Peter Lewis Kingston "Pete" Wentz
III (born June 5, 1979) is an American musician, lyricist and
Music video director, most
famous for his work with the Chicago
-based band
Fall Out Boy. In recent years,
he has hosted the
MTV program
FNMTV.
Early life
Wentz was
born Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz III, in Wilmette,
Illinois
, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois
. He
is the son of Dale Wentz, a high school admissions counselor, and
Pete Wentz II, a lawyer.
He attended New Trier High School
and North
Shore Country Day School, where he was an all-state soccer player. During his freshman year of
high school, he began skipping school regularly and a school
counselor convinced his parents to send him to
boot camp to straighten him out.
During this time, Wentz began writing songs as a way to vent out
his frustrations.
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 more on music.
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 dad's car.
Career
Beginnings
Wentz was primarily involved in the Chicago
hardcore punk scene and was in several bands
in the late 1990s. These included First Born, Extinction,
Arma Angelus (alongside
Tim McIlrath, frontman of
Rise Against), Yellow Road Priest, and
Racetraitor. He and Arma Angelus' bassist
Joe Trohman founded the
pop-punk band
Fall Out
Boy after Trohman introduced Pete to a musical acquaintance,
Patrick Stump.
Andy Hurley agreed to drum part-time, but only
joined the band full-time later. In 2004, Arma Angelus, the band in
which Wentz was the vocalist/screamer, played its last show.
In 2002, Fall Out Boy released an EP called
Fall Out Boy/Project Rocket
Split EP. Soon after, in 2003, the band released
Fall
Out Boy's Evening Out with Your Girlfriend on Uprising
Records. This album would later be digitally remastered and
reissued after the band's second, more successful full-album
release
Take This To Your
Grave, on the independent label
Fueled by Ramen Records.Later in 2003, Wentz
and the rest of his
band signed with
Island Records and in 2004 released
an
acoustic EP and DVD entitled,
My
Heart Will Always Be the B-Side to My Tongue through the
new label.
Commercial success
Pete Wentz on December 10, 2006.
After Fall Out Boy released the My Heart
EP, they released their third album,
From Under the Cork Tree, in
2005.
Wentz
wrote the lyrics to the first single, "Sugar, We're Goin Down" with his dad
in Chicago; the song
peaked at #8 on the Billboard Hot
100). February 6,
2007, was the release date for Fall Out Boy's fourth
full-length album,
Infinity On
High.
Other projects
Wentz has written a book entitled
The Boy With the Thorn In His
Side, a story based on nightmares he had as a child. The title
is a reference to
a track on The
Smiths' album
The Queen Is
Dead. It was reported that he was to publish another book
entitled "Rainy Day Kids", but he recently confirmed via his
Twitter account that this book will never
come to fruition. In addition, Wentz is currently co-writing
another book with
William
Beckett of
The Academy
Is....
Wentz's company, Clandestine Industries, distributes books,
clothing, and other merchandise. On August 2, 2007, fashion company
DKNY joined a partnership with Clandestine
Industries. Wentz himself has served as a model on the
DKNY/Clandestine promo website.
Wentz's clothing line is now exclusively
available in the Bp. department at Nordstrom
.
Additionally, he is borrowing an imprint of
Fueled by Ramen,
Decaydance Records, which has signed
other bands, including: And other models at
Buzznet,
Gym Class
Heroes,
Cobra Starship,
October Fall,
Lifetime, and
The
Cab. Wentz's tattoo on his pelvis, the Bartskull, is the logo
for
Decaydance Records,
Clandestine Industries, and
Bartskull
Films.
Wentz also has a film production company called
Bartskull Films, which put out the DVD
Release the Bats, starring Wentz, his fellow bandmates,
and several of his personal friends. The sequel is currently in the
works.
In April 2007, Pete came out with his own signature
Squier Precision
Bass. It has a black body with a red shell pickguard and
special graphics that include Wentz’s own red design on the body,
plus a black bat/diamond fingerboard inlay at the 12th fret. It
also features Wentz’s signature on the back of the headstock.
Wentz
opened a nightclub in New
York
with his bandmates as well as members of Gym Class Heroes, The Academy Is..., and Cobra Starship; the bands' managers are also
involved in the enterprise. Called
Angels & Kings, the club occupies the
former space on 11th Street near Avenue A that housed the Orchid
Lounge. Notable guests, including
Tommy
Hilfiger, arrived for the grand opening on April 20,
2007.
Wentz was in a multi-episode arc of the show
One Tree Hill, appearing second at
Tric (the local all-ages club in Tree Hill) with the entire band.
The band first appeared in an episode "An Attempt to Tip the
Scales", where they played their single "Dance, Dance" and went on
to appear on Peyton and Ellie's (also One Tree Hill's album)
tribute album, "Friends with Benefit" to support cancer awareness.
Pete made his first solo cameo in the episode "When It Isn't Like
It Should Be" as the romantic interest of Peyton Sawyer, a senior
at Tree Hill who had booked the band to play at Tric. The band
continued to influence the One Tree Hill musical soundtrack, but
the show no longer had a role for Wentz except in name and
reference only.
On February 6, 2008, it was reported that Wentz was the leading
candidate for writer
Diablo Cody's
follow-up film to
Juno,
Jennifer's Body. The movie is said
to be about an
emo-band, with Wentz playing the
role of the
frontman of the band. The other
two candidates are said to be
Joel
Madden of
Good Charlotte and One
Tree Hill's
Chad Michael Murray.
The role ended up being given to
Adam
Brody.
On February 24, 2008, Wentz appeared in comedian
Jimmy Kimmel's video "I'm Fucking
Ben Affleck" as a chorus member (along with many
other celebrities). The video was in response to one made by
Kimmel's then girlfriend,
Sarah
Silverman, "I'm Fucking
Matt
Damon".
He celebrated the opening of his bar, Angels & Kings, in
Chicago in April 2007.
On
December 13, 2008, Wentz, along with Travis
McCoy of Gym Class Heroes,
opened an art gallery in Los Angeles, CA
called "Without You, I'm Just Me." The
gallery closed on December 24, 2008.
Wentz appeared in the season 5 episode of
CSI:
NY, "Point Of No Return", and is due to appear in the next
episode of season 9 of
CSI: Crime Scene
Investigation. Wentz also hosted the Australia MTV VMAs on
March 27, 2009.
In June 2009, it was announced Wentz is working on a five-issue
comic book mini-series called
Fall Out Toy Works, to be published
by
Image Comics. The idea was conceived
by Wentz and designer
Darren
Romanelli. The plot is loosely based on the Fall Out Boy song
"
Tiffany Blews" and focuses on "a
mysterious toymaker, a cyborg gal named Tiffany and a kid in a bear
suit that looks lifted from the cover of Fall Out Boy's
Folie á
Deux". It is to be written by writer
Brett Lewis, art from
Sam
Basri and the first issue will be released on September 2,
2009.
Personal life
Wentz has
bipolar disorder. In
February 2005, Wentz attempted
suicide by
taking an
overdose of the
anxiety medication
Ativan, and
as a result, spent a week in the hospital. Commenting on the event
to a magazine, he said:
The suicide attempt was soon put into song form, "7 Minutes in Heaven (Atavan Halen)" and was released on their album, From Under The Cork Tree. After this event, Wentz moved back in with his parents.
Wentz later spoke of his suicide attempt to the support site
Halfofus.com and cites
Jeff Buckley's
version of the
Leonard Cohen classic
"Hallelujah" as a
song that saved his life.
In March 2006, nude photos of Wentz were posted on the Internet to
the
LiveJournal celebrity gossip
community
Oh No They Didn't. The
LiveJournal poster reported that she received the photos
third-hand, and that Wentz originally sent the pictures to a woman
with whom he allegedly had romantic interests. After the pictures
spread across the Internet, Wentz posted a response on Fall Out
Boy's website and
blog asserting that the
pictures were stolen from his
T-Mobile
Sidekick, and that after "feeling badly about this for about 24
hours, I am now ready to get back to laughing." The video for the
single "
This Ain't
a Scene, It's an Arms Race" contains a scene that references
the incident.
In a
Rolling Stone photo
shoot, Wentz and
Ashlee Simpson took
a picture together for the opening of Wentz's bar, Angels &
Kings, and were labeled as a couple. Eventually the two began to
acknowledge the relationship. On April 9, 2008, Simpson confirmed
on an episode of
TRL that she and Wentz were
engaged. On April 14, 2008, rumors surfaced that the couple was
expecting a baby but soon after these rumors appeared, Pete emailed
MTV News to say that these rumors resulted from a "witch hunt" and
that Simpson was not pregnant. Wentz married Simpson in Encino, CA
on May 17, 2008 at Simpson's parents' residence, where Joe Simpson
officiated at the ceremony.
On May 28, 2008, Wentz and Simpson announced on
Fall Out Boy's official website that they were
expecting their first child. "While many have speculated about
this, we wanted to wait until the press was gone to have our first
child. This is truly the most joyous time in our lives and we are
excited to share the happy news and start our family." On November
20, 2008, Simpson gave birth to their son, Bronx Mowgli Wentz.
Wentz stated on his personal blog that the couple has made the
decision not to sell pictures of Bronx to any magazines yet.
Sexuality
In a
Blender interview in March 2007, Wentz stated that he
has kissed other men and that "anybody above the waist is totally
fair game." In the May 2007 issue of
The Advocate, Wentz opened up about his
sexuality, stating that he is sexually attracted to males but
hasn't had sexual relations with other men because "I'm not a fan
of penises."
Later in July 2008, Wentz appeared on the front cover of
Out
Magazine with the headline, "Yeah, I am a fag." Wentz reasoned
that "It’s all because I know I’m going to get a reaction."
References
- Norris, John (June 5, 2006). MTV News Raw: Fall Out Boy. MTV.com.
Accessed 2006-07-18.
- Loftus, Johnny. "Biography: Fall Out Boy". All Music
Guide. Accessed April 14, 2006.
- Billboard Hot 100 Charts.
Billboard.com. 15 March 2006.
- Product page. Amazon.com. Accessed April 12, 2001987.
- The Music Edge. Accessed April 12, 2009.
- "Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz Partners With Fashion Giant
DKNY." About Top40.
- Clandestine Industries for DKNY Jeans.
DKNYJeans Promo.com.
- The Squier Pete Wentz Precision Bass Guitar.
Squire Guitars. Accessed on 2007-06-21.
- Rolling Stone staff (May 2, 2007). "Pete Wentz Opens NYC Dive Bar."
Rolling Stone Magazine. Accessed
2007-06-21.
- "Pete Wentz, Joel Madden for Juno Follow Up."
Rocksound.tv.
- People
- Fall
Out Toy Works official site
- Nancy Schimelpfening. "Pete Wentz Admits He Has
Bipolar Disorder" About.com; August 7, 2007
- Video of Wentz at halfofus.com
- James Montgomery. "Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz
Comments On ... You Know, Those Photos" VH1; March 9, 2006. VH1. Accessed May 6, 2006.
- Natalie Finn. " Ashlee and Pete Fall into
Engagement" E! Online; April
9, 2008
- Breaking News From Pete And Ashlee
- Pete Wentz front cover of Out Out.com. 2008.
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