Age, Biography, and Wiki
Josh Freese was born in Orlando, Florida, into a musical family. His father, Stan Freese, was a notable tuba player and music director for Disney. Freese began his professional drumming career at the age of 12 with a Top 40 band at Disneyland. He is now 52 years old and has established himself as one of the most sought-after session drummers in the industry.
| Occupation | Songwriter |
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| Date of Birth | 25 December 1972 |
| Age | 52 Years |
| Birth Place | Orlando, Florida, U.S. |
| Horoscope | Capricorn |
| Country | U.S |
Height, Weight & Measurements
There is no publicly available detailed information regarding Josh Freese's height, weight, or body measurements.
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Dating & Relationship Status
Josh Freese keeps his personal life private, and there is no publicly available information about his current dating or relationship status.
At the time of his birth, Freese's father, Stan Freese, was working at the newly-opened Walt Disney World Resort as the director of bands and leader of the Walt Disney World Marching Band. His mother, Patricia (née Weatherhead, later Bridenstine), is a classical pianist and a writer.
In 1974, Freese's father was transferred to Disneyland Park in Southern California to lead the Disneyland Band. Freese and his younger brother Jason spent summers at the park while their father worked. Freese said that some of his earliest memories are of he and his brother marching with the Disneyland Band holding toy instruments.
Freese began playing the drums when he was eight years old. His father set up a Yamaha drum set he had received through a promotional deal. After playing around on that drum set for two years, Freese's father took him to the 1983 NAMM Show, an annual music industry trade show at the Anaheim Convention Center. There he attracted the attention of the crowd by playing on a vendor's sample drum set.
By 1985, Freese's father had transitioned out of his bandleader role and into talent booking at Disneyland. That summer, Freese's father hired Polo, a Top 40 cover band composed of teenagers around Freese's age, which had just won the Junior Star Search competition on television. Freese became friends with the band's drummer, Jimmy Keegan, and was invited to sit in on a few songs during their sets at the Tomorrowland Terrace stage. The guest spots went so well that Freese was invited to join the band as an additional drummer. Freese played with Polo at Disneyland and other venues from 1985 to 1988.
In 1988, Freese met and befriended Ahmet Zappa, son of musician Frank Zappa, at a shoot for the TV movie 14 Going on 30. Zappa got Freese together with Zappa's brother Dweezil and the two began playing together casually. Dweezil then asked Freese to record with him, and Freese dropped out of high school to pursue recording full-time (Freese eventually received his GED years later). Not being old enough to drive, Freese's father drove him to the recording session in Los Angeles before Freese began staying with the Zappas during the week and going home to Orange County on the weekends. Freese's first recorded collaboration with Dweezil was the 1991 album Confessions.
Freese served as Nine Inch Nails' touring drummer from 2005 to 2008 and performed on the group's 2007 album Year Zero and 2008 album The Slip. He left Nine Inch Nails at the end of 2008 in order to spend more time with his family and long-time girlfriend, who was pregnant with the couple's third child at the time. "With [Nine Inch Nails frontman] Trent [Reznor], I left on good terms because I was like, 'Listen, man, I don't have anything else lined up, I'm not leaving because this band over here offered me more money," Freese said. "I need to just go home and be a dad for a while, I need to be home for my family.' And he was like, 'Yeah, man, that's a totally noble, understandable reason.'"
Freese married his wife Nicole on October 11, 2009, having been together since 1999. Freese lives in Southern California with Nicole and their four children—Hunter, August, Olive, and Lu Lu. He is the older brother of musician Jason Freese, a touring keyboardist and session player for Green Day who has also performed with the Goo Goo Dolls, Dr. Dre, Jewel, Lenny Kravitz, Liz Phair, Foxboro Hot Tubs, Joe Walsh, and Weezer.
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| Husband | Nicole Freese (m. October 11, 2009) |
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Net Worth and Salary
As of 2025, Josh Freese's net worth is estimated to be around $4 million. His earnings primarily come from his extensive work as a session musician and his roles in various bands.
Career, Business, and Investments
Josh Freese's career spans multiple genres, including punk, rock, pop, and alternative. He has been a member of The Vandals since 1989 and has also played with Devo, A Perfect Circle, Nine Inch Nails, and Foo Fighters. His versatility has made him a go-to drummer for many bands seeking technical precision and musical intuition.
In addition to his band affiliations, Freese has worked on numerous studio projects, highlighting his adaptability and skill. He briefly joined Foo Fighters in 2023 following the death of Taylor Hawkins but announced his departure in May 2025.
A prolific session and touring drummer, Freese has appeared on over 400 albums since 1986 and performed live with artists including Nine Inch Nails, Weezer, Sublime with Rome, Sting, 311, 100 gecs, the Offspring and Danny Elfman. His considerable workload has earned him "the pristine reputation as one of the most in-demand session drummers in the business," according to Variety, while Freese jokingly dubbed himself "the blue collar freelance drummer to the stars."
Freese's first job was at Disneyland as a shoe shine boy during the summer of 1985. Freese and his brother would shine the shoes of park employees and worked for tips.
Throughout his career, Freese has performed as a session drummer on hundreds of recordings for dozens of artists, joking that his client list of popular musicians made him "the blue collar freelance drummer to the stars."
Freese's career as a session drummer has featured multiple enduring collaborations. He played on the Offspring's 2003 album Splinter after the departure of Ron Welty, played on several of the band's subsequent releases, and served as their touring drummer from 2021 to 2023 after they fired Pete Parada for refusing to get a COVID-19 vaccination.
Social Network
Josh Freese is active on Instagram, where he engages with his fans and shares updates about his music projects. He has a significant following, with over 293,000 followers.
Freese left Guns N' Roses in 1999 to join A Perfect Circle alongside Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan and the band's founder Billy Howerdel. Freese said he chose to make the switch "because it seemed like a more tangible thing that was really going to happen. These guys aren't spending a million in the studio. They seem like they want to start a regular band. They want to write and record a record and go on tour six weeks from now. It all seemed very realistic."
A Perfect Circle's first album, 2000's Mer de Noms, was the highest charting debut for a rock group at number four on the Billboard 200 in its first week of sales. "I think it's a great record, and I feel proud of it," Freese said, retrospectively, in 2020. "I always feel okay patting myself on the back for certain projects because there's tons of projects I played on that I don't like."
Freese appeared as one of several guest drummers for the Foo Fighters during a pair of concerts held in tribute to the band's former drummer Taylor Hawkins, who died on March 25, 2022, in London and Los Angeles in September 2022. In May 2023, the Foo Fighters introduced Freese as their full-time drummer during a streaming event titled "Preparing Music For Concerts". On May 12, 2025, Freese was fired from the band which he announced on social media on May 16, 2025.
Education
There is no detailed information available about Josh Freese's formal education. However, his early exposure to music through his family and his professional start at a young age have significantly contributed to his musical career.
