Al Yankovic was born on October 23, 1959, in the Los Angeles suburb of Lynwood. He first took up the accordion when a salesman came around to solicit business for a music school. His parents, Nick and Mary Yankovic, decided on the accordion because of polka king Frankie Yankovic (no relation). As a child and young teen, Al watched a lot of TV, which gave him much inspiration for his later work. He also became a fan of such musician/comedians as Allan Sherman and Spike Jones. He became especially acquainted with these musicians through the radio show of Barry Hansen, aka "Dr. Demento", which would later become a great source of publicity for his talents. After an extraordinary career at Lynwood High School, where Al graduated as valedictorian, he attended the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo to study architecture, a field he is said to have chosen because it was listed first in the catalog (although he has said that he really chose it on the advice of a guidance counselor). It was at Cal Poly that Al had a radio show and earned the nickname "Weird Al". Although he had sent tapes to Dr. Demento in the past, it was at Cal Poly where he recorded his first real published piece, a parody of the popular "My Sharona" by The Knack, called "My Bologna". After the astounding success of that song, forever to be known as the "bathroom recording" as it was recorded in the acoustically perfect mens' room, Al began his phenomenal career, which has spanned nine albums, numerous compilations, a box set, movies, videos and edible underwear. He has also done a great deal to advance the cause of accordion-wielding weirdos, for which we can all be thankful.


As of March, 2000, he has had four gold and four platinum records in the US, five gold, two platinum, and one double platinum record in Canada. He has also won two grammys and been nominated for eight more. He directed some of his music videos, such as "Amish Paradise", "Gump," "Headline News," and "Bedrock Anthem." Gives a special thanks to Dr. Demento (Barry Hansen) on each of his albums, since the radio DJ was the first to play his songs on the air. Went to California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, where he majored in Architecture and graduated with honors. The Compleat Al (1985) (V) includes an architectural rendering by Al of a food-oriented city called "Burgeropolis". Produced the album "Babalu Music", a collection of musical numbers from the TV series "I Love Lucy" (1951), and includes a Yankovic-edited medley of Desi Arnaz melodies. Fell under the disfavor of rap star Coolio, who claimed that Yankovic's "Amish Paradise" (a parody of "Gangsta's Paradise") was disrespectful of his song which he felt was too serious to parody. Yankovic said that his record label had been given permission by Coolio to parody the song but the rapper denied giving that sanction (the confusion appears to have been caused by a breakdown in the chain of communication, where a "yes" was given by his record label without Coolio's knowledge). In response Yankovic wrote Coolio a letter of apology to which he has (to date) not responded. No legal action has been taken. Ironically, "Gangsta's Paradise" is itself a sampled reworking of Stevie Wonder's "Pasttime Paradise". Along with the Hawaiian shirt and canvas shoes, his trademark look used to be glasses and a mustache. In 1997 he shaved off his mustache and underwent LASIK surgery to correct his nearsightedness, but his publicists insisted that he wear costume glasses and a fake mustache. In 1999 he decided that the costume was too annoying, and revealed his "new" look (reasoning that "if Madonna can change her look every time she puts out a new album, I can certainly change my look every ten years or so"). He still wears the costume glasses and mustache during some of his performances when he wants to recreate the "classic" Weird Al look. Since 2001, his song 'Christmas at Ground Zero' has been banned at some radio stations due to content. Although the song is about Nuclear war at Christmas and was recorded in 1986 (from his album "Polka Party"), those stations have feared that "Ground Zero" has recently become synonymous with the World Trade Center buildings collapsing. Yankovic wrote the song "One More Minute" after being dumped by a then-girlfriend. He sought to remake this song as a duet with Frank Sinatra, but Sinatra declined Yankovic's invitation. Despite sharing a last name and a passion for accordion music, "Weird Al" was no relation to the legendary "Polka King", Frankie Yankovic. Despite this, both men were good friends. "Weird Al" even appeared as a guest accordionist on a recording of "Who Stole The Kishka" on Frankie's Grammy-nominated album, "Songs of the Polka King, Volume One". Shortly after Frankie's death, Al was figuratively bombarded with sympathy mail from fans. Was the subject of a 1999 episode of VH-1's "Behind the Music" (1997) documentary. Unlike other such celebrity documentaries in this series, his did not include any mention of alcoholism, drug abuse, divorce, gambling, religious cults or sexual escapades. Yankovic agreed to appear because, having created his own mock-biography in The Compleat Al (1985) (V), he decided it would be fun to have someone do a serious biography on him. As a rule, all parody ideas are his, with one exception: "Like a Surgeon" came about from a comment Madonna made asking when he was going to turn "Like a Virgin" into that parody. Said he knew he'd made it as a famous musician when he went to a party, saw Paul McCartney and before he could introduce himself to the former Beatle, McCartney recognized him and said, "Hey! It's Weird Al!" Another artist to have denied parody permission is Paul McCartney. Yankovic wrote a parody of "Live and Let Die" called "Chicken Pot Pie", but McCartney (a staunch vegetarian) denied permission. As a result, Yankovic has never released the song, but has performed it in concert. Says his most frequent question by reporters is "Do you write any original songs?" The irony is that roughly half of his material (since his very first album) is original--sometimes parodying the *style* of an artist, but not based on any existing melody or lyrics. His offical website, WeirdAl.com, is maintained by his long-time drummer, Jon Schwartz (a.k.a. "Bermuda" Schwartz). His album covers are frequently parodies as well: Michael Jackson's "Bad" album was spoofed as "Even Worse" (Yankovic even hired the same photo, artwork, and wardrobe team to replicate the cover precisely); Nirvana's "Nevermind" became "Off The Deep End" (with Al replicating the naked baby in the pool photo himself); and the Jurassic Park (1993) soundtrack was turned into "Alapalooza". He used the money he earned from "My Bologna" to found his own short-lived record label, Placebo Records, which released his second record (an "EP" record with only 4 songs). Copies of the record are hot collector's items. During the height of his "Eat It" fame, he spoofed Michael Jackson's Pepsi sponsorship by appearing briefly in a Diet Coke commercial. The spot showed a figure from the back, in a "Thriller"-style jacket, who then turned to reveal it was Al. Has released his own version of "Peter and the Wolf"; this is a collaboration with electronic-music-pioneer Wendy Carlos. His music video collection, 'Weird Al' Yankovic: The Ultimate Video Collection (2003) (V) went Platinum. [October 2005] After graduating college, he applied to work at McDonald's, but was rejected for being overqualified. When he requested permission to parody Dire Straits' song "Money For Nothing", authorization was granted -- with the stipulation that Mark Knopfler (a fan of Weird Al) be allowed to play lead guitar on the song. Thus, "Money For Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies" (featured on the UHF (1989) soundtrack) is one of the few Yankovic songs in which Jim West *doesn't* play lead guitar. He is of Yugoslavian and Italian/English descent. Another person who turned down Weird Al's request for a parody was Yoko Ono. Al approached Paul McCartney about parodying the Beatles song "Free as a Bird" with "Gee I'm A Nerd". McCartney turned the decision over to Ono, who told Al she didn't feel comfortable with his parodying the song. "Gee I'm a Nerd" has since become a concert-only song (as have many Weird Al songs that never received a full blessing), and Al has said that if he knows before hand that Ono will be in the audience, then out of respect for her they won't play it. After doing a short polka parody of "Jocko Homo", members of DEVO ran into Al at a party and asked why they weren't worthy of a full song parody. Al responded with the pastiche piece, "Dare To Be Stupid". Reportedly the members of Devo were not impressed. Is a longtime and devoted friend of the late George Harrison, whom he respected as a singer and songwriter. Yankovic wrote a parody of "Got My Mind Set On You," called "This Song's Just Six Words Long." Harrison even accepted his permission, therefore, it was released as a song off his "Even Worse," album.