Josh Dun

Background

Joshua William Dun was born on June 18, 1988, in Columbus, Ohio. His parents are Laura Dee Dun, a hospice social worker, and William Earl Dun, a physical therapy assistant. He has two sisters and a brother. As a kid, Dun mainly listened to punk rock, often hiding albums he bought from his parents who were very strict about the kind of music they approved. Dun initially started trumpet lessons at school, eventually teaching himself how to play the drums by imitating the beats on records on an electronic drum kit.

In 2010, Dun joined the alternative rock band House of Heroes as a substitute for the band’s drummer, Colin Rigsby who took a break to spend time with family. Dun played on many tracks of the band’s album “Suburba” (2010). He made an appearance in the music video and provided a vocal cameo for the song ‘God Save the Foolish Kings.’ He also toured with the band until Rigsby returned in October.

After working for three years at the local guitar center, he planned to move to Nashville, Tennessee to pursue his career as a drummer. However, he fortuitously met Twenty One Pilots’ former drummer, Chris Salih, who then introduced him to Tyler Joseph, his future bandmate. With the exit of Salih and former-bassist Nick Thomas, Dun became the band’s full-time drummer, making Twenty One Pilots a duo. They released a studio album, “Regional at Best,” in 2011 and signed with Fueled by Ramen, a subsidiary record label of Atlantic Records in 2012.

Twenty One Pilots released the albums “Vessel” (2013) and “Blurryface” (2015), by which time the band was enjoying massive success. The video for their hit ‘Stressed Out’ was shot at Dun’s childhood home and has received over 2.4 billion views on YouTube. They released “Trench” in 2018 under Elektra Music Group. In 2020, the duo released two singles.

In April, they released “Level of Concern” inspired by how COVID-19 was mentally and emotionally affecting the world. The video was shot at Dun and Joseph’s homes while they were in lockdown. In December of that year, they released a Christmas single titled ‘Christmas Saves the Year.’ Twenty One Pilots’ most recent album, “Scaled and Icy,” was released in May 2021. The lead single of the album is titled ‘Shy Away’ and was released a month earlier in April along with the music video. From 2016 to 2022, Dun collaborated with several artists — he played drums for George Watsky, Lights, Goldfinger, and The Hunna, and partnered with Hayley Williams of Paramore to promote her range of hair dye products.

Twenty-One Pilots have been nominated by the American Music Awards, AP Music Awards, ARIA Awards, Billboard Music Awards, iHeartRadio Music Awards, MTV Europe Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, MuchMusic Video Awards, Teen Choice Awards, and more. Both band members are fans of the Ohio State Buckeyes. From mid-2013 to 2014, Dun dated actress Debby Ryan. They eventually resumed their relationship and on December 23, 2018, Dun announced their engagement. A year later, in 2019, they were married.