Fred Durst

One of THE most hated men in the music business. For some reason.

Fred was born in Gastonia, North Carolina. He claims that he wasn't a good student, always rebellious, and the only way he got good grades was that he was "kissing the teacher's ass". "I never did my homework I don't even know how I made it..it was like a social event for me it was a place to skateboard and rap and beatbox and break dance pretty much was school was for me.. but I did pass..I did graduate because they couldn't stand me..but that's it..i'm a loser.."

He moved to Jacksonville in his late teens and served time in the US Navy. He married and had a daughter (Adriana Durst) at age 20. He found out his wife was cheating and filed a divorce, and managed to get himself in jail for a month after assaulting his ex-wife's new lover.

"I got into a fight with the guy and her and I went to jail over it. I just spent a lot of time thinking in jail--it was the first time I had ever been in jail. It was terrible. I just said I gotta go start over again."

Fred stayed in Jacksonville and started to do art for people and work in the tattoo business. He managed to form a band, which he later called Limp Bizkit (after a groupie said "Man, my head feels like a Limp Bizkit").

"I was trying to put together some bands mixing all of the styles I like. I've been rapping since 1982, DJ'ing since 1985. I've been a punk rocker since 1983. "

"The band thing was a side thing and I was way serious but nobody was because there was no music scene here. So I just went to see every band I could and found that there was nobody serious but I'd pick one person. Like Sam Rivers stuck out of his band--he was serious and go-hard. Wes Borland stuck out of his band and John Otto in his. I said, "hey, I'm really serious. I wanna do this. I wanna mix a lot of things and these are my ideas." I already had some songs written and we started playing those out and it caught on. Then we all started getting the chemistry and writing together and realized it was real."

Then their big break came, when KoRn bassist Fieldy wandered into Fred's tattoo parlour. He slipped him a demo tape, and Fieldy gave that to the KoRn producer, Ross Robinson. He passed it onto Interscope Records, who eventually signed the band up. "I was acting like I was my own manager on the phone. I'd change my voice and I'd change my name and was talking shit to all these record companies. Everybody. Just bull-crap, not knowing a thing about the industry, but they were believing me because I'm a good bull-shitter. Then I really needed management because people were flying out too see us and there was no one here to talk to."

Is currently single and is probably living in a very large mansion in the middle of Jacksonville somewhere with his girlfriend.

He is currently the president of Flawless Records and has directed a number of music videos for bands such as StainD, KoRn and of course, Limp Bizkit. He also happens to be Vice-President for Interscopes' marketing department.