Born at Community Hospital in Munster, IN on March 2nd, 1981 to George & Eileen Germek, Josh "Tree" Germek was soon then taken home to Hammond, IN where they lived for 3 years until they all moved to nearby Dyer, IN. George is a safety engineer and Eileen is a first grade teacher. Josh was born a 3rd generation American whose great grandparents came to America by boat from the former Czechoslovakia and Ireland. He has a sister named Meghan who was born in 1984 and is currently a make up artist and spa treatment specialist in Chicago. He also has a 12 year old dog, Milton, who's been his best friend since high school.

Josh was interested in art and music before he could even hold a pencil or hum a tune. He grew up skateboarding, riding bikes, and playing sports. Little did he know that all of which would add inspiration to his artistic career…

Josh attended the Catholic grade school, where his mother taught, until his 7th grade year when he transferred to public school. It was this year that shaped the rest of young Josh Tree's life. At this time, he had dreams of being a professional skateboarder. He had also started painting murals with his buddies. He learned many valuable life lessons through skateboarding and painting. Imagination and color were now pouring out of his fingertips, and it continues to do so to this day.

Music has always been a large part of Josh's life. His earliest memories have to do with his love for animals and his father playing Stevie Wonder and Elton John records on the family turn table, which acted like a babysitter to young Josh Tree who would sing along and play his toy saxophone to his favorite tunes. In grade school, he started writing poetry and found a fascination with rhyming or similarly sounding words and phrases. He would later be putting his poetry into the form of an instrument, his voice. In his sophomore year of high school, he started freestyle rapping and battling other emcees. He also started breakdancing around the same time. He was emerged in the culture and surrounded by like-minded individuals that were just as passionate about their own art and self-expression as he was. They were all teaching and learning at the same time. Josh Tree has been a part of many well known, Chicago hip-hop crews /groups, such as Centric i.e., Nacrobats, and Mama Nuke. He is currently concentrating on a solo career in music.

After Graduating High School in 1999, Josh attended the American Academy of Art, Chicago, where he was trained in the fundamentals of art and design. He concentrated in advertising and visual communications/design, receiving a bachelor degree in 2003. The friendships with classmates and fellow artists that he developed while he was in college are still growing to this day. He has been fortunate to work and collaborate with many of his friends/colleagues on many different projects, post graduation.

After College, Josh moved to East Chicago, IN to live with his grandparents before they decided to move into an assisted living facility. He then moved to Bloomington, IN for two years and pursued his passion for design, painting, and making music. He moved back to Chicago in 2006 and has taken residency in West Town, Lakeview, and is currently living in the Pilsen neighborhood.

Josh has experienced many types of work in many different environments. He has been a server in restaurants, worked in retail, and also has a background in general contracting. He started working for family, who owned their own construction and renovation companies, the summer following his high school graduation. It was during this time that he caught an eye for interior design and decided to apply what he learned from the application of design to the urban exteriors into residential and commercial interiors.

Somewhere inbetween time and space, Josh Tree was created to be seen and heard from his single piece of wall space on the mural we humans call earth. His emphasis is directed towards the concepts of art before he combines the elements of design with it. Art is a language and he is a translator for the verbal visualization of the pictures in words.