Travis Landon Barker (born November 14, 1975) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer . He serves as the drummer for the rock band Blink-182 .
Barker has also acted as a frequent collaborator with hip hop artists, is a member of the rap rock group Transplants , founded the rock bands 44 and Box Car Racer , and recently joined Antemasque and Goldfinger .
He was a frequent collaborator with the late DJ AM , and together they formed TRV$DJAM . Due to his fame, Rolling Stonehe referred to him as “punk’s first superstar drummer” as well as one of the 100 greatest drummers of all time.
Travis Barker Net Worth
Travis Barker is an American Drummer, Musician, and Reality TV Host who has a net worth of $45 million.
Travis Barker Biography
Born in Fontana, California, Barker began playing drums at a young age. He started playing for the Aquabats in 1996, but left to join Blink-182 in 1998, who had a big hit with Enema of the State (1999).
Barker established himself as a versatile drummer, producing and making guest appearances on musical projects across numerous musical genres, including hip hop, alternative rock, pop, and country. He also starred in an MTV reality series called Meet the Barkers .
He was involved in a plane crash in 2008, but recovered and released his debut solo album, Give the Drummer Some ., in 2011. He has continued to work with rappers, releasing extended plays with Yelawolf and Asher Roth and Nottz, as well as with Blink-182 and the Transplants.
Travis Barker Early Age And Education
Barker was born to Randy and Gloria Barker in Fontana, California on November 14, 1975, the youngest of three children and the only boy. His father worked as a mechanic and his mother took care of children. He is of English, Irish, and Italian descent. When Barker was four years old, his mother gave him his first kit, which was the only one he would have until he was fifteen. Barker began taking drum lessons at age five from a drummer named Michael Mai, who would expose the young Barker to many different styles of playing.
At this time, he also began taking trumpet lessons. In high school, Barker learned to play the piano and briefly tried singing, joining the men’s and women’s madrigal choir.
Additionally, Barker had non-musical aspirations; he was also interested in becoming a professional surfer and skateboarder. However, Barker states that “I always went back to the drums. That was the only direction I felt I was connected to and could understand. I was able to express myself better through my drums than anything else.”
Barker has described himself as a smoker during his tenure at Fontana High School. His mother, who had been diagnosed with Sjögren’s syndrome three months earlier, died the day before he started high school. She told him to keep playing music and follow his dreams. Barker attended Fontana High School, where he played drums in the jazz ensemble and snare drum in the marching band.
He gained a lot of experience performing in regional competitions and festivals. Barker employed a variety of styles, including military and jazz beats, but was drawn to the driving beats of hip-hop and punk rock.
Travis Barker Plane Crash (2008)
On September 19, 2008, he performed at an event with Jane’s Addiction singer Perry Farrell and Gavin DeGraw in Columbia, South Carolina. The trip was a special occasion: “We all thought it was a treat, we were on a private plane,” Barker said.
Barker had invited his ex-wife Moakler, but she declined, saying that she had a strange feeling about leaving her children. With a vacant seat, Barker invited his security guard Che Still, thinking she’d be good company and enjoy the ride. Barker was always afraid of flying; in his teens, he was “sure” that he would die in a plane crash.
When Blink-182 was putting together the art for Take Off Your Pants and Jacketin 2001, they created a “Zoso-like” icon for each band member: a jacket, a pair of pants, and an airplane. “Please don’t give me the plane, I’m so fucking afraid of flying,” begged Barker, who ended up with the plane anyway.
He spent more than 11 weeks in hospitals and burn centers. She had 16 surgeries: blood transfusions that took 4-8 hours and numerous skin grafts.”There were times when they talked about amputating my foot because I didn’t have enough skin on my body for my grafts,” she said. Barker also developed post-traumatic stress disorder, compounded by the intense guilt he felt that still was not supposed to be on the plane.
He stopped his vegetarian diet and began eating meat to increase his protein intake and possibly speed the healing of his burns. Barker recovered from the incident, allowing him to return to the recording studio in November 2008.
In his first television interview since the accident, he told MTV, “I’m already playing my drums again, and I’m back in the study “. He explained that returning to the studio “was like riding a bike. It was so exciting knowing that I still have my skills.
It still feels good…I can still get through the kit. Everything felt good, so I’m just thankful I got to play.” Barker sued the plane’s owners, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., and an aircraft maintenance company that month; the case was settled out of court in December 2009 and the terms of the settlement are confidential.
Travis Barker Career
Musical Beginnings (1993-1998)
After graduating from Fontana High School, Barker worked as a garbage man in Laguna Beach and played with the punk rock bands Snot, and later, Feeble, a Fontana-based band where he met Chad Larson.
Larson co-founded the ska punk group Aquabats in 1994. After local shows and demo tapes, the band recruited Barker through Larson’s connection. Barker, who was “sleeping on [his] friend’s couch” and still working as a garbage man, only intended to fill in for a few days, but ended up joining the band.
The group then went into the studio with veteran producer Jim Goodwin to record The Fury of the Aquabats! . Barker’s speed and accuracy meant that once his parts were recorded, he was free to hit the ground running and rehearse (and sit down with other bands).He had acquired a nickname with the Aquabats, Baron Von Tito, the reasons for which are lost to history, as none of the members remember why.
After the October 1997 release of The Fury of the Aquabats! , the group toured across the country with San Diego-based Blink-182, who had recently completed their second album Dude Ranch .
The trio’s drummer, Scott Raynor, announced to his bandmates that he would be leaving after the SnoCore Tour in February 1998.
The band recruited Barker to replace Raynor. Barker, who hadn’t had time to prepare or practice with the duo, learned the drum tracks for the 20-song setlist in just 45 minutes before the first show and performed them flawlessly thereafter. Raynor returned in May, but the arguments only got worse.
Raynor was fired by DeLonge and Hoppus, apparently due to a drinking problem,and the band recruited Barker once again. “I remember Travis rehearsing backstage for an hour or two and then messing around with them during sound check,” recalls Aquabats member Adam Deibert. “Some of us were standing by the stage and I vividly remember the feeling that this is the new Blink . We should have looked for a new drummer at that point because it was so obvious which band he belonged to.”
The addition of Barker inspired DeLonge and Hoppus to “play better” and keep up with their newest member, whom DeLonge called “perfect”. Barker continued to play with Blink-182 throughout 1998 and stepped in to play for the Vandals, where he replaced Josh Freese at the end of the year. 
Overall Success (1999-2004)
Barker’s first effort with Blink, Enema of the State, was released in June 1999 and catapulted the trio to stardom, becoming the biggest pop punk band of the day. Three singles were released from the record: “What’s My Age Again?”, “All the Small Things”, and “Adam’s Song”, which went into the Top 40 radio format and experienced major commercial success.
“All the Small Things” became a number one hit on the Modern Rock Tracks chart, but also became a crossover hit and peaked at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Their video parodied boy bands and pop music videos and won a Moon Man for Best Group Video at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards.The album has sold over 15 million copies worldwide and has had a considerable effect on pop punk music.
Travis Barker started his Famous Stars & Straps clothing line in 1999. His brand is aimed at the Punk Rock skate community. His love for tattoo art greatly influences his designs and style in general.
The band’s success did great things for Barker. “Four years ago, I couldn’t afford to feed myself,” he said in an interview at the time. “But now I can buy art, work on old Cadillacs and live comfortably. I can finally buy a dog and afford to feed it.” He began dating Melissa Kennedy and bought a rehearsal studio.
Barker branched out into retail at this time, opening a store in Riverside called Famous Stars and Straps. The city closed the storefront, but FSAS products began to be distributed by other retailers and through the Internet.
Barker also began offering drum lessons and added Guitar Center drum clinics to his list of activities.The band began their first arena tour in the fall of 1999, but Barker missed much of the 2000 Mark, Tom and Travis Show tour after breaking his finger.
Blink-182’s next effort, Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (2001), was met with immediate success, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 and going triple platinum within three weeks (the record eventually shipped) . sold over 14 million copies worldwide). In 2001, Barker married Melissa Kennedy, but the two divorced in August 2002 after nine months of marriage.
After a canceled European tour, DeLonge returned to San Diego to record an album which he considered an experiment with ideas he felt were not suitable for Blink-182. DeLonge, not wanting to pay for a studio drummer, simply asked Barker to step in and perform on the record, called Box Car Racer . The experiment became a full-time band and toured in 2002, causing strains in relations between DeLonge and Hoppus.
Word had gotten around that Travis Barker was not only an amazing drummer, he was also an amazing studio drummer, a skill that many drummers don’t necessarily share. Travis had a reputation as a guy who could sit down with a click track and no music and have the arrangement in his head and he could put the drum tracks into five, ten minutes for a song and then the band could play on the part higher. to him like a drum machine.
Through a connection with Jerry Finn, Rancid vocalist Tim Armstrong contacted Barker in the summer of 2002 to record tracks for a rap/rock collaboration called Transplants. For his role on Transplants , Rolling Stone called Barker “punk rock’s first superstar drummer”. He also began appearing in music videos, including Puff Daddy’s “Bad Boy for Life”, as well as adding to his collection of vintage Cadillacs.
Blink-182 released their untitled fifth album in 2003, which marked a more mature direction. Shortly before the album’s completion, Barker’s girlfriend, former Miss USA Shanna Moakler, gave birth to their first child, Landon Asher, in October 2003.
The Kinison, who supported Blink-182 on their tour dates, impressed Barker and were the first group signed to LaSalle Records, a record label Barker officially established in 2004. LaSalle was named after his favorite Cadillac from Barker, and the label was designed to branch out and find all kinds of music, whether it be country or hip-hop.
Barker met once a week with designers from Famous Stars and Straps to oversee shoe designs, and in his spare time he learned boxing. He also became engaged to Moakler at the start of the new year. He injured his foot at a show in Melbourne, Australia in 2004, but performed the following night using his left foot for the kick drum; He then felt so much pain that the tour had to be cancelled.
Barker’s doctor informed him that not only did he break his foot, but he also tore tendons and ligaments, which Hoppus describes as “the kind of injury people get in motorcycle accidents.”
Meanwhile, Barker purchased a Wahoo’s Fish Taco franchise in Norco, California, and began work on a new Transplants record. Blink-182’s year culminated in a European tour that was soured by the split in the band. In February 2005, the band issued a press release announcing their “indefinite hiatus”.
Travis Barker Reality Star And Collaborations (2005-2008)
Barker filed for divorce from Moakler in August; both used their MySpace blogs to comment on the situation. Her breakup and the drama surrounding it made them tabloid favorites.
After he and Moakler split in 2006, he was frequently seen in nightclubs and photographed making out with Paris Hilton. According to Barker, he was trying to erase the guilt of giving his children a broken home and consumed “excessive amounts” of prescription painkillers, marijuana and alcohol.
Painkiller use eventually became a full-blown addiction during 2007. Barker broke his arm during a video shoot for +44, but continued to tour performing with one arm. In early 2007, Barker began working on hip-hop remixes and production techniques for many artists, preparing some loops and beats for Juelz Santana and looking to open two new boutiques, one in Los Angeles called Fast Life and one in Venice. Beach with the name of Rogue Status.
He also kept busy drumming for Idiot Pilot (“Elephant”) and Federation (“Black Roses”), as well as creating well-received remixes of Rihanna’s “Umbrella” and “Crank That (Soulja Boy).” . After a stint on the Honda Civic Tour with Fall Out Boy and Cobra Starship, +44 began work on a second studio album in October.
Barker continued to release hip-hop remixes in 2008; a well-received remix of Flo Rida’s “Low” followed the performance of “Crank That”. Videos of Barker playing the revamped tracks grew in popularity on YouTube.
Barker hoped to compile his growing arsenal of remixes with a bunch of new tracks that she was working on. He started to germinate in the idea of making a solo album, producing it all himself.
As 2008 progressed, it became clear that the project would replace +44 for the foreseeable future, although the band would reportedly return once everything was ready for the solo album. Guests recording with Barker included Young Dro, E-40, Willie Nelson, and Damian Marley.
He began performing with DJ AM (Adam Goldstein) in June 2008 in a collaboration called TRV$DJAM. Essentially, DJ AM would mix a set of classic songs (ranging from classic rock to dance) live on two turntables, then Barker would “heighten AM’s groove” with live drums. The duo performed at the MTV Video Music Awards on September 7. “Our little drummer/DJ duo reached heights we never thought possible,” Barker said in a 2011 interview.
Travis Barker Solo Album And Reunions (2009–present)
Barker’s accident led to a reunion of Blink-182,and the group announced their comeback at the February 2009 Grammy Awards. Barker continued to produce remixes throughout 2009, including a remix of Eminem’s “3 am”; he also collaborated with Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash.
In the middle of the band’s reunion tour in August 2009, DJ AM was found dead by a friend in his New York apartment. Although Goldstein had been prescribed pain medication after the accident, the medical examiner reported that he died of “acute intoxication” that included various prescription drugs and cocaine.
The plane crash prompted Barker to make some lifestyle changes; he started running and swimming every day, and became a vegan since he got out of the hospital, even though he had already been a vegetarian for 17 years.
He has also overcome an addiction to painkillers that he had for years before the plane crash. “I didn’t even take any painkillers after I got out of the hospital. They told me I’d take some of the drugs for the rest of my life, but I stopped all of them,” Barker said. “They made me a completely different person.” Barker hasn’t flown since the accident, so he travels alone on his bus and takes a boat when he’s on tour in Europe. 
After more than two years of setbacks and delays, Barker finally released his long-running solo debut, Give the Drummer Some , in March 2011. The record features collaborations with artists from Lil Wayne to Slipknot’s Corey Taylor.
Neighborhoods , Blink’s sixth studio album, was released in September 2011 and peaked at number two on the Billboard 200. Barker continued his collaborations, working with Chester French, LL Cool J, Cypress Hill and producing a full collaborative EP, Psycho White , with rapper Yelawolf. Barker was unable to attend Blink-182’s Australian tour in 2013; Brooks Wackerman (Bad Religion, Tenacious D) completed it.
On July 1, 2016, Blink released their seventh studio album California to critical and commercial success. To complete the project, Blink members Hoppus and Barker were forced to replace Blink co-founder Tom DeLonge with Alkaline Trio’s vocalist/guitarist Matt Skiba. Barker has joined Hoppus in citing DeLonge as the main cause of the replacement. Citing DeLonge’s alleged unwillingness to commit to working on new Blink projects, Barker revealed:
“We always coveredbefore. It was always, ‘We’re going to record an album,’ then ‘Tom refuses to go into the studio without a record deal.’ So everybody works really hard to get a record deal and now Tom is not in Blink-182. It’s hard to cover up for someone who is disrespectful and ungrateful… Everybody should know what the story is with him and it’s been years with that.”
He is currently producing his second solo album. Barker has written a memoir titled Can I Say: Living Large, Cheating Death, and Drums, Drums, Drums , which was released on October 20, 2015. He was featured in the 2016 Grammy-nominated documentary about American DJ and producer Steve Aoki, titled I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead .
In 2018, Travis Barker was featured on trap-metal musician Ghostemane’s track, “D(R)EAD”. He also appears on XXXTentacion’s posthumous album “Skins”, playing drums on the song “One Minute” with Kanye West.
In 2019, Barker teamed up with popular New Orleans alternative hip hop duo $uicideboy$ to announce LIVE FAST DIE WHENEVER , a collaborative EP. Prior to the project’s release, the singles “nothingleftnothingleft” (a rapid fire hardcore punk song) and “Aliens Are Ghosts” (sampling music critic Anthony Fantano’s review of $uicideboy$’s debut album) were released.
The EP was released on May 24. Along with the lead singles, the EP also included the songs “Killing 2 Birds with 22 Stones”, “Sour Grapes”, “Don’t Trust Anyone!” (stylized in all caps) and “Individuality was so last year.” Several tracks on the EP also featured James Shaffer of Korn on guitar. On July 12, 2019, Travis remixed Lil Peep and XXXTentacion’s posthumous track “Falling Down”.
On April 24, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Barker appeared as a drummer during Post Malone’s well-received Nirvana tribute show and fundraiser for the WHO COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.
In May 2020, Barker signed musician and TikTok personality Jxdn to his DTA Records label, making Jxdn the first artist on the label.
As of September 2020, Barker was in a collaboration project with Machine Gun Kelly on Kelly’s album Tickets to My Downfall. She also featured heavily in the film adaptation of this album, Downfalls High. Barker played on Willow Smith’s pop-punk track “Transparent Soul”, released on April 27, 2021.
Influences And Favorite Drummers
Barker told CBS Local that his first hero was Animal from The Muppets, crediting the latter with inspiring him to continue playing drums. He also cites Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham, Van Halen’s Alex Van Halen, Mötley Crüe’s Tommy Lee and Tool’s Danny Carey as his favorite drummers. In a 2016 Q&A with Vevo, Barker recognized Buddy Rich as the greatest drummer of all time. He also claimed that Van Halen’s “Jump” was the first song he learned on drums.
Travis Barker Private Life
Barker’s first marriage, to Melissa Kennedy, lasted nine months until he filed for divorce in August 2002. Barker later married actress and 1995 Miss USA champion Shanna Moakler on October 30, 2002. 2004. The couple had a gothic-style ceremony inspired by Tim Burton’s film The Nightmare Before Christmas , held on the eve of Halloween. 
Barker and Moakler have two sons together, Landon Asher (born October 9, 2003) and Alabama Luella (born December 24, 2005). Barker also remains close to his former stepdaughter Atiana Cecilia De La Hoya (born March 29, 1999), who is Moakler’s daughter by her former boyfriend, boxer Oscar De La Hoya. The family appeared on a reality series, Meet the Barkers , which ran on MTV from 2005 to 2006.
On August 8, 2006, Barker filed for divorce from Moakler after nearly two years of marriage. The couple’s divorce became public as they each used their MySpace pages to express their feelings on the matter.
Despite their pending divorce, reports emerged in early 2007 that Barker and Moakler were “quietly trying to try again”, as they were reportedly seen signing a fan book, with a heart around their names.
In March 2007, Moakler told People magazine that she and Barker (still married) were back together, but she denied that she was pregnant. This came after the couple became publicly affectionate at a surprise birthday Barker threw for his wife in Miami. People later reported that the couple had broken up again. No reason was given for the split. Barker and Moakler were seen together at the 2007 Video Music Awards kissing and holding hands. However, on February 11, 2008, the couple’s divorce was finalized.
Barker and Moakler were together during a DJ set Barker was playing with DJ AM in Las Vegas on January 7, 2009. The couple attempted to rekindle their relationship in early 2009, but announced they were no longer together on January 1 of April. 2009.
On December 7, 2014, police were called to Barker and Moakler’s shared home in Los Angeles after the former couple got into a verbal altercation. They made criminal threats against each other, leading to Barker and Moakler being arrested. No charges were filed against either party.
In late 2015, Barker briefly dated singer/actress Rita Ora.
In June 2016, it was reported that Barker and Moakler are amicably raising their two children.
As of January 24, 2021, Barker is in a relationship with reality star Kourtney Kardashian.
Barker was raised Catholic, believes in God, and regularly prays with his children. n February 2021, he launched a line of cannabinoid-infused products designed to help users find some rest and relaxation called Barker Wellness.
