Pete Wentz

A particularly polarizing musician -- something of a pop-punk figurehead and entrepreneur in a scene that once prided itself on having no celebrity -- Pete Wentz made a name for himself in the early 2000s as the outspoken bassist and lyricist for the popular Chicago pop-punk unit Fall Out Boy. Born Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz Iii in the Chicago suburb of Wilmette, Wentz (b. June 5, 1979) grew up an avid soccer player and music fan. He loved The Smiths, learned to play piano at a young age, and eventually picked up the bass guitar, deciding he wanted to be in a punk band. At age 14, during his freshmen year of high school, Wentz started regularly skipping school, so much so that his parents were ultimately persuaded to send him to a tough-love boot camp for eight weeks to straighten him out. Hating every second, Wentz learned to internalize his emotions during the program; later on, music and writing thus became one of his only real outlets for expression -- the highly personal nature of his lyrics and his clever wordplay easily resonated with fans and contributed to Fall Out Boy's popularity.