Josh Dun
Born in Columbus, Ohio, Josh Dun came from a family of six with two sisters, Ashley and Abigail, and Jordan's brother. He taught himself how to play drums at a young age. Dun remembers that in his youth, he was not allowed to listen to secular music, but would always sneak into the music store and ask for suggestions. "I'd hide albums like Green Day's Dookie under my bed. Sometimes they'd find them and get real mad. They'd find a Christian alternative like Relient K and make me listen to that." Along with former Twenty One Pilots drummer Chris Salih, Dun worked at the Guitar Center, through which he would eventually meet Tyler Joseph.
He describes himself as a Christian, and the music of the band also reflects the influence of their religion and beliefs. He maintained a relationship with actress and singer Debby Ryan from May 2013 through September 2014. In December 2018, during the second leg of The Bandito Tour, Dun posted his engagement to Ryan in New Zealand on Instagram. On December 31, 2019, the pair got married. Josh says "... I’ve always wanted to play drums and now I’m able to do that pretty much on a nightly basis. That’s what I love the most, getting together with people in a room and letting music unify us – I know that sounds really dramatic but it’s a really cool experience and something that I won’t get tired of for a while yet." He attended a Twenty One Pilots show in 2011, at the invitation of co-worker and band drummer Chris Salih, after listening to their original first record. He states that he was impressed with the band's performance. He met lead singer and future bandmate Tyler Joseph after the show and started to develop a relationship with him a few days later. Josh left his job at the Guitar Center after the departure of Nick Thomas and Chris Salih in May and June 2011, to perform a show with Joseph. Before being shut down by the police, they managed to perform one song. Following this, Dun became the permanent drummer for the band.
Tyler Joseph
Born in Columbus, Ohio, Tyler Joseph has two brothers, Zack and Jay, and a niece, Madison. Before his mother became a basketball coach and his father a principal, Joseph was the oldest son of Kelly and Chris Joseph, a math teacher and coach at high school, respectively. He played basketball from an early age and went on to play point guard for Worthington Christian. The team finished second in the state tournament in 2008. After watching a songwriter play at a High Street bar, Tyler realized his urge to pursue music and turned down a basketball scholarship from Otterbein University.
Using an old keyboard he had received as a present, he started to play music and mimicked radio melodies. A solo album, No Phun Intended, released by Tyler, was released on his PureVolume account and was available until sometime in 2015. This project was filmed in the basement of his family home in his senior year of high school (2007-08). The song "Save" from the album has been re-recorded and released for a while on the Twenty One Pilots website as a free download. Fans also made some of the songs from the solo project accessible on YouTube.
As a practising Christian, Tyler Joseph’s music also exposes influences and themes from his religion. He was homeschooled for most of his childhood. He married Jenna Black on 28 March 2015, having been engaged since July 7, 2014. He revealed Jenna's pregnancy on September 7, 2019, when he brought her on stage during Lollapalooza in Berlin, Germany, saying "I would like to bring a few people on stage." Joseph and Jenna publicly announced their daughter, Rosie Joseph, on February 21, 2020, when Jenna posted several images and videos to her Instagram account.
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