his mother and was banned from leaving the house when his mother discovered his drug activity. He worked at a Burger King restaurant and used his money for cocaine and crystal meth[5] before starting his career as a professional musician.[1]

Bennington was physically bullied in high school. In an interview, he said, "I was knocked around like a rag doll at school for being skinny and looking different".[6][7]

Rob Bourdon

Bourdon at Rock im Park.

Robert Gregory "Rob" Bourdon (born January 20, 1979 in Calabasas, California), where he attended Agoura High School. He attended the school with members of Hoobastank. He is the youngest member of the band and currently lives in Los Angeles, California. He met Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer, and got inspired to learn how to play the drums.

Starting out around the age of nine, Bourdon joined his first band, a quartet called No Clue in sixth grade. They later changed their name to Physical Evidence and covered bands like Nirvana, Bad Religion, and Suicidal Tendencies. Bourdon took drum lessons for a year, but became tired of reading sheet music because he enjoyed playing the music of his favorite bands by ear instead.

After joining his high school's jazz band in grade ten, Rob was recruited by two members of a band called Karma, after a concert to join their group. Through the Karma band members, he met Brad Delson and Mike Shinoda, who both lived nearby in the San Fernando Valley. Eventually, Rob and Brad would form their own band called Relative Degree, whose sound he likens to 311. Their dream was to perform at a Hollywood club called The Roxy, a goal they eventually attained, and broke up soon afterwards. Soon, he got a call from Mike Shinoda asking him to join his and Brad's band, Xero.[8]

Brad Delson

Main article: Brad Delson
Delson performing with Linkin Park at the Sonisphere Festival, 2009

Bradford Phillip "Brad" Delson (born December 1, 1977 in Agoura, California), is an American musician, best known as the lead guitarist and one of the founding members of the Linkin Park.[9] He is also the A&R Representative for Machine Shop Recordings. Delson attended Agoura High School in Agoura Hills, an affluent suburb of Los Angeles, with childhood friend and Linkin Park band mate Mike Shinoda. He played in various bands throughout his high school career, the most notable being Relative Degree, in which he met and teamed up with drummer Rob Bourdon. Relative Degree's goal was simply to play a show, and, after achieving that goal, they disbanded.

After graduating in 1995, Delson, Shinoda and Bourdon formed Xero, which would eventually become the starting point for Linkin Park. Delson entered UCLA in 1995 as a Regent Scholar working toward a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Studies with a specialization in Business and Administration. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and shared a dorm room with future Linkin Park band mate Dave Farrell for three out of his four years at school.[10] Delson also had the opportunity to intern with a member of the music industry as part of his studies and ended up working for Jeff Blue, an A&R representative at Warner Bros. Records, who offered constructive criticism on Xero's demos, which were from the 4-track sampler tape Xero, which was released in 1996. Blue later introduced Chester Bennington, who would become the lead vocalist of Linkin Park, to the rest of the band.

After graduating summa cum laude from UCLA in 1999, Delson decided to forgo law school in order to pursue a musical career with Linkin Park.[9][11]

Dave Farrell

Farrell at Rock im Park.

David Michael "Phoenix" Farrell (born February 8, 1977 in Plymouth, Massachusetts), is the bassist of Linkin Park. Farrell's mother taught him how to play the guitar at a young age. He transitioned to playing bass guitar in high school, where he was recruited to play in 'the Snax,' a Christian rock and ska band. Farrell attended classes at UCLA, where he was roommates with Brad Delson. He joined Delson in playing in Xero, Linkin Park's earliest incarnation, and contributed to band's sampler tape in 1997. However, Farrell left Xero to tour with the Snax. He rejoined Linkin Park in 2000 and has contributed to every studio album since Reanimation.[12]

Joe Hahn

Main article: Joe Hahn
Joe Hahn in 2011.

Joseph "Joe" Hahn (born March 15, 1977 in Dallas, Texas), also known as Mr. Hahn, is an American turntablist and director. But he is best known as the DJ, turntablist and sampler for Linkin Park. Hahn is the youngest of three children (he has two elder sisters). He grew up in Glendale, California.[13][14] Hahn is a second generation Korean American.[15]

Hahn graduated from Herbert Hoover High School in Glendale in 1995. He then studied at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena but did not graduate.[16] Hahn, along with bandmate Mike Shinoda, is responsible for most of Linkin Park's album artwork.

On February 15, 2005, Hahn married Karen Benedit; the couple divorced in 2009.[17]

On October 21, 2012, Hahn married Heidi Woan, whom he had met about two years prior in 2010.[18]

He has directed many Linkin Park music videos but in addition he has also directed movies, such as The Seed with Ken Mercado, and Mall, which was executive produced by Vincent D'Onofrio.

Mike Shinoda

Main article: Mike Shinoda
Shinoda at Rock im Park 2014.

Michael Kenji "Mike" Shinoda LHD (born February 11, 1977)[19] is an American musician, record producer, and artist. He co-founded Linkin Park in 1996 and is the band's rhythm guitarist, primary songwriter, keyboardist, co-lead vocalist and rapper. Shinoda later created a hip hop-driven side project, Fort Minor, in 2003. He served as a producer for tracks and albums by Lupe Fiasco, Styles of Beyond, and The X-Ecutioners. Shinoda is also the co-founder of Machine Shop Recordings, a California-based record label. Outside of music, Shinoda is an artist and graphic designer. He has painted several pieces of artwork, some of which have been featured in the Japanese American National Museum.

Shinoda was born and raised in the Los Angeles suburb of Agoura Hills.[19] His father is Japanese-American, descendant of the Kumaichiro Shinoda floral company family, and his mother is Caucasian.[20][21] He has a younger brother, Jason. He was raised as a liberal Protestant.[22] Shinoda's mother encouraged him to take classical piano lessons when he was six. By 13, he expressed the desire to move toward playing jazz, blues, and even hip-hop.[23] He later added the guitar and rap-style vocals to his repertoire during his middle school and high school years.

Shinoda attended Agoura High School with Linkin Park bandmates Brad Delson and Rob Bourdon. The three formed the band Xero, and began to make a more serious attempt to pursue a career in the music industry. After graduating high school, Shinoda enrolled in the Art Center College of Design of Pasadena to study graphic design and illustration.[19] He attended classes with DJ and turntablist Joseph Hahn.

Former members

Mark Wakefield

Mark Wakefield is an original member of Xero as the lead singer complementing Shinoda's raps. He is credited as a songwriter on many of Linkin Park's older songs. In the end, he did not enjoy performing on the stage, and eventually left the band. Xero held auditions for a new singer and found current lead Chester Bennington in 1998, changing the name of the band to Hybrid Theory. He is also responsible for the cover art for System of a Down's album, Toxicity.

Before quitting the band, Mark and the rest of Xero are known to have played at least one concert as an opening act for Cypress Hill. The lack of success and stalemate in progress prompted Wakefield, at that time the band’s vocalist, to leave the band in search of other projects. Wakefield is the manager for Taproot. He met Mike Shinoda in high school and joined the band, who were at that point called SuperXero.

In 2008, he eventually again met Shinoda and collaborated for a song named as "Barack Your World", which is a joke song. It was uploaded on YouTube.

Touring and session members

Kyle Christner was the bassist for Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory EP (1999), during Farrell's time out of the band due to commitments with The Snax. He was replaced by Scott Koziol and Ian Hornbeck for Linkin Park's debut album Hybrid Theory.

Ian Hornbeck was a stand-in bass player for Linkin Park's debut album Hybrid Theory (2000). He played bass on "Papercut", "A Place for My Head", and "Forgotten".

Scott Koziol was a temporary bassist for Linkin Park. He played bass for the song "One Step Closer" from Hybrid Theory and appeared in its music video. He did several US tours with the band including stops at The Roxy, The Whiskey, Avalon, Roseland (NY), radio shows, and others. He left when Farrell rejoined Linkin Park in late 2000.

Benjamin Chandler is a fill-in lead guitarist for Linkin Park and guitar tech for Delson. He fills-in for Delson when he is unavailable. Chandler performed for two shows in 2014, and Rock on the Range the following year.

Warren Willis is a fill-in DJ for Linkin Park and tech for Hahn since 2012. He filled-in for Hahn (due to family emergency) in the last 3 shows of their European tour.

References

  1. 1 2 Apar, Corey, Chester Bennington Biography, mtv.com, Retrieved on June 27, 2007.
  2. 1 2 Simpson, Dave (July 7, 2011). "Linkin Park: 'We're famous, but we're not celebrities'". guardian.co.uk. Retrieved November 28, 2012.
  3. ↑ Bradenton Herald, Bradenton: Mo' Money Mo' Problems (August 13, 2004), Linkin Park Association; retrieved on June 27, 2007.
  4. ↑ "Linkin Park's Chester Bennington: 'I was a raging alcoholic'". nme.com. July 14, 2011. Retrieved November 28, 2012.
  5. ↑ Cross, Alan (2012). Linkin Park: the secret history. HarperCollins. p. 8. ISBN 1927002273. Retrieved November 28, 2012.
  6. ↑ Bullied for being skinny – Chester Bennington. Bullyville.com (October 28, 2011). Retrieved on 2013-08-25.
  7. ↑ Fun Bugs: Famous Celebrity bullied. Funbugs.blogspot.com (August 15, 2011). Retrieved on 2013-08-25.
  8. ↑ Apar, Corey (2013-07-16). "Rob Bourdon". AllMusic. Retrieved 2015-12-29.
  9. 1 2 Brad Delson Archived 21 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
  10. ↑ "U. Arizona: INTERVIEW: Linkin Park guitarist discusses highs of rock stardom". Accessmylibrary.com. April 17, 2003. Retrieved 2012-03-03.
  11. ↑ Biography
  12. ↑ Apar, Corey (2013-07-16). "Dave "Phoenix" Farrell". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 2013-07-16. Retrieved 2015-12-29.
  13. ↑ 'Joe Hahn' (2011) Linkin Park American. Accessed 2011-02-18.
  14. ↑ Linkin Park's Joseph Hahn releases The Seed on iTunes. Monsters & Critics. March 27, 2008. Retrieved on March 21, 2010.
  15. ↑ Han Hyun-Woo."A Band's Linkin Korea". Chosun Ilbo. October 23, 2003. Retrieved on March 21, 2010.
  16. ↑ 'Joseph Hahn Pictures' (2011) Fanpix.net. Accessed 2011-02-18.
  17. ↑ 'Karen Benedit' (May 3, 2005) Linkinlady.net. Accessed 2011-02-18.
  18. ↑ Joe's new girlfriend – Heidi Woan
  19. 1 2 3 Apar, Corey. "Mike Shinoda: Biography". AllMusic.
  20. ↑ "Linkin Park's 818th Battalion: Mike's Not Russian". Linkinparks818th.blogspot.com. July 24, 2011. Retrieved December 7, 2011.
  21. ↑ Kimpel, Dan (2006). How they made it: true stories of how music's biggest stars went from start to stardom. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 978-0-634-07642-8. Retrieved September 27, 2010.
  22. ↑ Russ Breimeier Meteora January 1, 2003.
  23. ↑ Scaggs, Austin (March 26, 2003). "The Mellower Half of Linkin Park". The Linkin Park Times.

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