Benji and Joel Madden

born: March 11th, 1979 hometown: Waldorf, Maryland full names: Benjamin Levi Madden / Joel Rueben Madden Benji and Joel's original last name was Combs, but in honor of their mother and because of their bad relationship with their father, they legally changed their last name to Madden (their mother's maiden name). Identical twins Benji(guitarist/singer) and Joel(lead singer) Madden were born March 11th, 1979. The two grew up with their mother, father, older brother Josh, and younger sister Sarah. The twins (who are Christian) grew up in a strict house hold. Their brother had introduced them to rock music, but in the beginning, their mother was very strict about 'punk' music and had restricted her children to Christian music. Once, after finding a poster of a punk band on their bedroom wall, Benji and Joel's mom quicky tore it down. But that didn't stop them... At the age of 16, their father walked out on Christmas eve, leaving the family deep in financial problems and homeless for a while. The family struggled with money and housing for quite a while. Their anger against their father inspired and encouraged the twins to start writing songs and making music. Benji learned guitar, and Joel went into vocals. After graduating from highschool, their mother presented two plane tickets to California to them as gifts. The two then set off to pursue their goals. Pretty soon, the twins were getting recognized and got friends Paul Thomas(bassist) and Billy Martin(guitarist) to join in. Once the band was complete, the foursome took the name 'Good Charlotte' from a children's book. Soon after, Good Charlotte was signed and they recorded the epic and last year recorded their second cd; the young and the hopeless. They have written songs about suicide('hold on'), being yourself and not giving a shit about what others say('the anthem'), relationships('boys and girls', 'my bloody valentine', and 'say anything'), and even one about Benji's dog (cashdogg) "wondering". They've created these songs with so much talent while adding a little humor into them and their music videos.