Deryck Whibley

Early life

He lived with his mother, Michelle, who moved from one place to another during his childhood. Finally they stayed in Ajax, Ontario, Canada, where he spent his adolescence.

Sum 41

In 1999, the band signed an international record deal with Island Records. The band released their debut album, "Half Hour of Power" in 2000, then All Killer No Filler in 2001. The band achieved mainstream success with their first single from the album, "Fat Lip", which reached number-one on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and remains the band's most successful single to date. All Killer No Filler was certified platinum in the United States, Canada and in the UK. The band has since released four more studio albums: Does This Look Infected? (2002), Chuck (2004) Underclass Hero (2007), Screaming Bloody Murder (2011) and 13 Voices (2016) The three albums before Screaming Bloody Murder have been certified platinum in Canada.

The band often performs more than 300 times each year and holds long global tours, most of which last more than a year. They have been nominated for seven Juno Awards and have won twice (Group of the Year in 2002 and Rock Album of the Year for Chuck in 2005). Their fifth studio album, Screaming Bloody Murder, was released on March 29, 2011.

During the Screaming Bloody Murder Tour, the band added Deryck Whibley's cousin Matt Whibley on keyboard.

Solo work

Besides Sum 41, Whibley developed a professional career in the music industry as producer and manager. Deryck was part of Bunk Rock Music, a music management and production company. He produced for No Warning with the company as well. Since parting ways with Greig Nori, he sold his part of the company in early 2005.

During the Sum 41 hiatus in 2005 and 2006, he worked with Tommy Lee on guitar and backing vocals for his album, Tommyland: The Ride, and A Million in Prizes: The Anthology with Iggy Pop.

He worked as the producer of We Have an Emergency, the debut album by Sum 41 co-member Jason McCaslin's side project The Operation M.D.. In 2007, he mixed the debut album of the band Permanent Me. He was also involved with the Avril Lavigne album, The Best Damn Thing, where he produced and played guitar.

Besides his musical career, he has worked on occasion as an actor. He portrayed the character Tony in the movie, Dirty Love, and himself as a guest character in King of the Hill.

In November 2007, Whibley suffered a herniated disc while drumming on the song "Pain for Pleasure". This happened while Sum 41 was on tour with Finger Eleven, and the remainder of the Strength in Numbers Tour was canceled although Finger Eleven did travel to Winnipeg, Manitoba to play the show with Die Mannequin and Inward Eye in replacement of Sum 41.

On the Operation M.D.'s second album Birds + Bee Stings, which was released on June 29, 2010, Deryck mixed one track entitled "Sick + Twisted". He also played keyboards and piano on the same track. Deryck has also joined the band live, playing guitar on this song, on December 21, 2010, at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto.

Deryck contributed some guitar to Tommy Lee's side project Methods of Mayhem's second album A Public Disservice Announcement which was released on September 21, 2010.

He co-wrote the songs "Broken Pieces" and "Lost in Reality" with 5 Seconds of Summer which appeared on their She's Kinda Hot EP.

Instruments

Whibley uses a black customized '72 Fender Telecaster Deluxe live with his well-known red X's for decoration and good luck. He has also put out a signature guitar with Squier, a sub-brand of Fender. The signature Squier comes in black and Olympic white, sports the two red X's and has one humbucking pickup in the bridge position, which is a Seymour Duncan Designed HB-102. It also has his signature "Deryck" written on the headstock. In the past Deryck has used many Gibson guitars such as the Flying V, Les Paul, SG and a Gibson Marauder, which was his first guitar given to him by his mother and has been used in some of the band's videos such as "Fat Lip" and "In Too Deep". According to October 2007's issue of Rock Sound magazine, Deryck also uses '59 Les Paul Reissues, '52 Telecaster Reissues, Telefunken and Neumann mics, Plexi 100 watt Marshall Heads and Cabinets and Spectraflex cables.

Personal life

Whibley lived in Ajax, Ontario and attended Southwood Park Public School. As a teenager, he attended Exeter High School, where he was "hated by all the jocks and popular kids." It was there that he and his bandmates were discovered while playing at their War of the Bands. In his high school days Deryck was often not in class or late due to his habit of sleeping most of the day. He often showed up with plastic figures of Gumby and Pokey preferring to play with these rather than attempt his assigned work.

Relationships

Whibley dated Hilton Hotels heiress Paris Hilton in 2003. Whibley married fellow singer Avril Lavigne in 2006. The couple occasionally performed together, and they have spoken about their relationship in interviews. Whibley and Avril Lavigne began dating when she was 19-years old, after being friends since she was 17. Only a few weeks before they met, Lavigne admitted that she was not meeting boys because her bodyguards were frightening them away. In June 2005, Whibley surprised Lavigne with a trip to Venice, including a gondola ride and a romantic picnic, and on June 27, he proposed to her.

She at first wanted to have a "rock n' roll, goth wedding", but she admitted to having doubts about going against tradition. "I've been dreaming about my wedding day since I was a little girl. I have to wear the white dress.... People thought that I would [wear a] black wedding dress, and I would have, but at the same time, I was thinking about the wedding pictures, and I wanted to be in style. I didn't want to be thinking, 20 years later, 'Oh, why did I wear my hair like that?'"

The wedding was held on July 15, 2006. About 110 guests attended the wedding, which was held at a private estate in Montecito, California. Lavigne, wearing a gown designed by Vera Wang walked down the aisle with her father, Jean-Claude, to Mendelssohn's "Wedding March". Lavigne chose a colour theme of red and white, including red rose petals and centrepieces of distinctly coloured flowers. The wedding included cocktails for an hour before the reception and a sit-down dinner. The song "Iris", by the Goo Goo Dolls, was played during Lavigne and Whibley's first dance.

Seven months into their marriage, Lavigne stated that she was "the best thing that's ever happened to him", and suggested that she helped Whibley stay off drugs since they had begun dating. "He doesn't do drugs. Clearly, he used to, because he talked about it, but I wouldn't be with someone who did, and I made that very clear to him when we first started dating. I've never done cocaine in my life, and I'm proud of that. I am 100 percent against drugs."

The marriage lasted a little more than three years. It was announced on September 17, 2009 that Lavigne and Whibley had split up and that divorce papers would soon follow. On October 9, 2009, Lavigne filed for divorce, releasing the statement, "I am grateful for our time together, and I am grateful and blessed for our remaining friendship." The divorce was finalized on November 16, 2010.

Whibley has battled severe alcoholism in the past several years, leading to hospitalisation for kidney failure and a medically induced coma. He was reportedly told (by his own admission) that if he was to have "one more drink", he would die. He has since committed to sobriety.

On August 30, 2015, Whibley married model Ariana Cooper in Los Angeles.

Hospitalizations

On August 5, 2010, Whibley was hospitalized after he was attacked in a bar in Japan late at night by three unknown males. After an MRI scan, it was revealed that Deryck slipped a disc in his back for the second time. Advised not to play, Whibley rejoined the band on August 8 in Osaka for the Summer Sonic Festival. On May 17, 2014, Whibley announced that he was hospitalized for alcoholism. He had been in the hospital for a month before he was discharged on May 20, 2014.

With Sum 41