Rob Bourdon

Robert Gregory "Rob" Bourdon (born (1979-01-20) January 20, 1979 (age 37) in Calabasas, California), where he attended Agoura High School. He attended the school with members of Hoobastank. He is the youngest member of the band and currently lives in Los Angeles, California. He met Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer, and got inspired to learn how to play the drums.

Starting out around the age of nine, Bourdon joined his first band, a quartet called No Clue in sixth grade. They later changed their name to Physical Evidence and covered bands like Nirvana, Bad Religion, and Suicidal Tendencies. Bourdon took drum lessons for a year, but became tired of reading sheet music because he enjoyed playing the music of his favorite bands by ear instead.

After joining his high school's jazz band in grade ten, Rob was recruited by two members of a band called Karma, after a concert to join their group. Through the Karma band members, he met Brad Delson and Mike Shinoda, who both lived nearby in the San Fernando Valley. Eventually, Rob and Brad would form their own band called Relative Degree, whose sound he likens to 311. Their dream was to perform at a Hollywood club called The Roxy, a goal they eventually attained, and broke up soon afterwards. Soon, he got a call from Mike Shinoda asking him to join his and Brad's band, Xero.

Brad Delson

Main article: Brad Delson

Bradford Phillip "Brad" Delson (born (1977-12-01) December 1, 1977 (age 38) in Agoura, California), is an American musician, best known as the lead guitarist and one of the founding members of the Linkin Park. He is also the A&R Representative for Machine Shop Recordings. Delson attended Agoura High School in Agoura Hills, an affluent suburb of Los Angeles, with childhood friend and Linkin Park band mate Mike Shinoda. He played in various bands throughout his high school career, the most notable being Relative Degree, in which he met and teamed up with drummer Rob Bourdon. Relative Degree's goal was simply to play a show, and, after achieving that goal, they disbanded.

After graduating in 1995, Delson, Shinoda and Bourdon formed Xero, which would eventually become the starting point for Linkin Park. Delson entered UCLA in 1995 as a Regent Scholar working toward a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Studies with a specialization in Business and Administration. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and shared a dorm room with future Linkin Park band mate Dave Farrell for three out of his four years at school. Delson also had the opportunity to intern with a member of the music industry as part of his studies and ended up working for Jeff Blue, an A&R representative at Warner Bros. Records, who offered constructive criticism on Xero's demos, which were from the 4-track sampler tape Xero, which was released in 1996. Blue later introduced Chester Bennington, who would become the lead vocalist of Linkin Park, to the rest of the band.

After graduating summa cum laude from UCLA in 1999, Delson decided to forgo law school in order to pursue a musical career with Linkin Park.

Dave Farrell

David Michael "Phoenix" Farrell (born (1977-02-08) February 8, 1977 (age 39) in Plymouth, Massachusetts), is the bassist of Linkin Park. Farrell's mother taught him how to play the guitar at a young age. He transitioned to playing bass guitar in high school, where he was recruited to play in 'the Snax,' a Christian rock and ska band. Farrell attended classes at UCLA, where he was roommates with Brad Delson. He joined Delson in playing in Xero, Linkin Park's earliest incarnation, and contributed to band's sampler tape in 1997. However, Farrell left Xero to tour with the Snax. He rejoined Linkin Park in 2000 and has contributed to every studio album since Reanimation.

Joe Hahn

Main article: Joe Hahn

Joseph "Joe" Hahn (born (1977-03-15) March 15, 1977 (age 39) in Dallas, Texas), also known as Mr. Hahn, is an American turntablist and director. But he is best known as the DJ, turntablist and sampler for Linkin Park. Hahn is the youngest of three children (he has two elder sisters). He grew up in Glendale, California. Hahn is a second generation Korean American.

Hahn graduated from Herbert Hoover High School in Glendale in 1995. He then studied at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena but did not graduate. Hahn, along with bandmate Mike Shinoda, is responsible for most of Linkin Park's album artwork.

On February 15, 2005, Hahn married Karen Benedit; the couple divorced in 2009.

On October 21, 2012, Hahn married Heidi Woan, whom he had met about two years prior in 2010.

He has directed many Linkin Park music videos but in addition he has also directed movies, such as The Seed with Ken Mercado, and Mall, which was executive produced by Vincent D'Onofrio.

Mike Shinoda

Main article: Mike Shinoda

Michael Kenji "Mike" Shinoda LHD (born (1977-02-11) February 11, 1977 (age 39)) is an American musician, record producer, and artist. He co-founded Linkin Park in 1996 and is the band's rhythm guitarist, primary songwriter, keyboardist, co-lead vocalist and rapper. Shinoda later created a hip hop-driven side project, Fort Minor, in 2003. He served as a producer for tracks and albums by Lupe Fiasco, Styles of Beyond, and The X-Ecutioners. Shinoda is also the co-founder of Machine Shop Recordings, a California-based record label. Outside of music, Shinoda is an artist and graphic designer. He has painted several pieces of artwork, some of which have been featured in the Japanese American National Museum.

Shinoda was born and raised in the Los Angeles suburb of Agoura Hills. His father is Japanese-American, descendant of the Kumaichiro Shinoda floral company family, and his mother is Caucasian. He has a younger brother, Jason. He was raised as a liberal Protestant. Shinoda's mother encouraged him to take classical piano lessons when he was six. By 13, he expressed the desire to move toward playing jazz, blues, and even hip-hop. He later added the guitar and rap-style vocals to his repertoire during his middle school and high school years.

Shinoda attended Agoura High School with Linkin Park bandmates Brad Delson and Rob Bourdon. The three formed the band Xero, and began to make a more serious attempt to pursue a career in the music industry. After graduating high school, Shinoda enrolled in the Art Center College of Design of Pasadena to study graphic design and illustration. He attended classes with DJ and turntablist Joseph Hahn.

Former members

Mark Wakefield

Mark Wakefield is an original member of Xero as the lead singer complementing Shinoda's raps. He is credited as a songwriter on many of Linkin Park's older songs. In the end, he did not enjoy performing on the stage, and eventually left the band. Xero held auditions for a new singer and found current lead Chester Bennington in 1998, changing the name of the band to Hybrid Theory. He is also responsible for the cover art for System of a Down's album, Toxicity.

Before quitting the band, Mark and the rest of Xero are known to have played at least one concert as an opening act for Cypress Hill. The lack of success and stalemate in progress prompted Wakefield, at that time the band’s vocalist, to leave the band in search of other projects. Wakefield is the manager for Taproot. He met Mike Shinoda in high school and joined the band, who were at that point called SuperXero.

In 2008, he eventually again met Shinoda and collaborated for a song named as "Barack Your World", which is a joke song. It was uploaded on YouTube.

Touring and session members

• Kyle Christner - bass

Kyle Christner was the bassist for Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory EP (1999), during Farrell's time out of the band due to commitments with The Snax. He was replaced by Scott Koziol and Ian Hornbeck for Linkin Park's debut album Hybrid Theory.

• Ian Hornbeck - bass

Ian Hornbeck was a stand-in bass player for Linkin Park's debut album Hybrid Theory (2000). He played bass on "Papercut", "A Place for My Head", and "Forgotten".

• Scott Koziol - bass

Scott Koziol was a temporary bassist for Linkin Park. He played bass for the song "One Step Closer" from Hybrid Theory and appeared in its music video. He did several US tours with the band including stops at The Roxy, The Whiskey, Avalon, Roseland (NY), radio shows, and others. He left when Farrell rejoined Linkin Park in late 2000.

• Benjamin Chandler - lead guitars

Benjamin Chandler is a fill-in lead guitarist for Linkin Park and guitar tech for Delson. He fills-in for Delson when he is unavailable. Chandler performed for two shows in 2014, and Rock on the Range the following year.

• Warren Willis - turntables, sampler, synthesizer, programming

Warren Willis is a fill-in DJ for Linkin Park and tech for Hahn since 2012. He filled-in for Hahn (due to family emergency) in the last 3 shows of their European tour.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]