Tom DeLonge Biography

Thomas Matthew DeLonge Jr., better known as Tom DeLonge, was born on December 13, 1975, in Poway, California, US, to Connie and Thomas DeLonge. While his mother was a mortgage broker, his father worked for an oil company.

DeLonge is of Irish, German, and French descent. He grew up with his elder brother, Shon, and his younger sister, Kari.

While he initially attended the Poway High School, he was later expelled from the school for appearing in a school basketball game drunk. He then joined the Rancho Bernardo High School for a semester.

Surprisingly, DeLonge initially wished to be a fireman. While he got his first musical instrument, a trumpet, as a Christmas gift at age 11, he was 15 when he got his first guitar as a birthday present.

He first gained interest in punk rock as a kid at a camp. In his early teens, he tried creating a band named Big Oily Men, but that was not too successful.

While in school, he also spent a lot of time skateboarding, an activity he had started in the 3rd grade. DeLonge's parents divorced when he was 18. Soon after this, his mother lost her job. After finishing high school, he worked odd jobs, such as at Gary's Chicken and Ribs and at a construction site.

In his late teens, DeLonge started a band with bassist Mark Hoppus and drummer Scott Raynor, with himself as the guitarist and vocalist. They officially formed Blink-182 in 1992.

In 1993, they released a demo named Flyswatter. The following year, they released another demo named Buddha. Later in 1994, they signed with Cargo Records.

DeLonge and his band released their debut album, Cheshire Cat, in 1995. This was followed by an eventful touring stint with the band. On Blink-182's first tour, however, DeLonge was arrested for underage drinking.

In 1996, the group signed with the label MCA. The following year, the band made their major label debut with the album Dude Ranch. This was followed by the success of their track Dammit and their performance on the Warped Tour.

In 1998, Raynor quit the band and was replaced by Aquabats drummer Travis Barker. In 1999, the band released their album Enema of the State, which catapulted them to international fame. The album had the hits What’s My Age Again? and All the Small Things.

For the next few years, the band ruled the pop-punk scene, especially with their 2001 album, Take Off Your Pants & Jacket. In 2002, DeLonge launched the side project Box Car Racer with Barker, leaving out Hoppus. The project later released an album, too, but also started a conflict within Blink-182.

In-spite of this, in 2003, the entire group released the eponymous album Blink-182. The band, however, broke up in 2005, as DeLonge wished to spend more time with his family, and the other members, too, had other professional plans.

In 2006, DeLonge launched the band Angels & Airwaves. The band released their debut album, We Don’t Need to Whisper, the same year. In 2007, they released I-Empire.

The following year, Blink-182 re-united, after Barker almost lost his life in a plane crash. DeLonge toured with the group in 2009, while the band released their come-back album, Neighborhoods, in 2011. DeLonge also released the multi-part Angels & Airwaves album Love Album during this time.

Blink-182 subsequently left their former label Interscope in 2012 and went independent. The same year, they released the EP Dogs Eating Dogs.

DeLonge then recorded the Angels & Airwaves album The Dream Walker, which was released in 2014. However, in 2015, Blink-182 split once again.

DeLonge apparently left the band and was replaced by Alkaline Trio's Matt Skiba. In January 2015, the remaining members of the band declared that DeLonge had left the band abruptly. DeLonge later stated in an open letter that since his relationship with the other band members had soured, he found it difficult to commit.

In April 2015, DeLonge released his debut solo album, To the Stars... Demos, Odds and Ends. In October 2022, Blink-182 declared DeLonge would be returning to the group and will be releasing another album with them. The band released their new single, Edging, shortly.

In 2017, just 2 years after DeLonge left Blink-182, he started gaining interest in outer space and UFOs. The same year, he co-established the company To the Stars Academy of Arts & Sciences. The company was, back then, run by a 12-member team, that included many former government employees. Its prime aim is to explore incidents related to UFOs through a blend of entertainment and science.

He has invested in the holding group Really Likable People (RLP) and co-established the apparel site Loserkids.com. DeLonge owns his signature line of Fender Stratocater and semi-hollow Epiphone guitars.

In 2001, DeLonge and Hoppus, along with close friend Dylan Anderson, launched the clothing brand Atticus Clothing (which was later sold off). In 2002, DeLonge established the rock-and-roll-inspired shoe brand Macbeth Footwear.

In 2007, he founded the tech and design firm Modlife. The company has handled the official sites and fan clubs of various artists, such as Kanye West and Pearl Jam.

In 2011, DeLonge started the website Strange Times, which focused on topics such as paranormal activity, extra-terrestrial life, and conspiracy theories. He has also directed the Taking Back Sunday music video This Photograph is Proof (I Know You Know), co-directed the 2014 animated short film Poet Anderson: The Dream Walker, and appeared in and produced the History Channel mini-series Unidentified: Inside America’s U.F.O. Investigation.

He has also penned books, such as the 2013 children’s book The Lonely Astronaut on Christmas Eve. His subsequent books include the 2015 novel Poet Anderson ...of Nightmares and a comic book series.

In 1996, DeLonge began dating Jennifer “Jen” Jenkins, whom he had known since high school. The couple married on May 26, 2001, in Coronado, California.

They had their daughter Ava Elizabeth, on July 15, 2002, and their son Jonas Rocket, on August 16, 2006. They divorced in 2019. In May 2021, DeLonge married Rita Marie.

DeLong is fond of piercings and has had them on both his ears, his eyebrow, his nose, and his lips. His lip ring became his signature style. He removed it after the birth of his daughter. DeLonge also often paints the nails on his left hand.

He has struggled with addiction to narcotic painkillers back in the mid-2000s. He had taken to drugs after suffering a slipped disc. During this time, DeLonge had made quite a few caustic remarks regarding his music and had faced backlash. Since 2008, he has been sober.