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Musician / Author
Raised in: Racine, WI
You Know Him As: Lead singer and founding member of the renowned punk band Bad Religion
Did you know?: Greg Graffin should be referred to as Dr. Graffin – he earned his Ph.D. in Evolutionary Biology at Cornell University.
Gregory Walter Graffin, Ph.D. (born November 6, 1964) is an American punk rock musician, college professor, and author. He was born in Madison, but his family soon relocated to Racine where he lived full time until his parents divorce in 1971, at which time he spent half of his time in Wisconsin and the other half in San Fernando Valley, California. His father, Walter Graffin, is a former English professor at the University of Wisconsin- Parkside.
He is most recognized as the lead vocalist and songwriter of the noted Los Angeles band Bad Religion, which he co-founded in 1979. He has also recorded two solo albums, “American Lesion” (1997) and “Cold as the Clay” (2005).
Graffin obtained his Ph.D. in Evolutionary Biology at Cornell University as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Master of Science in Geology. The title of his Ph.D. dissertation was “Evolution, Monism, Atheism, and the Naturalist World-View: Perspectives from Evolutionary Biology.” He has authored three books: “Is Belief in God Good, Bad, or Irrelevant?” (with Preston Jones), “Evolution and Religion: Questioning the Beliefs of the World’s Eminent Evolutionists,” and “Anarchy Evolution: Faith, Science, and Bad Religion in a World Without God.” He had lectured courses in life sciences and paleontology at the University of California, Los Angeles. He now currently lives near Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. His band, Bad Religion, has released their sixteenth studio album, True North in January, 2013.
In 2017, Graffin explored his folk/Americana side with his solo album “Millport.”
“I really believe that it doesn’t really matter what genre you’re drawn to as your initial love of music,” Graffin said in an interview shortly after the release. “If you really like the elements of music, you can find melody, harmony, song structure in any of the genres. I think those kinds of elements are on display in this current album.”
By Jason Hedman
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