Henry Rollins

Henry Rollins (February 13, 1961, Washington, D.C., United States; born Henry Lawrence Garfield) is an American musician, writer, spoken word performer, actor, and publisher, best known as the lead singer of the hardcore punk band Black Flag from 1981 to 1986. Born in Washington, D.C. , and raised primarily by his mother following his parents' divorce, Rollins initially fronted the short-lived D.C. hardcore band State of Alert in 1980 before relocating to join Black Flag, adopting his stage name and committing fully to the band's relentless touring and DIY ethos.

After Black Flag disbanded in 1986, he formed the Rollins Band in 1987, which evolved from hardcore roots into alternative metal and rock, producing influential albums like Life Time (1988) and achieving commercial recognition with tracks such as "Liar."

Rollins has published over a dozen books through his own 2.13.61 imprint, encompassing raw diaries like Get in the Van : On the Road with Black Flag (1994)—for which he won a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album in 1995—poetry collections such as Black Coffee Blues (1992), and essays reflecting his intense personal philosophy and observations.

Beyond music, he has appeared in films and television, hosted radio programs on stations like KCRW , conducted global spoken word tours emphasizing unfiltered introspection and social critique, and supported U.S. troops via USO performances in conflict zones. His career embodies a commitment to artistic independence and physical discipline, though it has sparked divisions within punk communities over perceptions of his intensity as authoritarian or his later mainstream forays as dilutions of hardcore purity.

Henry Lawrence Garfield was born on February 13, 1961, in Washington, D.C. , to Iris Garfield and Paul Garfield, as their only child. His parents divorced when he was approximately three years old, after which he was raised primarily by his mother in the Glover Park neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Iris Garfield worked for the Central Intelligence Agency , which supported the family's residence in the capital amid a stable but single-parent household.

As a child and teenager, Garfield experienced ongoing bullying at school, compounded by periods of depression that marked his early development. During his underclassman years at the Bullis School , a history teacher and Vietnam War veteran recommended he begin weight training to build physical resilience, prompting Garfield to acquire basic equipment from a yard sale and initiate a regimen that transformed his physique and self-perception over time. This shift from a skinny, targeted youth to one cultivating strength through disciplined exercise laid foundational habits of self-reliance and intensity that influenced his later pursuits.

In his late teenage years during the 1970s, Garfield took on various minimum-wage jobs in the Washington area, including manual labor at the National Institutes of Health and managing the reptile department at a local pet shop, experiences that exposed him to diverse work environments and further honed his work ethic amid economic pressures. These formative roles, often involving physical demands and interaction with authority figures, contributed to his early politicization by the D.C. milieu, including encounters with gay supervisors in service-oriented positions. By the end of the decade, he briefly attended American University for one semester before prioritizing employment over formal education.

In the late 1970s, Henry Rollins (born Henry Garfield on February 13, 1961) shifted his musical interests from hard rock acts toward the burgeoning punk scene in Washington, D.C. , a transformation catalyzed by his childhood friendship with Ian MacKaye , future founder of Minor Threat and Fugazi . The two, who had known each other since their youth in the D.C.