Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz III (born on June 5th, 1979 in Wilmette, Illinois) is best known for being the bassist and primary lyricist of American pop-punk band Fall Out Boy.

Initially, Pete was the vocalist for Arma Angelus, performing alongside Joe Trohman (current lead guitarist of Fall Out Boy), who played both lead guitar and bass, and Patrick Stump (current vocalist and rhythm guitarist of Fall Out Boy), who played drums. Arma Angelus lasted from 1998 until 2002. However, Fall Out Boy was created in 2001, when Pete introduced Joe to Patrick, and decided they should form a band on their own. In 2002 when Arma Angelus split, Fall Out Boy became Pete’s main focus. Needing a drummer, he convinced Andy Hurley to join part time.

Pete has played bass on all Fall Out Boy albums and EPs, including Project Rocket / Fall Out Boy Split EP (2002), Fall Out Boy’s debut album Take This to Your Grave (2003), From Under the Cork Tree (2005), Infinity on High (2007), and Folie à Deux (2008). In 2009, Fall Out Boy went on an indefinite hiatus, in which Pete created the electropop band Black Cards.

Black Cards consisted of Pete playing bass guitar, Spencer Peterson playing drums, Nate Patterson playing lead guitar, and Bebe Rexha on vocals. They released one EP, Use Your Disillusion (2012), two mixtapes, Up the Anti – Volume 1 (2012) and Moodswing x Karmaloop SXSW Mixtape (with DJ Benzi) (2012), and one single “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Fame” (2011).

In 2013, Fall Out Boy announced a comeback album, Save Rock and Roll, as well as an additional EP, PAX AM Days. In 2015, they released American Beauty/American Psycho.

Aside from music, Pete has been known to be involved in other aspects of the mainstream culture industry, such as apparel. In 2006, he created Clandestine Industries, a clothing company, which sold “streetwear [with] a unique sense of humor”, according to the company’s website. In 2007, Clandestine Industries partnered with DKNY and created a few brand new lines of merchandise. Although the company got no final closure, it’s considered to be non-existent, as it hasn’t done anything major since 2010 when the Chicago storefront closed.

Pete also spends a significant amount of his time writing. As of today, he’s released two complete books: The Boy With The Thorn In His Side (2004), and Gray (2013).

Adding onto this long list of accomplishments, in 2005 he founded Decaydance Records, the label which signed Panic! at the Disco. In 2014, it was renamed DCD2 Records, and signed bands like New Politics.

Pete is biracial (his father is English/German and his mother is Jamaican), bipolar, and has hinted at the fact that he’s bisexual. These are three topics that often come up in the lyrics he writes. Although he does take medicine for his bipolar disorder, a recurring topic in many Fall Out Boy songs is his suicide attempt of 2005, caused by his bipolar (for instance, the song “Hum Hallelujah”). As for being bisexual, he doesn’t mention it much, but he has alluded to it in past interviews, like a Blender interview in 2007, where he stated he has kissed other men, and that “anybody above the waist is totally fair game” (as referenced in this article from Advocate magazine in 2007).

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