Eddie Vedder - Personal Life

Personal Life

Vedder's first marriage was to longtime girlfriend Beth Liebling. The couple were married in Rome on June 3, 1994. Vedder briefly served as the drummer for Liebling's instrumental experimental rock band Hovercraft in the mid-1990s, going by the stage name Jerome230. Vedder and Liebling divorced in September 2000 after a 6-year marriage. Vedder then married his longtime girlfriend American model Jill McCormick, on September 18, 2010. They have two daughters, Olivia (born June 11, 2004) and Harper (born September 23, 2008).

Vedder attended San Dieguito High School, now called San Dieguito Academy. Vedder donated proceeds from a 2006 Pearl Jam concert in San Diego toward the construction of a theater for the school in the name of his former drama teacher, Clayton E. Liggett. Liggett was Vedder's mentor in high school. Vedder wrote the song "Long Road" (from Merkin Ball) upon hearing of Liggett's death in 1995.

Vedder is a friend of The Who guitarist Pete Townshend and former Audioslave and current Soundgarden frontman, Chris Cornell. Townshend discouraged Vedder from retiring in 1993. In late 2007, Vedder wrote the foreword to a new Pete Townshend biography, Who Are You: The Life of Pete Townshend. The book was published in the UK in March 2008 and in the U.S. in October 2008. Vedder was a close friend of the late Ramones guitarist Johnny Ramone, with Vedder being at his side when he died. Since Ramone's death, Vedder and Pearl Jam have played the Ramones' "I Believe in Miracles" regularly at live shows. While driving home from Ramone's funeral, Vedder wrote the lyrics for the Pearl Jam song "Life Wasted" (from Pearl Jam). He is also a friend of famed surfers Kelly Slater, Laird Hamilton, and fellow musicians Jack Johnson and Ben Harper. He was featured with Laird Hamilton in an episode of the documentary series Iconoclasts in 2006. While surfing with Tim Finn in New Zealand on March 25, 1995, Vedder was carried 250 feet (76 m) off the coast and had to be rescued by lifeguards. He also has paddled outrigger canoes on occasion and in 2005 was nearly lost at sea trying to paddle from Moloka'i to Oahu.

Vedder is a Chicago Bulls and Chicago Bears fan and a long-time, die-hard fan of the Chicago Cubs.Vedder also became a fan of the Seattle SuperSonics while he was living in Seattle, and could be spotted at Key Arena many nights attending Sonics games. He is friends with several Chicago sports figures, including former White Sox pitcher Jack McDowell, former Bulls player Dennis Rodman, former Blackhawks player Chris Chelios and former Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood. Vedder occasionally wears a Walter Payton jersey while performing onstage. Vedder was wearing a White Sox hat given to him by McDowell during Pearl Jam's 1992 Saturday Night Live and MTV Unplugged appearances. In November 1993, Vedder and McDowell were involved in a bar room brawl in New Orleans, Louisiana that resulted in Vedder being arrested for public drunkenness and disturbing the peace. The Pearl Jam song "Black, Red, Yellow" (from the "Hail, Hail" single) is about the Rodman/Michael Jordan/Phil Jackson-era Chicago Bulls teams. The middle of the song features a voice-mail message Rodman left for Vedder asking Vedder to return his call. Vedder sang the national anthem before the third game of the 1998 NBA Finals in Chicago, and has sung "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" at five Cubs games since 1998. In 2007, a few days before performing with Pearl Jam in Chicago for Lollapalooza, he threw out the first pitch at Wrigley Field, the home of the Cubs. Vedder wrote a song at the request of former Cubs shortstop and first baseman Ernie Banks paying tribute to the Cubs called "All the Way". On September 18, 2008, the song was made available for digital download via Pearl Jam's official website for US$0.99.