Tom DeLonge

Tom DeLonge (Thomas Matthew DeLonge) was born on December 13, 1975, in Poway, California. He got his first guitar in sixth grade and was introduced to punk through bands such as Stiff Little Fingers and the Descendents. He has said his nasal vocal style began as an attempt to sound like Descendents singer Milo Aukerman.

In 1992 he co-founded Blink-182 with bassist Mark Hoppus and drummer Scott Raynor. After the debut album Cheshire Cat (1995), Travis Barker replaced Raynor in 1998, and Enema of the State (1999) sold over 15 million copies worldwide. Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (2001) debuted at number one. In 2002 he made the post-hardcore side project Box Car Racer with Barker, and tensions led Blink-182 to break up in 2005.

He then formed Angels & Airwaves, releasing We Don't Need to Whisper (2006) and I-Empire (2007), among later albums. He rejoined Blink-182 in 2009 and the band made Neighborhoods (2011) and Dogs Eating Dogs (2012). He left again in 2015 over contractual disputes, and returned in October 2022; the band released One More Time... in October 2023.

Outside music he co-founded Atticus Clothing and Macbeth Footwear, and founded Modlife. He wrote the Poet Anderson and Sekret Machines books and directed the film Monsters of California (2023). In 2015 he founded To The Stars, later To The Stars Academy of Arts & Sciences, which made the History Channel series Unidentified (2019); a 2018 SEC filing showed accumulated losses above $37 million.