Joel Madden

As the frontman of the pop-punk outfit Good Charlotte, singer Joel Madden steadily rose from high school obscurity (documented in the band's first radio hit, "Little Things") to celebrity status, a feat that owed as much to the popularity of his love life as his group's string of pop anthems. Born in early 1979, Joel Reuben Combs was raised in suburban Maryland alongside his identical twin, Benji. Their father left the family when the brothers were 15 years old, forcing Joel to work after-school jobs to offset his family's financial troubles. (He would later change his surname to Madden -- his mother's maiden name -- to distance himself from his father.) One year after their dad's departure, Joel and his brother attended an inspirational Beastie Boys concert and left the venue with the desire to start a band. Several music-minded classmates from La Plata High School were recruited, and Good Charlotte officially took root in 1996.