'Weird Al' Yankovic Biography

Musician / Humorist

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Name at birth: Alfred Matthew Yankovic

"Weird Al" Yankovic has made a career out of poking fun at pop musicians. Thanks to radio host Dr. Demento, Yankovic broke into the novelty song business in 1979 with "My Bologna," a send-up of The Knack's tune "My Sharona." Throughout the '80s and '90s, Yankovic and his accordion became a staple of MTV as he produced elaborate music video parodies of pop icons such as Madonna, Michael Jackson and Puff Daddy. Yankovic has a loyal following and a solid hold on his position as the best-selling novelty song producer of all time. His Star Wars parody, "The Saga Begins" (to the tune of Don McClean's "American Pie") was widely distributed on the Internet and became a video favorite on MTV at the time of the release of George Lucas's Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (1999). Yankovic's albums include In 3-D (1984, with the hit single "I Lost On Jeopardy"), Dare To Be Stupid (1985), Running With Scissors (1999), and the Grammy-winning Poodle Hat (2003). His album Straight Outta Lynnwood (2006) featured one of his biggest hits in years, "White & Nerdy," a parody of the Chamillionaire song "Ridin'."

Extra credit: Yankovic has a Bachelor's degree in architecture from the California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, otherwise known as CalPoly... His hit single "I Lost on Jeopardy" was a parody of the Greg Kihn Band's hit "Our Love's In Jeopardy"; Yankovic's video starred former Jeopardy host Art Fleming.

Other popular satirists include Tom Lehrer, Douglas Kenney and Michael O'Donoghue.

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