Age, Biography, and Wiki
Dave Grohl was born on January 14, 1969, in Warren, Ohio. His early life was marked by a passion for music, which eventually led him to join various bands in Washington, D.C. before becoming the drummer for Nirvana in 1990. After Nirvana disbanded following Kurt Cobain's death in 1994, Grohl founded the Foo Fighters, which has become one of the most successful rock bands globally. For more detailed information, one can refer to his Wikipedia page.
| Occupation | Autobiographer |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 14 January 1969 |
| Age | 56 Years |
| Birth Place | Warren, Ohio, U.S. |
| Horoscope | Capricorn |
| Country | U.S |
Height, Weight & Measurements
Dave Grohl stands at approximately 5 feet 10 inches (178 cm) tall. While specific details about his weight and other measurements are not thoroughly documented, his physical presence is well-known for his energetic stage performances.
Grohl said he did not take formal drum lessons; instead, he taught himself how to play the drums by listening to Rush and punk rock. Rush drummer Neil Peart was an early influence: "When I got 2112 when I was eight years old, it fucking changed the direction of my life. I heard the drums. It made me want to become a drummer." During his developing years as a drummer, Grohl cited John Bonham as his greatest influence, and eventually had Bonham's three-rings symbol tattooed on his right shoulder. Mission Impossible rebranded themselves Fast before breaking up, after which Grohl joined the hardcore punk band Dain Bramage in December 1985. In March 1987, Dain Bramage ended when Grohl quit without warning to join Scream, having produced the I Scream Not Coming Down LP. Many of Grohl's early influences were at the 9:30 Club, a music venue in Washington, D.C. In April 2010, he said, "I went to the 9:30 Club hundreds of times. I was always so excited to get there, and I was always bummed when it closed. I spent my teenage years at the club and saw some shows that changed my life."
Grohl worked closely with indie hip-hop band RDGLDGRN on their EP. While Grohl was filming his Sound City documentary, the group asked the fellow native of Northern Virginia to drum on "I Love Lamp". Grohl wound up drumming for the entire record, with the exception of "Million Fans", which features a sampled breakbeat.
Despite growing up with a firearm, Grohl is an advocate for gun control. In a 2008 interview, Grohl said he had never used cocaine, heroin, or speed, and that he had stopped smoking cannabis and taking LSD at the age of 20. He contributed to a 2009 anti-drug video for the BBC. He has described himself as a coffee addict who drinks an average of six cups of coffee every morning; in 2009, he was admitted to a hospital with chest pains caused by a caffeine overdose.
| Height | 5 feet 10 inches |
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Dating & Relationship Status
Grohl has been married twice: first to Jennifer Youngblood from 1994 to 1997, and then to Jordyn Blum in 2003. He and Jordyn have three daughters together: Violet, Harper, and Ophelia. Grohl is known for his close relationships with his family and bandmates, particularly the late Taylor Hawkins, with whom he shared a deep bond as drummer for the Foo Fighters.
He is of German, Slovak (on his father's side), Irish, and English (on his mother's side) descent. His father, James, was a journalist and the special assistant to U.S. Senator Robert Taft Jr. James was described as "a talented political observer who possessed the ability to call every major election with uncanny accuracy". When he was a child, Grohl's family moved to Springfield, Virginia. When he was seven, his parents divorced, and he was subsequently raised by his mother. At the age of 12, he began learning to play guitar. He grew tired of lessons and instead taught himself, eventually playing in bands with friends. He said, "I was going in the direction of faster, louder, darker while my sister, Lisa, three years older, was getting seriously into new wave territory. We'd meet in the middle sometimes with Bowie and Siouxsie and the Banshees."
At 13, Grohl and his sister spent the summer at their cousin Tracey's house in Evanston, Illinois. Tracey introduced them to punk rock by taking the pair to shows by a variety of punk bands. His first concert was Naked Raygun at The Cubby Bear in Chicago in 1982. Grohl recalled, "From then on we were totally punk. We went home and bought Maximumrocknroll and tried to figure it all out." In Virginia, he attended Thomas Jefferson High School as a freshman, and was elected class vice president. In that capacity, he managed to play pieces of songs by punk bands like Circle Jerks and Bad Brains over the school intercom before his morning announcements. His mother decided he should transfer to Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria because his cannabis use was lowering his grades. He stayed there for two years, beginning with a repeat of his first year. After his second year, he transferred yet again to Annandale High School. While in high school, he played in several local bands, including a stint as guitarist in a band called Freak Baby, and taught himself to play drums. When Freak Baby fired its bass player and reshuffled its lineup, Grohl switched to drums. The reconstituted band renamed itself Mission Impossible.
After his demo received interest from major labels, Grohl was signed by Gary Gersh, Nirvana's A&R rep-turned-president of Capitol Records. Grohl did not want the effort to be considered the start of a solo career, so he recruited other band members: former Germs and touring Nirvana guitarist Pat Smear and two members of the recently disbanded Sunny Day Real Estate: William Goldsmith (drums) and Nate Mendel (bass). He and Novoselic decided against Novoselic joining; Grohl said it would have felt "really natural" for them to work together again, but would have been uncomfortable for the other band members and placed more pressure on Grohl. Grohl's demo was remixed by Rob Schnapf and Tom Rothrock and released in July 1995 as Foo Fighters' self-titled debut album. During a break between tours, the band entered the studio and recorded a cover of Gary Numan's "Down in the Park". In February 1996, Grohl and his then-wife Jennifer Youngblood made a brief cameo appearance on The X-Files third-season episode "Pusher".
In 2000, the band recruited Queen guitarist Brian May to add some guitar flourish to a cover of Pink Floyd's "Have a Cigar", a song which Foo Fighters previously recorded as a B-side. The friendship between the two bands resulted in Grohl and Taylor Hawkins being asked to induct Queen into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001. Grohl and Hawkins joined May and Queen drummer Roger Taylor to perform "Tie Your Mother Down", with Grohl standing in on vocals for Freddie Mercury. May later contributed guitar work for the song "Tired of You" on the ensuing Foo Fighters album, as well as on an unreleased Foo Fighters song called "Knucklehead".
On September 15, 2017, Foo Fighters released their ninth studio album Concrete and Gold, which became the band's second album to debut at number one on the Billboard 200. After the Concrete and Gold Tour, Grohl announced that the band would be taking a break. The tenth Foo Fighters studio album, Medicine at Midnight, was released on February 5, 2021, following delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It debuted at number three on the Billboard 200. The Medicine at Midnight tour was canceled following the death of Hawkins on March 25, 2022. The eleventh Foo Fighters studio album But Here We Are was released on June 2, 2023. The album is dedicated to Hawkins and Grohl's mother, Virginia, both of whom died in 2022.
Grohl lent his drumming skills to other artists during the early 2000s. In 2000, he played drums and sang on a track, "Goodbye Lament", for Tony Iommi's album Iommi. In 2001, Grohl performed on Tenacious D's debut album, and appeared in the video for lead single "Tribute" as a demon. He later appeared in the duo's 2006 movie Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny as the devil in the song "Beelzeboss", and performed on its soundtrack. He also performed drums for their 2012 album Rize of the Fenix. In 2002, Grohl helped Chan Marshall of Cat Power on the album You Are Free and played with Queens of the Stone Age on their album Songs for the Deaf. Grohl also toured with the band in support of the album, delaying work on the Foo Fighters' album One by One. In 2004, Grohl drummed on six tracks for Nine Inch Nails' 2005 album With Teeth and played percussion on one more, later returning to play drums on 'The Idea of You' from their 2016 EP Not the Actual Events. He also drummed on the song "Bad Boyfriend" on Garbage's 2005 album Bleed Like Me. Most recently, he recorded all the drums on Juliette and the Licks's 2006 album Four on the Floor and the song "For Us" from Pete Yorn's 2006 album Nightcrawler. Beyond drumming, Grohl contributed guitar to a cover of Neil Young's "I've Been Waiting For You" on David Bowie's 2002 album Heathen.
In 1994, Grohl married Jennifer Leigh Youngblood, a photographer from Grosse Pointe, Michigan. They separated in December 1996 and divorced in 1997; Grohl admitted to infidelity. After divorcing Youngblood, Grohl dated snowboarder Tina Basich for a couple of years. Basich ended the relationship after discovering his infidelity. From 1999 to 2001, Grohl dated former Hole bassist Melissa Auf der Maur. In 2003, he married Jordyn Blum; they had met at the Sunset Marquis Whiskey Bar in West Hollywood, California. They reside in Los Angeles and have three daughters, born in 2006, 2009, and 2014. In September 2024, Grohl announced on Instagram that he had fathered a fourth daughter, this time outside his marriage, and asked his family for forgiveness. In March 2025, it was reported that Blum was willing to forgive Grohl and they were working on saving their marriage.
| Parents | |
| Husband | Jennifer Leigh Youngblood (m. 1994-1997) Jordyn Blum (m. 2003) |
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Net Worth and Salary
As of 2025, Dave Grohl's net worth is estimated to be approximately $330 million. This wealth is predominantly derived from album sales, live performances, merchandise, royalties from his work with the Foo Fighters, and various other musical collaborations, including his time with Nirvana and projects like Queens of the Stone Age and Them Crooked Vultures.
In June 2008, Grohl was Paul McCartney's special guest for a concert at the Anfield football stadium in Liverpool, in one of the central events of the English city's year as European Capital of Culture. Grohl joined McCartney's band singing backup vocals and playing guitar on "Band on the Run" and drums on "Back in the U.S.S.R." and "I Saw Her Standing There". Grohl also performed with McCartney at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards, again playing drums on "I Saw Her Standing There". Grohl also helped pay tribute to McCartney at the 2010 Kennedy Center Honors along with No Doubt, Norah Jones, Steven Tyler, James Taylor, and Mavis Staples. He sang a duet version of "Maybe I'm Amazed" with Norah Jones on December 5, 2010.
Career, Business, and Investments
Grohl's career in music has been instrumental in his financial success:
- Nirvana: As the drummer, he contributed to the band's global success, selling over 75 million records worldwide.
- Foo Fighters: Founded by Grohl in 1994, the band has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide and has been one of the highest-grossing touring acts for over two decades.
- Collaborations: In addition to his work with Nirvana and Foo Fighters, Grohl has collaborated with other notable bands such as Queens of the Stone Age and Them Crooked Vultures.
- Real Estate: Grohl owns several properties, including an 8,000-square-foot home in Encino, California, which he purchased for $2.2 million and is now valued at around $9 million.
Grohl is also the drummer and co-founder of the rock supergroup Them Crooked Vultures, and has recorded and toured with Queens of the Stone Age and Tenacious D. He has organized side projects Late!, which released the album Pocketwatch, and Probot. Grohl began directing Foo Fighters music videos in 1997. He released his debut documentary, Sound City, in 2013, then the 2014 documentary miniseries Sonic Highways and the 2021 documentary film What Drives Us. In 2021, Grohl released an autobiography, The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music. In 2022, he and the Foo Fighters starred as themselves in the comedy horror film Studio 666.
Social Network
Dave Grohl is actively engaged on social media platforms, often using them to connect with fans and share updates about his music and personal life. However, his personal profiles are not publicly accessible, and he mostly uses official band accounts for communication.
While playing in Scream, Grohl became a fan of the Melvins and eventually befriended them. During a 1990 tour stop on the West Coast, the Melvins guitarist Buzz Osborne took his friends Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic, members of Nirvana, to see a Scream performance. In October 2010, Grohl told Q, "I remember being in the same room with them and thinking, 'What? That's Nirvana? Are you kidding?' Because on their record cover they looked like psycho lumberjacks... I was like, 'What, that little dude and that big motherfucker? You're kidding me.'" Following the breakup of Scream, Grohl called Osborne for advice. Osborne informed him that Nirvana was seeking a drummer, and gave Grohl the phone numbers of Cobain and Novoselic, who invited Grohl to Seattle to audition. Grohl soon joined.
After touring for the self-titled album for more than a year, Grohl returned home and began work on the soundtrack to the 1997 movie Touch. Grohl performed all of the instruments and vocals himself, save for vocals from Veruca Salt singer Louise Post on the title track, keyboards by Barrett Jones (who also co-produced the record) on one track, and vocals and guitar by X's John Doe on "This Loving Thing (Lynn's Song)". Grohl completed the recording in two weeks, and immediately joined Foo Fighters to work on their follow-up.
During the initial sessions for Foo Fighters' second album, tension emerged between Grohl and drummer Goldsmith. Goldsmith said, "Dave had me do 96 takes of one song, and I had to do 13 hours' worth of takes on another one...It just seemed that everything I did wasn't good enough for him, or anyone else". Goldsmith also believed that Capitol and producer Gil Norton wanted Grohl to drum on the album. With the album seemingly complete, Grohl headed home to Virginia with a copy of the rough mixes and found himself unhappy with the results. He wrote and recorded a few new songs, "Walking After You" and the hit single "Everlong", alone at a studio in Washington, D.C. Inspired by the session, Grohl opted to move the band, without Goldsmith's knowledge, to Los Angeles to re-record most of the album with Grohl on drums. After the sessions were complete, Goldsmith announced his departure from the band, and was replaced by Former Alanis Morissette drummer Taylor Hawkins. Grohl later expressed regret, and said, "There were a lot of reasons it didn't work out, but there was also a part of me that was like, you know, I don't know if I'm finished playing the drums yet".
On November 3, 2009, Foo Fighters released their first Greatest Hits collection, consisting of 16 tracks including a previously unreleased acoustic version of "Everlong" and two new tracks "Wheels" and "Word Forward" which were produced by Nevermind's producer Butch Vig. Grohl said he felt the Greatest Hits was too early and "can look like an obituary". He did not feel they had written their best hits yet.
In 2012, following the departure of Joey Castillo from Queens of the Stone Age, Grohl performed on some tracks as drummer on their 2013 album ...Like Clockwork.
Between August and November 2020, Grohl participated in an online drum battle with ten-year-old drummer Nandi Bushell, who had released cover versions of Nirvana and Foo Fighters songs on her YouTube channel, then challenged the elder drummer to a contest. After going back and forth with Bushell a few times, Grohl jokingly conceded victory to her, and wrote and performed a song in her honor. Grohl invited Bushell to perform with the Foo Fighters on stage during their August 26, 2021, show at the L.A. Forum, where she played drums on "Everlong", the show's finale. The videos of the drum battle received tens of millions of views.
Grohl appeared in the 50th anniversary season of Sesame Street in February 2019. On January 28, it was announced that the first authorized Dave Grohl documentary will be released via The Coda Collection. On October 8, Grohl was the guest storyteller on CBeebies Bedtime Story, reading a story based on the Beatles song "Octopus's Garden".
Grohl supported Barack Obama's 2012 presidential campaign and performed "My Hero" at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. Foo Fighters supported Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign and played at the "Celebrating America" concert during Biden's inauguration in 2021. In 2018, he said that Donald Trump "seems like a massive jerk". After Trump used the band's song "My Hero" at a rally without their permission, a Foo Fighters spokesperson announced that the band would donate any royalties from the usage to the Kamala Harris 2024 presidential campaign.
In August 2009, Grohl was given the key to the city of Warren, Ohio, his birthplace, and performed the songs "Everlong", "Times Like These", and "My Hero". A roadway in downtown Warren named "David Grohl Alley" has been dedicated to him with murals by local artists.
In 2012, Grohl's hometown of Warren unveiled oversized 409 kg drumsticks, listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest drumsticks in the world. They were also displayed on July 7, 2012, at a concert at the Warren Amphitheater. Grohl's first solo Rolling Stone cover story was published on December 4, 2014. In 2016, Grohl was ranked 27th on the list of the best drummers of all time by Rolling Stone. Grohl received the George and Ira Gershwin Award in 2024.
Education
Grohl attended the Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in Lexington, Kentucky. He dropped out of high school at the age of 17 to pursue a career in music, which eventually led him to join several bands in Washington, D.C.
As a teenager in Washington, D.C., Grohl briefly contemplated joining Gwar, a shock rock band that was seeking a drummer. At age 17, he auditioned for the local band Scream after the departure of the drummer, Kent Stax. Grohl lied about his age, claiming he was older. To his surprise, the band asked him to join, so he dropped out of high school in his junior year. He said: "I was 17 and extremely anxious to see the world, so I did it."
