Dave Grohl

Grohl married photographer Jennifer Leigh Youngblood in 1994. The couple separated in late 1996 and finalized their divorce in 1997. In August 2003, Grohl married Jordyn Blum after meeting her at the Sunset Marquis Whiskey Bar in West Hollywood. Together, Grohl and Blum have three daughters: Violet, Harper, and Ophelia. In September 2024, Grohl announced that he had fathered a daughter outside of his marriage.

Decades of live performances without in-ear monitors have contributed to significant hearing loss and tinnitus in Grohl's left ear. He has discussed relying on lip-reading in noisy environments to compensate, a practice he maintained for roughly two decades before public health mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the severity of his hearing impairment. Despite the strain, he has continued to perform without internal monitors to preserve the room atmosphere of live shows.

Born in Warren, Ohio, Grohl relocated with his family to Springfield, Virginia, during his early childhood. Following his parents' divorce when he was seven, he was raised by his mother, Virginia Hanlon Grohl, a teacher. His older sister, Lisa, exposed him to rock and punk bands, and a visit to relatives in Illinois at age 13 led him to his first punk rock concert, sparking a lifelong devotion to the genre.

Grohl began teaching himself guitar at age 12 before moving over to drums, practicing along to records by Rush and Led Zeppelin. While attending high school in Northern Virginia, he played in several local underground bands, including Freak Baby, Mission Impossible, and Dain Bramage. In 1986, at age 17, he auditioned for the Washington, D.C. hardcore punk band Scream, falsely claiming to be 20 to secure the gig. He dropped out of high school during his junior year to tour with Scream, recording the studio albums No More Censorship and Fumble with the group before they disbanded mid-tour in 1990.

Following the disbandment of Scream, Buzz Osborne of the Melvins put Grohl in touch with Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic, who invited him to Seattle to audition for Nirvana. Grohl officially joined in late 1990 and made his first major-label studio appearance on the band's landmark 1991 album Nevermind. His powerful drumming style became an integral element of the group's signature sound during the height of the 1990s alternative rock explosion.

During his time in Nirvana, Grohl continued to write music independently. Reluctant to disrupt Nirvana's internal chemistry, he released a solo cassette titled Pocketwatch in 1992 under the pseudonym Late!. As his songwriting matured, the band began incorporating his work: Grohl earned a cowriting credit for the main riff on "Scentless Apprentice" from In Utero (1993), and his song "Marigold" was issued as the B-side to the single "Heart-Shaped Box." Nirvana came to an abrupt end following Cobain's death in April 1994.

In October 1994, Grohl booked session time at Robert Lang Studios in Seattle to record a 15-track collection of songs he had written over previous years, performing virtually every vocal and instrumental part himself. Rather than launching a solo career, he issued the recordings under the name Foo Fighters in July 1995 and recruited touring members, including bassist Nate Mendel, guitarist Pat Smear, and drummer William Goldsmith.

When recording the band's 1997 follow-up, The Colour and the Shape, Grohl took over drum duties during re-recording sessions in Los Angeles, leading to Goldsmith's exit and the recruitment of Taylor Hawkins. The album generated rock radio staples such as "Everlong," "My Hero," and "Monkey Wrench." Over subsequent decades, Foo Fighters evolved into one of the world's premier arena and stadium rock acts, releasing chart-topping albums including There Is Nothing Left to Lose (1999), One by One (2002), Wasting Light (2011), and But Here We Are (2023).

Alongside Foo Fighters, Grohl has maintained an extensive roster of collaborations. In 2002, he performed drums on the Queens of the Stone Age album Songs for the Deaf and joined them on tour. Between late 2002 and early 2003, he accomplished the rare feat of occupying the number one spot on the Billboard Modern Rock chart for 17 out of 18 consecutive weeks across three different outfits: Nirvana, Foo Fighters, and Queens of the Stone Age.

In 2004, Grohl released Probot, a heavy metal side project featuring vocal contributions from notable figures such as Lemmy Kilmister and King Diamond. In 2009, he formed the rock supergroup Them Crooked Vultures alongside Josh Homme and Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones, releasing a self-titled album later that year. He has also contributed drums, guitar, and vocals to recordings by Nine Inch Nails, Tenacious D, Killing Joke, David Bowie, and Paul McCartney.

Grohl moved into filmmaking after directing several of Foo Fighters' music videos. In 2013, he made his feature directorial debut with Sound City, a documentary celebrating the history and analog soundboard of the famed Van Nuys studio where Nevermind had been recorded. He followed this in 2014 with the eight-part HBO documentary miniseries Sonic Highways, which chronicled the musical heritage of eight American cities.

In 2021, Grohl directed the documentary What Drives Us, focusing on the realities of van touring for emerging musicians, and published his best-selling memoir, The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music. In 2022, he starred alongside his Foo Fighters bandmates in the comedy horror film Studio 666, writing and recording an accompanying extreme metal EP under the fictional moniker Dream Widow.