Who is: Who is Deryck Jason Whibley?

Monday, April 11, 2011

Who is Deryck Jason Whibley?

Who is Deryck Jason Whibley?^[1] The entertainment and music world knows him as Deryck Whibley he is a Canadian musician and producer, best known for his work as the guitarist, lead vocalist, songwriter and producer of the Juno Award-winning rock band Sum 41.

Early life and Sum 41

Whibley was born March 21, 1980 in Scarborough, Ontario. He never met his father, and talks of it in the song "Dear Father" from Sum 41's fourth album Underclass Hero.^[2] He is of English descent. He was in several bands before he met Steve Jocz in high school. His first band was called "The Powerful Young Hustlerz", a hip hop band that covered songs from The Beastie Boys and N.W.A. Deryck and Steve became good friends and started a band called "Kaspir" after Deryck convinced Steve that he was the best drummer around. The band consisted of Whibley as lead singer, Jocz on drums, Mark Spicoluk on bass, Dave Baksh and Marc Costanzo on guitar. They later fired Spicoluk due to him getting into too much trouble, and Costanzo left to form the pop band, Len. Richard "Twitch" Roy was the replacement bassist for Spicoluk before being fired for crashing the band's touring van on an East Coast Canadian tour. They changed their name from "Kaspir" to "Sum 41" (the 41st day into the summer when the band got together) for a supernova show. They then added Cone McCaslin to the lineup.

Professional career

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 Cone 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.^[3]
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 disk 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.^[4]

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, Ontario.
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.

Personal life

Whibley married fellow singer Avril Lavigne in 2006. The couple occasionally performed together, and they have spoken about their relationship in interviews. It was announced on September 17, 2009 that Lavigne and Whibley separated. Lavigne initiated divorce proceedings in October 2009 claiming irreconcilable differences.^[5]
On August 5, 2010, Deryck Whibley was hospitalized after he was attacked in a bar in Japan late at night by three unknown males.^[6] After an MRI scan, it was revealed that Deryck slipped a disc in his back for the second time.^[7] Advised not to play, Whibley rejoined the band on August 8 in Osaka for the Summer Sonic Festival.^[8]

Marriage to Avril Lavigne

Whibley and Avril Lavigne, began dating when she was 19 years old, after being friends since she was 17.^[9] Only a few weeks before they met, Lavigne had publicly stated that she was having trouble meeting boys because her bodyguards scared them away. In June 2005, Whibley surprised Lavigne with a trip to Venice, including a gondola ride and a romantic picnic, and on June 27th, he proposed to her.^[10]
She initially 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?'"^[11]
The wedding was held on 15 July 2006. About 110 guests attended the wedding, which was held at a private estate in Montecito, California.^[12] 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 centerpieces 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.^[13]

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'd 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."^[11] The marriage lasted a little more than three years. It was announced on 17 September 2009 that Lavigne and Whibley had split up and that divorce papers would soon follow.^[14] On 9 October 2009, Lavigne filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. She later released a statement reading, "I am grateful for our time together, and I am grateful and blessed for our remaining friendship."^[9] The divorce was finalized on 16 November 2010, officially ending the marriage.