Her final message would ultimately propel him in his pursuit of music

NEED TO KNOW

• Travis Barker shared how his late mom encouraged him to pursue music before she died in 1990
• He reflected on her influence during an appearance on the CNN Podcast All There Is with Anderson Cooper on Thursday, Aug. 20
• Barker said he feels his mom’s presence guiding him and credits her for his success

Travis Barker has a forever muse in his late mom, Gloria.

The Blink-182 member, 50, recently spoke about how his mom, who died on Sept. 3, 1990, after being diagnosed with the autoimmune disease Sjögren’s syndrome, influenced his music career up to her last breath.

Barker appeared on the CNN Podcast All There Is with Anderson Cooper on Thursday, Aug. 20, where he reflected on the day his mother died, which was the day before he started high school.

Although he had “no clue” that she was going to die, the drummer said he was with her “right before.”

“I remember they were like, ‘you gotta get down there,’ and luckily I got down there the day she passed,” recalled Barker. “And had a chance for her to say, like, ‘pursue music, I really want you to pursue music.’ I still didn’t think those were last words.”

After host Anderson Cooper, 59, asked if those were her last words to him, he said, “Yeah.”

“From the time my mom said that to me, it was like tunnel vision,” Barker said. “I feel like when a parent passes like this, I feel they’re an angel and they help you so many ways, you know, guide you.”

Barker became emotional as he told Cooper that he went to school the day after his mom died and tried out for band, making the marching band’s snare line, “which was like a big accomplishment.”

“Joined jazz band, joined orchestra, just head down, no one to talk to, but play the drums,” he said.

Barker said he immediately pursued music because it was all he knew.

For Barker, his mom is “not just dead and gone.” He feels her presence “1000%.”

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“It’s almost ignorant to think I could just be so blessed to have everything I have now without her and a lot of people that have passed,” he said.

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