Chad Gilbert

Chad Everett Gilbert was born on March 9, 1981, in Coral Springs, Florida. He grew up in South Florida's music-saturated suburbs and attended J. P. Taravella High School. By his mid-teens he was already deep in the local hardcore and punk circuit. When New Found Glory signed to Drive-Thru Records, he left high school after the 11th grade to pursue the band full time, a decision that launched nearly thirty years on stages around the world.

Gilbert attended J. P. Taravella High School in Coral Springs. He did not complete a conventional senior-year path after New Found Glory's early label deal. His musical education came instead from Florida hardcore rehearsal rooms, DIY shows, and the rapid apprenticeship of writing, recording, and touring with Shai Hulud and then New Found Glory.

Gilbert co-founded New Found Glory in Coral Springs in 1997 and became the band's lead guitarist and a core songwriter, also contributing backing vocals. The group rose from Florida clubs to international pop-punk prominence with albums such as Nothing Gold Can Stay, New Found Glory, Sticks and Stones, and Catalyst. Hits including "My Friends Over You," "Hit or Miss," and "All Downhill From Here" made the band a Warped Tour and MTV-era fixture.

He remained with the band through lineup changes (including Steve Klein's 2013 departure) and a long run of later albums into the 2020s, culminating in Listen Up! (2026). Parallel projects included International Superheroes of Hardcore, Hazen Street, and the solo/duo outlet What's Eating Gilbert. Guest appearances linked him to Fall Out Boy, Throwdown, Set Your Goals, Say Anything, and Madball. As a producer he was especially associated with A Day to Remember's Homesick era and subsequent records, as well as H2O, Terror, State Champs, and Candy Hearts.

Gilbert's personal life was often in the public eye because of both music-world marriages and his openness online. He married Sherri DuPree in 2007 (divorced the same year) and Hayley Williams in 2016 (divorced 2017). In 2020 he married Lisa Cimorelli; their daughter Lily was born in 2021. After his death, bandmates emphasized that husband and father were the roles he valued above rock-star status. He made a home in the Nashville area in later years.

In January 2010 Gilbert had surgery after suspicious thyroid cells were found; he reported that no cancer was present. The more serious fight began in December 2021, when he was found unresponsive and underwent emergency surgery for a pheochromocytoma. Recurrences and additional tumors in his spine, lungs, and back led to further surgery and chemotherapy in 2022 - 2023. In March 2026 three brain tumors prompted emergency surgery. In April 2026 he said the diagnosis had changed to stage 4 adrenocortical carcinoma. He continued to share updates with characteristic humor and gratitude, and he returned to stages when his body allowed.

Gilbert spoke often about work ethic, songwriting craft, and loyalty to fans and bandmates. In later years his public voice centered on resilience, faith in family, and asking supporters for prayers or "positive vibes" during treatment. He framed music as both vocation and lifeline, and he described fatherhood as the fulfillment of his biggest dreams.

Gilbert helped write the guitar language of mainstream pop-punk at the turn of the millennium while keeping one foot in hardcore. Producers and bands across punk, easycore, and melodic hardcore cited his recordings and production. New Found Glory's catalogue, What's Eating Gilbert releases, and his work with A Day to Remember remain central documents of the era. After his death, tributes stressed not only riffs and records but humor, drive, and the example he set while living publicly with cancer.

While Gilbert was not primarily framed as an awards-circuit solo star, New Found Glory's commercial success, long touring life, and influence on younger pop-punk and easycore acts were the honours that defined his career. His production discography, especially with A Day to Remember, further cemented his reputation inside the scene.

Gilbert appeared throughout music press, from Alternative Press and Rock Sound to Rolling Stone interviews during his cancer treatment. Music videos for New Found Glory singles kept him visible to mainstream rock audiences. Social media, especially Instagram as @xchadballx, became a direct channel for health updates and personal messages in his final years.

On the morning of September 20, 2026, Chad Everett Gilbert died peacefully in his sleep in Nashville, Tennessee, at age 45. New Found Glory said he was surrounded by friends and family and that his wife Lisa and mother Jackie were with him at the end, as he had wished. The band asked fans to remember his humor, songwriting, and decades of shared stages. He was survived by Lisa, Lily, Jackie, and brother Brian.