Biography
Deryck Jason Whibley (born March 21, 1980) is a Canadian musician and producer, best known for his work as the guitarist and lead vocalist, songwriter and producer of the multi Juno Award-winning pop punk band Sum 41. As a producer he was one of the founders and directors of Bunk Rock Productions. Sum 41 has sold over 40 million albums and won multiple awards all over the world. Whibley was born in Scarborough, Ontario and brought up by a single teenage mother, Michelle. He moved to Ajax, Ontario at age 12 and started Sum 41 a few years later. He married fellow Canadian singer Avril Lavigne on July 15, 2006, in Montecito, California and publicly separated from her on September 17, 2009. His parents are of English descent.
Deryck was in several bands before he met Steve Jocz in high school, but was in a band called "Doors of Draven" with Dave Baksh. His first band was called "The Powerful Young Hustlerz", a hip hop band that covered rap songs from The Beastie Boys, and N.W.A. Deryck and Steve became good friends and started a band called Kaspir. The band consisted of Whibley as lead singer, Jocz on drums, Mark Spicoluk on bass, Dave Baksh and Marc Costanzo on Guitar. They later kicked Spicoluk out due to him getting into too much trouble, and Costanzo left to form the pop band, Len. Deryck then became the other guitarist. They changed their name from Kaspir to Sum 41 for a supernova show. They got Cone McCaslin to play bass in 1999 after having many other bassists. To this day, Cone states the reason they got signed was due to him joining the band. Among the first songs they wrote are "I Like Meat", "Astronaut", and "5-0 Grind". In the alter-ego band Pain for Pleasure, Deryck plays drums while Steve Jocz sings lead vocals.
Besides Sum 41, Whibley has 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. With Bunk Rock, he had co-produced some of Treble Charger's albums. He also did some backing vocals for them on the album, Detox. 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. For 2007, he mixed the debut album of a new band called 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 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 cancelled although Finger Eleven did travel to Winnipeg, Manitoba to play the show with Die Mannequin and Inward Eye in replacement of Sum 41.
Deryck 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 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 the Marauder. According to October 2007's issue of Rocksound magazine, Deryck also uses '59 Les Paul Reissues, '52 Telecaster Reissues, Telefunken and Neumann mics, '52 Plexi 100 watt Marshall Head and Spectraflex cables.
Whibley dated Hilton Hotels heiress Paris Hilton in 2003. Whibley has been married to fellow singer Avril Lavigne since 2006. The couple occasionally performs together, and they've spoken about their relationship in interviews. It was announced on September 17, 2009 that Lavigne and Whibley separated.
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