Weird Al Yankovic
- Category : 1959-births
- Type : GP
- Profile : 4/6 - Opportunistic / Role Model
- Definition : Single
- Incarnation Cross : RAX Laws 3
Biography
American entertainer, a comedian, musician, actor and talented mimic with very visual humor. His takeoffs on MTV stars are clever and hilarious. The prince of pop parody, he put his own spin on records by rewording hits by such masters as Michael Jackson, Madonna and Huey Lewis. In 1988, he put out the album "Even Worse," in which his single, "Fat," is a takeoff of Jackson's "Bad."
Al is an only child from a heritage of Yugoslavian, Italian and English. He has never been married, he has no children, and yes, he is heterosexual. He is six foot tall and medium weight with curly reddish brown hair. A straight-A student in school, he graduated as Valedictorian at age 16. He earned a degree in Architecture at the CA Polytech State U. at San Luis Obispo. After graduating from college, Al decided that architecture was not for him, so he worked for a few years in the mailroom and later at a desk job for a large radio syndication company in Culver City, California.
Al changed his diet to vegetarian in 1992. He plays keyboard instruments with the accordion his main squeeze. He took three years lessons, starting at age seven. As a teenager, Al began sending homemade tapes of his songs to Dr. Demento, a nationally syndicated disc jockey known for playing comedy and novelty music. By the time he finished college, he had a modest cult following and a couple nationally-released singles ("My Bologna" and "Another One Rides The Bus.")
Most artists are genuinely flattered and consider it an honor to have Weird Al parody their work. Some groups (including Nirvana) claim that they didn't realize that they had really "made it" until Weird Al did a parody of them! About half of the songs on Al's albums are originals, meaning that Al wrote the music as well as the lyrics.
On April 9, 2004, his parents were found dead in their Fallbrook, California home of carbon-monoxide poisoning. Yankovic’s father was 86 and his mother was 81.