Born Joel Reuben Combs in Waldorf, Maryland, his father left on Christmas Eve when Madden was 16 years old. This increased financial problems for the family, causing Madden to take numerous odd jobs to help with the family finances.They got so deep into financhial problems that they had to live in a neighbors backyard in a shed/barn. Madden has a twin brother named Benji (who is older by five minutes), an older brother named Josh, who is a DJ, and a younger sister, Sarah, who sings for the band Her Daily Obsession. He and his twin brother legally changed their last name from Combs, their father's last name, to Madden, their mother's maiden name. during the time they were living in their neighbours backyard, Madden attended La Plata High School in La Plata, Maryland. Their band formed around the year of 1996. They really became successful in 2000 with when they came out with their first album titled 'Good Charlotte', featuring songs titled "Little Things' and "Motivation Proclamation". Later on, they came out with their 2nd album called 'The Young and the Hopeless'. They really took off from there and are now very famous in many places all around the world.

Madden dated singer-actress Hilary Duff for 2 ½ years, but their relationship ended in mid-November 2006, apparently because it was just their time to part. There was no big fight between the two, in fact they are still good friends. It was also reported that they had been stalked by two men. One an extreme Hilary Duff fan who planned to kill Joel (because he was in the way of Hilary and the fan becoming romantically linked) and then marry Hilary, and the other a celebrity photographer who assisted the fan in getting dangerously close to Hilary and Joel.