Tyler Joseph

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Tyler Joseph formed Twenty One Pilots in 2009 in Columbus, Ohio with bassist Nick Thomas and drummer Chris Salih; the latter two left in 2011. The duo's third album, Vessel, was released on January 8, 2013. Blurryface was announced on March 17, 2015, and released on May 17, 2015, two days early after fans crashed the band's website. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, the duo won Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. Trench was released on October 5, 2018, with a music video series for "Nico and the Niners" set in the fictional city of Dema. The song "My Blood" was leaked by a Twitter user on August 27, 2018, after being discovered playable on an Apple HomePod; the band made it available on streaming services later that day. Scaled and Icy was released on May 21, 2021. Clancy was released on May 24, 2024, nine years after Blurryface, with every song having an accompanying music video. On May 21, 2025, the duo announced their eighth studio album, Breach, for release in September; it was released on September 12, 2025.

In Their Own Story

In 2008, Joseph's varsity basketball team placed second in the Division IV state tournament. After seeing a songwriter perform at a High Street Club, he rejected a basketball scholarship to Otterbein University. He began playing music after finding an old keyboard in his closet, a Christmas gift from his mother, and began mimicking radio melodies. From around 2007 to 2008, he recorded a solo project titled No Phun Intended in his basement. On November 30, 2008, he uploaded six songs to PureVolume: "Taken by Sleep", "Drown", "Tonight", "Save", "Hole in the Ground", and "Blasphemy". Nick Thomas contributed guitar to several songs. The song "Save" was later redone and released as a free download on Twenty One Pilots' website before being pulled. The project became unavailable in 2015, and PureVolume shut down in 2018.

Reader's Guide

Tyler Joseph is the frontman of Twenty One Pilots, a duo formed in 2009 in Columbus, Ohio. He plays point guard for Worthington Christian's basketball team, which placed second in the Division IV state tournament in 2008. His first real exposure to music was DC Talk, and one of his favorite bands is The Killers. He cites Jim Carrey as an influence, saying Carrey "helped raise me". Joseph's mother, a former math teacher, became Olentangy Orange High School's basketball coach in 2013. His father, born to a Lebanese father and an American mother, coached at Worthington Christian from 1996 to 2005 and was a former school principal. Joseph was homeschooled in his childhood. He has two younger brothers and a younger sister. In 2025, Joseph co-founded an independent record label named Arro, alongside Twenty One Pilots manager Chris Woltman.

Did You Know?

• Tyler Joseph rejected a basketball scholarship to Otterbein University after seeing a songwriter perform at a High Street Club.
• His first real exposure to music was the Christian rap rock group DC Talk, and he cites Jim Carrey as an influence, saying Carrey 'helped raise me'.
• Joseph's mother would stand outside Ohio State University giving away tickets to his early shows, saying 'Come see my son play music'.
• The song 'My Blood' from Trench was leaked by a Twitter user after they discovered it could be played on an Apple HomePod.
• In 2025, Joseph co-founded an independent record label named Arro alongside Twenty One Pilots manager Chris Woltman.

Roots in Columbus: A Childhood Shaped by Music and Basketball

Tyler Robert Joseph was born on December 1, 1988, in Columbus, Ohio, to Christopher Anthony Joseph and Kelly Joseph (née Stryker). He has two younger brothers and a younger sister. His mother was a math teacher in the Olentangy school district before being named Olentangy Orange High School's basketball coach in 2013. His father was born to a Lebanese father and an American mother and was a coach at Worthington Christian High School from 1996 to 2005, as well as being a former school principal. Joseph was homeschooled in his childhood. His first real exposure to music was the Christian rap rock group DC Talk, and one of Joseph's favorite bands is indie rock band The Killers. Joseph cites Canadian actor and comedian Jim Carrey as another influence, saying that Carrey "helped raise me". Joseph played basketball from a very young age and went on to play point guard for Worthington Christian. In 2008, the varsity basketball team placed second in the Division IV state tournament. Future Twenty One Pilots bassist Nick Thomas also played on the same team as Joseph, the pair having performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" together at one of their games.

The Pivot: Trading a Basketball Scholarship for a Basement Keyboard

After seeing a songwriter perform at a High Street Club, Joseph rejected an opportunity to play basketball at Otterbein University along with a scholarship to the university. He began playing music after finding an old keyboard in his closet, a Christmas gift from his mother, and began to mimic various radio melodies. From around 2007 to 2008, Joseph recorded a solo project titled No Phun Intended in his basement. It was later revealed that Thomas contributed guitar to several songs on the album. On November 30, 2008, Joseph uploaded six of these songs to his PureVolume account: "Taken by Sleep", "Drown", "Tonight", "Save", "Hole in the Ground", and "Blasphemy" in that order. The song "Save" was redone and released as a free download for some time on Twenty One Pilots' official website before it was pulled. The project became unavailable in 2015, and PureVolume itself shut down in 2018. Twenty One Pilots was formed in 2009 in Columbus, Ohio and consisted of frontman Joseph, bassist Thomas, and drummer Chris Salih; the latter two left the band in 2011. On December 29, 2009, they released their debut, self-titled album and began touring Ohio.

Blurryface, Dema, and a Shifting Sound

On March 17, 2015, the band announced their fourth album's title, Blurryface, and unveiled its track listing and release date. The band's fans crashed their website attempting to pre-order the album. The album was released on May 17, 2015, two days ahead of its intended release date. Joseph and drummer Josh Dun embarked on two international tours in 2015 and 2016: the Blurryface Tour and Emotional Roadshow World Tour. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, the duo won the award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. On July 11, 2018, the band announced the release date of their fifth studio album, Trench, which was released on October 5, 2018. A world tour, called The Bandito Tour, began on October 16, 2018. On July 25, 2018, a music video for the song "Nico and the Niners" was released, as a second addition to a three part music video series, regarding Tyler Joseph's fictional city, "Dema". On August 27, 2018, a Twitter user leaked the full song "My Blood" onto his Twitter account in low quality, after they found that it could be played on their Apple HomePod. The leak was confirmed real when the band made the song available on streaming services later that day as the album's fourth single. The duo's sixth studio album, Scaled and Icy, was released on May 21, 2021. The duo's seventh studio album, Clancy, was released on May 24, 2024, nine years after the release of their breakthrough album Blurryface. On May 21, 2025, the duo announced their eighth studio album, Breach, for release in September. Breach was released on September 12, with the third single, "City Walls", and its music video released on the same day.

The Human Behind the Frontman: Family, Generosity, and a Duo's Bond

Among Joseph's first performances with Twenty One Pilots, he recounts that his mother would often stand outside Ohio State University giving away tickets to his shows. "She'd be like, 'Come see my son play music'", Joseph says. On April 9, 2020, the band released a new single "Level of Concern". The song's lyrics reference the anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the accompanying music video for the track filmed in Joseph and Dun's homes while they were under lockdown. Joseph directed a portion of the song's proceeds to Crew Nation, a charity for live music crews who cannot be paid during the international quarantine. On December 8, 2020, Twenty One Pilots released a Christmas song, titled "Christmas Saves the Year", during a Twitch livestream hosted by Joseph. Originally, Joseph was reluctant to write a Christmas song, although he said that he was inspired by the fact he was "experiencing Christmas through a little girl's perspective". The sound of the track was inspired by a musical instrument called the Mellotron. In 2025, Joseph co-founded an independent record label named Arro, alongside Twenty One Pilots manager Chris Woltman.