Coordinates	55°45′06″N37°37′04″N
name	Al Stewart
background	solo_singer
birth name	Alastair Ian Stewart
born	September 05, 1945 Glasgow, Scotland
origin	Wimborne, England
instrument	Vocals, guitar, keyboards
genre	Rock Folk rockPop Psychedelic Rock
occupation	Musician, Songwriter
years active	1966–present
website	AlStewart.com
notable instruments	}}

Al Stewart (born Alastair Ian Stewart, 5 September 1945) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and folk-rock musician.

Stewart came to stardom as part of the British folk revival in the 1960s and 1970s, and developed his own unique style of combining folk-rock songs with delicately woven tales of the great characters and events from history.

He is best known for his hit 1976 single "Year of the Cat", the title song from the platinum album ''Year of the Cat''.

Though ''Year of the Cat'' and its 1978 platinum follow-up ''Time Passages'' brought Stewart his biggest worldwide commercial successes, earlier albums such as ''Past, Present and Future'' from 1973 are often seen as better examples of his intimate brand of historical folk-rock - a style to which he has returned in recent albums.

Stewart was a key figure in a fertile era in British music and he appears throughout the musical folklore of the age. He played at the first ever Glastonbury Festival in 1970, knew Yoko Ono before she met John Lennon, shared a London apartment with a young Paul Simon, and hosted at the legendary Les Cousins folk club in London in the 1960s.

Stewart has released sixteen studio and three live albums since his debut album ''Bedsitter Images'' in 1967, and continues to tour extensively around the US and Canada, Europe and the UK. His latest release, is ''Uncorked'', which was released on his independent label, Wallaby Trails Recordings.

He has worked with Peter White, Alan Parsons, Jimmy Page, Richard Thompson, Rick Wakeman, Tori Amos and Tim Renwick and recently has played with Dave Nachmanoff and former Wings lead-guitarist Laurence Juber.

Early life

Though born in Glasgow, Al Stewart grew up in the town of Wimborne Minster, Dorset, England after moving from Scotland with his mother. He attended Wycliffe College school in Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, as a boarder. After that, as he sings in the song "Post World War II Blues" (from ''Past, Present and Future''): ''"I came up to London when I was 19 with a corduroy jacket and a head full of dreams."''

Having bought his first guitar from future Police guitarist Andy Summers, Stewart traded in his electric guitar for an acoustic guitar when he was offered a weekly slot at Bunjies Coffee House in London's Soho in 1965. From there, he went on to compete at the Les Cousins folk club on Greek Street, where he played alongside Cat Stevens, Bert Jansch, Van Morrison, Roy Harper and Ralph McTell.

It was at this time that Stewart also met Yoko Ono, who persuaded him to part with the only £100 he had in the world to put towards her film entitled ''No 4'', a compilation of naked bottoms.

Career

Stewart's first record was the single "The Elf" (backed with a version of the Yardbirds' "Turn into Earth"), which was released in 1966 on Decca Records, and included guitar work from Jimmy Page (later of the Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin), the first of many leading guitarists Stewart worked with, including Richard Thompson, Tim Renwick and Peter White. Stewart then signed to Columbia Records (CBS in the UK), for whom he released six albums. Though the first four of these attracted relatively little commercial interest, Stewart's popularity and cult-following grew steadily through albums that contain some of Stewart's most incisive and introspective songwriting.

Early albums

Stewart's debut album ''Bed-Sitter Images'' was released on LP in 1967 (though technically his first recording was 'The Elf', an extract from Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings' set to music and released by Decca in 1966 - it sold 496 copies!). A revised version appeared in 1970 as ''The First Album (Bed-Sitter Images)'' with a few tracks changed, and the album was reissued on CD in 2007 with all tracks from both versions.

''Love Chronicles'' (1969) was notable for the 18-minute title track, an anguished autobiographical tale of sexual encounters that was the first mainstream record release ever to include the word "fucking". It was voted "Folk Album of the Year" by the UK music magazine ''Melody Maker'', and also features Jimmy Page on guitar.

His third album, ''Zero She Flies'' followed in 1970 and included a number of shorter songs which ranged from acoustic ballads and instrumentals to songs that featured electric lead guitar. These first three albums (including ''The Elf'') were later released as the two CD set ''To Whom it May Concern: 1966–70''.

In 1970, Stewart jumped into a car with fellow musician Ian Anderson and headed to the small town of Pilton, Somerset. There, at Michael Eavis's Worthy Farm, Stewart performed at the first ever Glastonbury festival to a field of 1,000 hippies who had paid just £1 each to be there.

On the back of his growing success, Stewart released ''Orange'' in 1972. It was written after a tumultuous break-up with his girlfriend and muse, Mandi, and was very much a transitional album, combining songs in Stewart's confessional style with more intimations of the historical themes that he would increasingly adopt (e.g. "The News from Spain", with its prog-rock overtones, including dramatic piano by Rick Wakeman).

The fifth release, ''Past, Present and Future'' (1973), was Stewart's first album to receive a proper release in the United States, via Janus Records. It echoed a traditional historical storytelling style and contained the song "Nostradamus," a long (9:43) track in which Stewart tied into the re-discovery of the claimed seer's writings by referring to selected possible predictions about twentieth century people and events. While too long for mainstream radio airplay at that time, the song became a hit on many U.S. college/university radio stations, which were flexible about running times.

Such airplay helped the album to reach #133 on the ''Billboard'' album chart in the US. Other songs on ''Past, Present and Future'' characterized by Stewart's 'history genre' mentioned American President Warren Harding, World War II, Ernst Röhm, Christine Keeler, Louis Mountbatten, and Joseph Stalin's purges.

Alan Parsons years

Stewart followed ''Past, Present and Future'' with ''Modern Times'' (1975), in which the songs were lighter on historical references and more of a return to the theme of short stories set to music. Significantly, though, it was the first of his albums to be produced by Alan Parsons, and Allmusic regards it as his best. It produced his first hit single, "Carol", and received substantial airplay on album oriented stations and reached #30 in the US, some 30 years before Bob Dylan would release an album of the same name.

Stewart's contract with CBS Records expired at this point and he signed to RCA Records for the world outside North America. His first two albums for RCA, ''Year of the Cat'' (released on Janus in the U.S., then reissued by Arista Records after Janus folded) and ''Time Passages'' (released in the U.S. on Arista), set the style for his later work, and have certainly been his biggest-selling recordings.

As Stewart told Kaya Burgess of The Times: "When I finished ''Year of the Cat'', I thought: ‘If this isn’t a hit, then I can’t make a hit.’ We finally got the formula exactly right."

The most amazing fact about this album is that Stewart had all of the music and orchestration written and completely recorded before he even had a title of any of the songs. He mentioned, in a Canadian radio interview, that he has done this for 6 of his albums, and he often writes 4 different sets of lyrics for each song. The hit single ''Year of the Cat'' was originally going to be about a British comic who had committed suicide, but this was vetoed by his record company.

Both albums reached the top ten in the US, with "Year of the Cat" peaking at #5 and "Time Passages" at #10, and both albums produced hit singles in the US ("Year of the Cat" #8, and "On the Border", #42; "Time Passages" #7 and "Song On the Radio", #29). Meanwhile "Year of the Cat" became Stewart's first chart single in Britain, where it peaked at #31. The overwhelming success of these songs, both of which still receive substantial radio airplay on classic-rock/pop format radio stations, has perhaps later overshadowed the depth and range of Stewart's body of songwriting. Stewart himself has frequently expressed disappointment with the quality of his recordings during this era, commercial success notwithstanding.

1980s

Stewart then released ''24 Carrots'' (#37 US 1980) and his first live album ''Live/Indian Summer'' (#110 US 1981), which both featuring backing by Peter White's band Shot in the Dark (who released their own unsuccessful album in 1981). While "24 Carrots" did produce a #24 single with "Midnight Rocks," the album sold less well than its two immediate predecessors.

After those releases, Stewart was dropped by Arista and his popularity declined. Despite his lower profile and waning commercial success, he continued to tour the world, record albums, and maintain a loyal fanbase. There was a four-year gap between his next two albums, the highly political ''Russians and Americans'' (1984) and the upbeat pop-oriented ''Last Days of the Century'' (1988), which appeared on smaller labels and had lower sales than his previous works.

1990s

Stewart followed up with his second live album, the acoustic ''Rhymes in Rooms'' (1992), which featured only himself and Peter White, and ''Famous Last Words'' (1993), which was dedicated to the memory of the late Peter Wood (who co-wrote "Year of the Cat"), who died the year of its release.

Stewart followed these up with a concept album, with ''Between the Wars'' (1995), covering major historical and cultural events from 1918 to 1939, such as the Versailles Treaty, Prohibition, the Spanish Civil War, and the Great Depression.

In 1995, Stewart was invited to play at the 25th anniversary Glastonbury festival, taking to the same stage he had graced in 1970 at the first ever festival.

21st century

In 2000, Stewart released ''Down in the Cellar'', a concept album themed on wine. Stewart had begun a love-affair with wine in the 1970s when, he admitted, he had more money than he knew how to spend, and so turned to fine wines.

In 2005 he released ''A Beach Full of Shells'', which was set in exotic places from First World War England to the 1950s rock'n'roll scene that influenced him.

In 2008, he released ''Sparks of Ancient Light'' produced, like his previous album, by Laurence Juber. Here he weaves tales of William McKinley, Lord Salisbury and Hanno the Navigator.

Stewart and guitarist Dave Nachmanoff released a live album, ''Uncorked (Live with Dave Nachmanoff)'' on Stewart's label, Wallaby Trails Recordings, in 2009.

Stewart and Nachmanoff played the Glastonbury Festival 40th anniversary in June 2010 on the Acoustic stage.

Stewart sang a duet with Albert Hammond of Hammond's "It Never Rains in Southern California" on Hammond's 2010 album "Legend."

In 2011, Stewart sang a duet with his guitarist and opening act Dave Nachmanoff on Nachmanoff's album "Step Up". The song, "Sheila Won't Be Coming Home", was co-written by Stewart and Nachmanoff.

Residence

Born in Scotland, raised in Dorset and gaining fame in London, Stewart moved to Los Angeles in the late 1970s. He married in the mid-1990s, and he, his wife and their two daughters moved to Marin County, California.

Use of historical and literary sources

Historical references

Stewart's historical work includes such subjects as:

World War I pilots - "Fields of France", from the album ''Last Days of the Century''

The career of Admiral Sir John Fisher of the World War I Royal Navy inspired "Old Admirals", from ''Past, Present, and Future''

The Wehrmacht's invasion of the Soviet Union in World War II is the focus of "Roads to Moscow", from ''Past, Present, and Future''. There are references to both Wehrmacht General Heinz Guderian and also to the German Tiger tank and to the brutal treatment of returning Russian soldiers, which is drawn from the Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn book ''The Gulag Archipelago''.

Both the Basque separatists in Spain and the crisis in the former republic of Rhodesia are referenced in "On the Border", from ''Year of the Cat''

The Soviet Union is the focus of "In Red Square", from ''Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time''.

The English sailor Sir Richard Grenville is profiled in "Lord Grenville", from ''Year of the Cat''.

The French Revolution is addressed in the song "The Palace of Versailles", from ''Time Passages''.

Henry VIII of England (misidentified by Stewart as Henry Plantagenet (Henry II)) and Thomas More (Henry VIII's chancellor) are referenced in "A Man for All Seasons" from ''Time Passages''.

The assassin of Jean-Paul Marat is the subject of "Charlotte Corday", from ''Famous Last Words''.

The subject of Nazi war criminals hiding in South America is featured in "Running Man" from ''24 Carrots''.

The scandals of the foreshortened Warren Harding administration are the subject of "Warren Harding" from ''Past, Present and Future''.

Ernst Röhm, leader of the Nazi SA, is the subject of "The Last Day of June, 1934" from "Past, Present and Future."

Literary sources

"Sirens of Titan", from ''Modern Times'' is a musical precis of Kurt Vonnegut's novel of the same title.

On occasion, Stewart has set poems to music, such as "My Enemies Have Sweet Voices" (lyrics by the poet Pete Morgan) on the 1970 album ''Zero She Flies''. During his 1999 UK tour, Stewart invited Morgan to read the lyrics as he performed this song in the Leeds City Varieties Theatre show of 7 November 1999.

Discography

Studio albums

''Bed-Sitter Images'' (1967)

''Love Chronicles'' (1969)

''Zero She Flies'' (1970) #40 UK

''Orange'' (1972)

''Past, Present and Future'' (1973) #133 US

''Modern Times'' (1975) #30 US

''Year of the Cat'' (1976) #5 US (RIAA: Platinum) (BPI: Gold) #38 UK

''Time Passages'' (1978) #10 US (RIAA: Platinum) (BPI: Silver) #39 UK

''24 Carrots'' (1980) (with Shot In The Dark) #37 US #55 UK

''Russians and Americans'' (1984) #83 UK

''Last Days of the Century'' (1988)

''Famous Last Words'' (1993)

''Between the Wars'' (1995) (with Laurence Juber)

''Down in the Cellar'' (2000)

''A Beach Full of Shells'' (2005)

''Sparks of Ancient Light'' (2008)

Live albums

''Live/Indian Summer'' (1981) #110 US

''Rhymes in Rooms'' (1992) (with Peter White)

''Uncorked'' (2009) (with Dave Nachmanoff)

Compilations

''The Early Years (1977)

''The Best of Al Stewart - Songs From the Radio (1985)

''Chronicles... The Best of Al Stewart (1991)

''To Whom it May Concern 1966-1970 (1993)

''Premium Gold Collection (1996)

''Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time'' (1996) (limited distribution of B-sides and rarities)

''On the Border (1998)

''Singer Songwriter (2001)

''The Very Best Al Stewart Album Ever (2002)

''The Essential Al Stewart (2003)

''Introducing... Al Stewart - Running Man (2003)

''Greatest Hits (2004)

''Just Yesterday (2005)

''A Piece of Yesterday - The Anthology (2006)

''The Definitive Pop Collection (2006)

Charted Singles

Year of the Cat (1976 #8 US, #31 UK)

On the Border (1977 #42 US)

Time Passages (1978 #7 US, #1 US Adult Contemporary)

Song on the Radio (1979 #29 US)

Midnight Rocks (1980 #24 US)

References

External links

Official Page

Dutch Fan Page

German Fan Page

German Fan Page (alternative link)

Comprehensive discography

Al Stewart Friends

The Al Stewart Mailing List

Blogcritics.org Al Stewart Collection: Interviews, Discography, more

Al Stewart and Awaken evenings

Category:Scottish folk singers Category:Scottish male singers Category:Scottish rock singers Category:Scottish pop singers Category:Scottish singer-songwriters Category:People from Glasgow Category:People from Wimborne Minster Category:Scottish agnostics Category:British expatriates in the United States Category:1945 births Category:Living people Category:Old Wycliffians

de:Al Stewart es:Al Stewart fr:Al Stewart it:Al Stewart he:אל סטיוארט nl:Al Stewart no:Al Stewart pt:Al Stewart fi:Al Stewart sv:Al Stewart uk:Ел Стюарт

Coordinates	55°45′06″N37°37′04″N
Name	"Weird Al" Yankovic
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Alfred Matthew Yankovic
Alias	"Weird Al" Yankovic
Birth date	October 23, 1959
Origin	Lynwood, California, U.S.
Instrument	Vocals, accordion, keyboards
Occupation	Record producer, satirist, parodist, singer-songwriter, musician, director, producer, actor
Years active	1976–present
Genre	Parody, comedy, polka
Religion	Christianity
Label	Capitol, Scotti Brothers, Volcano
Associated acts	Dr. Demento
Website	www.weirdal.com }}

Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic (; born October 23, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts. Since his first-aired comedy song in 1976, he had sold more than 12 million albums (as of 2007), recorded more than 150 parody and original songs, and has performed more than 1,000 live shows. His works have earned him three Grammy Awards among nine nominations, four gold records, and six platinum records in the United States. Yankovic's first top ten ''Billboard'' album (''Straight Outta Lynwood'') and single ("White & Nerdy") were both released in 2006, nearly three decades into his career.

Yankovic's success comes in part from his effective use of music video to further parody popular culture, the song's original artist, and the original music videos themselves, scene-for-scene in some cases. He directed later videos himself and went on to direct for other artists including Ben Folds, Hanson, Black Crowes, and The Presidents of the United States of America. In addition to recording his albums, Yankovic wrote and starred in the film, ''UHF'', and television show, ''The Weird Al Show''. He has also made guest appearances on many television shows, in addition to starring in ''Al TV'' specials on MTV.

Early life

The only child of Nick Louis Yankovic (June 4, 1917 – April 9, 2004) and Mary Elizabeth (February 7, 1923 – April 9, 2004), Alfred was born in Downey, California, and raised in the town of Lynwood. His father was born in Kansas City, Kansas of Serbian descent, and began living in California after serving during World War II; he believed "the key to success" was "doing for a living whatever makes you happy" and often reminded his son of this philosophy. Nick Yankovic married Mary Vivalda in 1949. Mary, who was of Italian and English descent, and had come to California from Kentucky, gave birth to Alfred ten years later.

Al's first accordion lesson, which sparked his career in music, was on the day before his sixth birthday. A door-to-door salesman traveling through Lynwood offered the Yankovic parents a choice of accordion or guitar lessons at a local music school. Yankovic claims the reason his parents chose accordion over guitar was "They figured there should be at least one more accordion-playing Yankovic in the world," referring to Frankie Yankovic, to whom he is not related directly. Also, Yankovic said, that "[his] parents chose the accordion because they were convinced it would revolutionize rock." He continued lessons at the school for three years before continuing to learn on his own. Yankovic's early accordion role models include Frankie Yankovic and Myron Floren (the accordionist on ''The Lawrence Welk Show''). In the 1970s, Yankovic was a big fan of Elton John and claims John's ''Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'' album "was partly how I learned to play rock 'n roll on the accordion." As for his influences in comedic and parody music, Yankovic lists artists including Tom Lehrer, Stan Freberg, Spike Jones, Allan Sherman, Shel Silverstein and Frank Zappa "and all the other wonderfully sick and twisted artists that he was exposed to through the ''Dr. Demento Radio Show''." Other sources of inspiration for his comedy come from ''Mad'' magazine, Monty Python, and the Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker parody movies.

Yankovic began kindergarten a year earlier than most children, and he skipped the second grade. "My classmates seemed to think I was some kind of rocket scientist so I was labeled a nerd early on," he recalls. As his unusual schooling left him two years younger than most of his classmates, Yankovic was not interested in sports or social events at school. He was a straight-A student throughout high school, which earned him the honor of becoming valedictorian of his senior class. Yankovic was active in his school's extracurricular programs, including the National Forensic League, a play based upon ''Rebel Without a Cause'', the yearbook (for which he wrote most of the captions), and the Volcano Worshippers club, "which did absolutely nothing. We started the club just to get an extra picture of ourselves in the yearbook."

Yankovic went on to California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo where he earned a degree in architecture.

Career

Dr. Demento and early fame

Yankovic received his first exposure via southern California and syndicated comedy radio personality Dr. Demento's radio show, saying "If there hadn't been a Dr. Demento, I'd probably have a real job now." In 1976, Dr. Demento spoke at Yankovic's school where the then 16 year old Yankovic gave him a homemade tape of original and parody songs performed on the accordion in Yankovic's bedroom into a "cheesy little tape recorder". The tape's first song was "Belvedere Cruisin'", about his family's Plymouth Belvedere, was played on Demento's comedy radio show, launching Yankovic's career. Demento said "'Belvedere Cruising' might not have been the very best song I ever heard, but it had some clever lines [...] I put the tape on the air immediately.". Yankovic also played at local coffeehouses, saying:

During Yankovic's sophomore year as an architecture student at Cal Poly at San Luis Obispo, he became a disc jockey at the university's radio station, KCPR. Yankovic said he had been nicknamed ''Weird Al'' by fellow students and "took it on professionally" as his persona for the station. In 1978, he released his first recording (as Alfred Yankovic), "Take Me Down", on the LP, ''Slo Grown'', as a benefit for the Economic Opportunity Commission of San Luis Obispo County. The song mocked famous nearby landmarks such as the fountain toilets at the Madonna Inn.

In mid-1979, shortly before his senior year, "My Sharona" by The Knack was on the charts and Yankovic took his accordion into the restroom across the hall from the radio station (to take advantage of the echo chamber acoustics) and recorded a parody titled "My Bologna". He sent it to Dr. Demento, who played it to good response from listeners. Yankovic met The Knack after a show at his college and introduced himself as the author of "My Bologna". The Knack's lead singer, Doug Fieger, said he liked the song and suggested that Capitol Records vice president Rupert Perry release it as a single. "My Bologna" was released as a single with "School Cafeteria" as its B-side, and the label gave Yankovic a six-month recording contract. Yankovic, who was "only getting average grades" in his architecture degree, began to realize that he might make a career of comedic music.

On September 14, 1980, Yankovic was a guest on the ''Dr. Demento Show'', where he was to record a new parody live. The song was called "Another One Rides the Bus", a parody of Queen's hit, "Another One Bites the Dust". While practicing the song outside the sound booth, he met Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz, who told him he was a drummer and agreed to bang on Yankovic's accordion case to help Yankovic keep a steady beat during the song. They rehearsed the song just a few times before the show began. "Another One Rides the Bus" became so popular that Yankovic's first television appearance was a performance of the song on ''The Tomorrow Show'' (April 21, 1981) with Tom Snyder. On the show, Yankovic played his accordion, and again, Schwartz banged on the accordion case and provided comical sound effects.

Band and fame

1981 brought Yankovic on tour for the first time as part of Dr. Demento's stage show. His stage act in a Phoenix, Arizona, nightclub caught the eye of manager Jay Levey, who was "blown away". Levey asked Yankovic if he had considered creating a full band and doing his music as a career. Yankovic admitted that he had, so Levey held auditions. Steve Jay became Yankovic's bass player, and Jay's friend Jim West played guitar. Schwartz continued on drums. Yankovic's first show with his new band was on March 31, 1982. Several days later, Yankovic and his band were the opening act for Missing Persons.

Yankovic recorded "I Love Rocky Road", (a parody of "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" as recorded by Joan Jett and The Blackhearts) which was produced by Rick Derringer, in 1982. The song was a hit on Top 40 radio, leading to Yankovic's signing with Scotti Brothers Records. In 1983, Yankovic's first self-titled album was released on Scotti Bros. He released his second album ''"Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D'' in 1984. The first single "Eat It", a parody of the Michael Jackson song "Beat It", became popular, thanks in part to the music video, a shot-for-shot parody of Jackson's "Beat It" music video, and what Yankovic described as his "uncanny resemblance" to Jackson. Peaking at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 14, 1984, "Eat It" remained Yankovic's highest-charting single until "White & Nerdy" placed at number 9 in October 2006.

In 1985, Yankovic co-wrote and starred in a mockumentary of his own life entitled ''The Compleat Al'', which intertwined the facts of his life up to that point with fiction. The movie also featured some clips from Yankovic's trip to Japan and some clips from the ''Al TV'' specials. ''The Compleat Al'' was co-directed by Jay Levey, who would direct ''UHF'' four years later. Also released around the same time as ''The Compleat Al'' was ''The Authorized Al'', a biographical book based on the film. The book, resembling a scrapbook, included real and fictional humorous photographs and documents.

Yankovic and his band toured as the opening act for The Monkees in mid-1987 for their second reunion tour of North America. Yankovic claims to have enjoyed touring with The Monkees, despite the fact "the promoter gypped us out of a bunch of money."

Yankovic also appeared on the Wendy Carlos recording of Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" as the narrator in 1988. The album also included a sequel of Camille Saint-Saëns's composition The Carnival of the Animals entitled the "Carnival of the Animals Part II", with Yankovic providing humorous poems for each of the featured creatures in the style of Ogden Nash, who had written humorous poems for the original. Rubén Valtierra joined the band on keyboards in 1991, allowing Yankovic to concentrate more on singing and increasing his use of the stage space during concerts.

A factual biographical booklet of Yankovic's life, written by Dr. Demento, was released with the 1994 box set compilation ''Permanent Record: Al in the Box''. The Dr. Demento Society, which issues yearly Christmas re-releases of material from Dr. Demento's Basement Tapes, often includes unreleased tracks from Yankovic's vaults, such as "Pacman", "It's Still Billy Joel To Me" or the live version of "School Cafeteria".

New look and career to present

On January 24, 1998, Yankovic had LASIK eye surgery to correct his extreme myopia. In the same period, he shaved off his moustache and grew out his hair, thus radically changing his signature look (he had previously shaved his mustache in 1983 for the video of "Ricky" to resemble Desi Arnaz and 1996 for the "Amish Paradise" video). Yankovic reasoned, "If Madonna's allowed to reinvent herself every 15 minutes, I figure I should be good for a change at least once every 20 years." He parodied the reaction to this "new look" in a commercial for his nonexistent ''MTV Unplugged'' special. The commercial featured Yankovic in the short-haired wig from the music video for Hanson's "River", claiming his new look was an attempt to "get back to the core of what I'm all about", that being "the music".

Three of his latest albums feature the longest songs Yankovic has ever released. The "Albuquerque" track from ''Running with Scissors'' is 11 minutes and 25 seconds; "Genius in France" from ''Poodle Hat'' runs for 8 minutes and 56 seconds; "Trapped in the Drive-Thru" from ''Straight Outta Lynwood'' is 10 minutes and 53 seconds long. Before 2007 (apart from a one-off performance of "Albuquerque" in Albuquerque, New Mexico), these "epic" songs were not performed live in their entirety due to their length and complexity. ''(See Live performances for details)''

Yankovic has also started to explore digital distribution of his songs. On October 7, 2008, Yankovic released to the iTunes Store "Whatever You Like", a parody of the T.I. song of the same title, which Yankovic said he had come up with two weeks before. Yankovic said that the benefit of digital distribution is that "I don't have to wait around while my songs get old and dated—I can get them out on the Internet almost immediately." In 2009, Yankovic released four more songs: "Craigslist" on June 16, "Skipper Dan" on July 14, "CNR" on August 4, and "Ringtone" on August 25. These five digitally released songs were packaged as a digital EP titled ''Internet Leaks'', with "Whatever You Like" retroactively included in the set.

In 2011, Yankovic completed his thirteenth studio album. This album, titled ''Alpocalypse'', is his first studio album since ''Straight Outta Lynwood'', and was released on June 21, 2011. The album contains the five songs from the previous ''Internet Leaks'' digital download release, a polka medley called "Polka Face", a song called "TMZ" for which Bill Plympton created an animated music video, and five other new songs.

Yankovic had reported an interest in parodying Lady Gaga's material, and on April 20 announced that he had written and recorded a parody of "Born This Way" entitled "Perform This Way", to be the lead single for his new album. However, upon first submitting it to Lady Gaga's manager for approval (which Yankovic does as a courtesy), he was not given permission to release it commercially. As he had previously done under similar circumstances (with his parody of James Blunt's "You're Beautiful"), Yankovic then released the song for free on the internet. Soon afterwards, Gaga's manager admitted that he had denied the parody of his own accord without forwarding the song to his client, and upon seeing it online, Lady Gaga granted permission for the parody. Yankovic has stated that all of his proceeds from the parody and its music video will be donated to the Human Rights Campaign, to support the human rights themes of the original song.

Yankovic was also a judge for the 10th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.

Personal life

Yankovic married Suzanne Krajewski in 2001; their daughter, Nina, was born in 2003. They also have a pet cockatiel named Bo Veaner and another dog named Bambu. They used to have a pet poodle, named Bela (pictured atop Yankovic's head on the cover of his album, ''Poodle Hat''). Yankovic identifies as Christian and has stated that a couple from his church appeared on the cover of ''Poodle Hat''.

Yankovic changed his diet to become a vegan in 1992, after a former girlfriend gave him the book ''Diet for a New America'' and he felt "it made [...] a very compelling argument for a strict vegetarian diet." When asked how he can "rationalize" performing at events such as the ''Great American Rib Cook-Off'' when he is a vegan, he replied "The same way I can rationalize playing at a college even though I’m not a student anymore."

In 2004, Yankovic's parents were found dead in their Fallbrook, California, home, apparently the victims of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning from their fireplace that had been recently lit. The flue was closed, which trapped the carbon monoxide gas inside the house, suffocating them. Several hours after his wife notified him of his parents' death, Yankovic went on with his concert in Mankato, Minnesota, saying that "since my music had helped many of my fans through tough times, maybe it would work for me as well" and that it would "at least ... give me a break from sobbing all the time." Although Yankovic played the concert as planned, a scheduled meet and greet following the concert was canceled.

Music career

While Yankovic's song parodies (such as "Eat It") have resulted in success on the Billboard charts (''see List of singles by "Weird Al" Yankovic''), he has actually recorded an equally large number of original humorous songs ("You Don't Love Me Anymore" and "One More Minute"). His work depends largely on the satirizing of popular culture, including television (''see The TV Album''), movies ("The Saga Begins"), food (''see The Food Album''), popular music ("Bohemian Polka", "Polkarama"), and sometimes issues in contemporary news ("Headline News"). Yankovic claims he has no intention of writing "serious" music. In his reasoning, "There's enough people that do unfunny music. I'll leave the serious stuff to Paris Hilton and Kevin Federline."

Although many of Yankovic's songs are parodies of contemporary radio hits, it is rare that the song's primary topic lampoons the original artist as a person, or the song itself. Most Yankovic songs consist of the original song's music, with a separate, unrelated set of amusing lyrics. Yankovic considered that his first true satirical song was "Smells Like Nirvana", which references unintelligible lyrics in Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" Other satirical songs include "Achy Breaky Song", which refers to the song "Achy Breaky Heart", "(This Song's Just) Six Words Long", which refers to the repetitious lyrics in "Got My Mind Set on You", the unreleased "It's Still Billy Joel to Me", and Perform This Way", set to Lady Gaga's "Born This Way".

Yankovic's humor normally lies more in creating unexpected incongruity between an artist's image and the topic of the song, contrasting the style of the song with its content (such as the songs "Amish Paradise", "White & Nerdy", and "You're Pitiful"), or in pointing out trends or works which have become pop culture clichés (such as "eBay" and "Don't Download This Song").

Yankovic is the sole writer for all his songs and, for "legal and personal reasons", does not accept parody submissions or ideas from fans. There exists, however, one exception to this rule in the case of "Like a Surgeon". Madonna was reportedly talking with a friend and happened to wonder aloud when Yankovic was going to turn her "Like a Virgin" into "Like a Surgeon". Madonna's friend was a mutual friend of Yankovic's manager, Jay Levey, and eventually Yankovic himself heard the story from Levey.

Unlike other parody artists such as Allan Sherman, Yankovic strives to keep the backing music in his parodies the same as the original. While Sherman reproduced them orchestrally, Yankovic and his band essentially play the original song with new lyrics. Instead of using instrumental versions of the original songs, Yankovic and his band transcribe the original song by ear and re-record the song for Yankovic's parody version.

In addition to his parodies, Yankovic also includes a medley of various songs on most albums, each one reinterpreted as a polka, with the choruses or memorable lines of various songs juxtaposed for humorous effect. Yankovic has been known to say that converting these songs to polka was "...the way God intended." Because the polkas have become a staple of Yankovic's albums, he has said he tries to include one on each album because "fans would be rioting in the streets, I think, if I didn't do a polka medley."

Some of Yankovic's original songs are "style parodies" for which he chooses a band's entire body of work to honor/parody, rather than any single hit by that band. Such bands include Rage Against the Machine with "I'll Sue Ya" (which features many aspects of the hit song "Killing in the Name"), Devo with "Dare to Be Stupid", Talking Heads with "Dog Eat Dog", Frank Zappa with "Genius in France", Nine Inch Nails with "Germs", and Queen with "Ringtone". Others are style parodies in the style of a genre of music, rather than a specific band (for example, country music with "Good Enough For Now" and charity records with "Don't Download This Song").

Yankovic has contributed original songs to several films ("This Is the Life" from ''Johnny Dangerously''; "Polkamon" from the movie ''Pokémon: The Movie 2000'', and a parody of the James Bond title sequence in ''Spy Hard''), in addition to his own film, ''UHF''. Other songs of his have appeared in films or television series as well, such as "Dare to Be Stupid" in ''The Transformers: The Movie''.

One of Yankovic's recurring jokes involves the number 27. It is mentioned in the lyrics of several songs, and seen on the covers for ''Running With Scissors'', ''Poodle Hat'' and ''Straight Outta Lynwood''. Yankovic had originally just pulled the number 27 as a random figure to use in filling out lyrics, but as his fans started to notice the reuse of the number after the first few times, Yankovic began to purposely drop references to 27 within his lyrics, videos, and album covers. Yankovic explains that "It's just a number I started using that people started attaching a lot of importance to." Other recurring jokes revolve around the names Bob (the ''Al TV'' interviews often mention the name), Frank (e.g. "Frank's 2000" TV"), and the surname "Finkelstein" (e.g. the music video for "I Lost on Jeopardy", or Fran Dreischer's character, Pamela Finkelstein, in UHF). Also, a hamster called Harvey the Wonder Hamster is a recurring character in ''The Weird Al Show'' and the ''Al TV'' specials, as well as the subject of an original song on ''Alapalooza''. Some other recurring jokes include Yankovic borrowing, or being owed, $5. In a number of ''Al TV'' interviews, he often asks if he can borrow $5, being turned down every time. This motif also occurs in "Why Does This Always Happen to Me?", in which his deceased friend owes him $5. Another recurring joke is his attraction to female nostrils or nostrils in general. This also appears in numerous ''Al TV'' interviews as well as in several of his songs ("Albuquerque" and "Wanna B Ur Lovr" to name a few.) Yankovic also asks his celebrity guests if they could "shave his back for a nickel." This also appears in the song "Albuquerque". Yankovic has also put two backmasking messages into his songs. The first, in "Nature Trail to Hell", said "Satan Eats Cheez Whiz"; the second, in "I Remember Larry", said "Wow, you must have an awful lot of free time on your hands."

Yankovic's career in novelty and comedy music has outlasted many of his "mainstream" parody targets, such as Toni Basil, MC Hammer, and Men Without Hats. While most novelty artists are one-hit wonders, Yankovic's continued success (including the top 10 single "White & Nerdy" and album ''Straight Outta Lynwood'' in 2006) has enabled him to escape the stigma often associated with novelty music.

Music videos

While Yankovic's musical parodies generally do not include references to the songs or the artists of the original songs, Yankovic's music videos will sometimes parody the original song's music video in whole or in part. Most notably, the video for "Smells Like Nirvana" uses an extremely similar set to Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", including using several of the same actors. This video contended with "Smells like Teen Spirit" at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards for Best Male Video. Other videos that draw directly from those of the original song include "Eat It", "Fat", "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies*", "Bedrock Anthem", "Headline News", "It's All about the Pentiums", "Amish Paradise", "Like a Surgeon", and "White & Nerdy". The video for "Dare to Be Stupid" is, as stated by Yankovic, a style parody in general of Devo videos.

Several videos have included appearances by notable celebrities in addition to Yankovic and his band. Dr. Demento appeared in several of Yankovic's earlier videos, such as "I Love Rocky Road" and "Ricky". Actor Dick Van Patten is featured in both "Smells Like Nirvana" and "Bedrock Anthem"; Drew Carey, Emo Philips and Phil LaMarr appeared in "It's All About the Pentiums"; Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Donny Osmond, Judy Tenuta and Seth Green appeared in "White & Nerdy"; and Ruth Buzzi and Pat Boone appeared in "Gump". The video for "I Lost on Jeopardy" includes an appearance by Greg Kihn, the artist whose song, "Jeopardy", was being parodied, along with Don Pardo and Art Fleming, Jeopardy's original announcer and host, as themselves. Florence Henderson plays Al's Amish wife in "Amish Paradise".

While most videos that Yankovic creates are aired on music channels such as MTV and VH1, Yankovic has also worked with animation artists to create music videos for release with extended content albums. The DualDisc version of ''Straight Outta Lynwood'' features six videos set to songs from the release, including videos created by Bill Plympton and John Kricfalusi; one video, "Weasel Stomping Day" was created by the producers of the show ''Robot Chicken'', and aired as a segment of that program. As of fall 2010, Yankovic is again collaborating with Bill Plympton to create a video for a new song ("TMZ") which will appear on his upcoming album.

Reactions from original artists

Under the "fair use" provision of U.S. copyright law, affirmed by the United States Supreme Court, one does not need permission to record a parody. However, as a personal rule, and as a means of maintaining good relationships within the music community, Yankovic has always requested permission from the original artist before recording his parodies. He claims that only about two to three percent of the artists he approaches for parody permission deny his requests. Also, according to Stanford Libraries, fair use is unlikely to justify a parody song that parodies more than a few lines of song lyrics from an existing song. Most artists have had positive reactions to Yankovic's parodies. Several have considered it to be something of a badge of honor to have Yankovic ask permission to parody their song or style, since they felt that Yankovic would not choose to do so unless they were a success or had made some sort of cultural impact at the time. However, there are a few notable exceptions where people have not allowed parodies or have otherwise withdrawn permission.

Positive

Michael Jackson was a big fan of Yankovic, and Yankovic claimed that the artist "had always been very supportive" of his work. Jackson twice allowed him to parody his songs ("Beat It" and "Bad" became "Eat It" and "Fat", respectively). When he granted Yankovic permission to do "Fat", Jackson allowed him to use the same set built for his own "Badder" video from the ''Moonwalker'' video. Though Jackson allowed "Eat It" and "Fat", he requested that Yankovic not record a parody of "Black or White", entitled "Snack All Night", because he felt the message was too important. This refusal, coming shortly after the commercial failure of Yankovic's movie ''UHF'' in theaters, had initially set Yankovic back; however, Yankovic later recognized this as a critical time, as in searching for new parodies, he came across Nirvana and leading to a revitalization of his career with "Smells Like Nirvana". Yankovic has performed a concert-only parody "Snack All Night" in some of his live shows. Yankovic also has a cameo appearance, along with many other celebrities, in Jackson's music video for "Liberian Girl".

Dave Grohl of Nirvana said that the band felt they had "made it" after Yankovic recorded "Smells Like Nirvana", a parody of the grunge band's smash hit, "Smells Like Teen Spirit". On his ''Behind the Music'' special, Yankovic stated that when he called Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain to ask if he could parody the song, Cobain gave him permission, then paused and asked, "Um... it's not gonna be about food, is it?" Yankovic responded with, "No, it'll be about how no one can understand your lyrics." According to members of Nirvana interviewed for ''Behind the Music'', when they saw the video of the song, they laughed hysterically. Additionally, Cobain described Yankovic as "a musical genius."

Mark Knopfler approved Yankovic's parody of the Dire Straits song "Money for Nothing" for use in the film ''UHF'' on the provision that Knopfler himself be allowed to play lead guitar on the parody which was later titled "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies*". Yankovic commented on the legal complications of the parody in the DVD audio commentary for ''UHF'', explaining "We had to name that song 'Money for Nothing 'slash' Beverly Hillbillies 'asterisk' because the lawyers told us that had to be the name. Those wacky lawyers! What ya gonna do?" The ''Permanent Record: Al in the Box'' booklet referred to the song's "compound fracture of a title." When a fan asked about the song's title, Yankovic shared his feelings on the title, replying "That incredibly stupid name is what the lawyers insisted that the parody be listed as. I'm not sure why, and I've obviously never been very happy about it."

The Presidents of the United States of America were so pleased with "Gump", Yankovic's parody of their song "Lump", that they ended the song with Yankovic's last line instead of their own ("And that's all I have to say about that") on the live recording of "Lump" featured on the compilation album ''Pure Frosting''. In 2008, Yankovic directed the music video for their song "Mixed Up S.O.B."

The song "The Saga Begins" (a parody of Don McLean's "American Pie") accurately states the entire plot of ''The Phantom Menace'', despite being written before the film's release. Yankovic got the plot details from rumor websites. He was slightly unsure about Anakin proposing to Amidala, so he attended a US$500 screening to confirm, and ended up making only very minor alterations to the lyrics. McLean was pleased with the parody, and even told Yankovic that the parody's lyrics sometimes enter his mind during live performances. Yankovic's parody not only replicates the music from the original Don McLean song, but it also replicates the multi-layered rhyming structure in the verses and chorus. Additionally, George Lucas loved the song and a Lucasfilm representative told Yankovic, "You should have seen the smile on his face."

Chamillionaire was also very pleased, even putting Yankovic's parody "White & Nerdy" (a parody of "Ridin'") on his official MySpace page before it was on Yankovic's own page. Chamillionaire stated in an interview, "He's actually rapping pretty good on it, it's crazy [...] I didn't know he could rap like that. It's really an honor when he does that. [...] Weird Al is not gonna do a parody of your song if you're not doing it big." In September 2007, Chamillionaire credited "White & Nerdy" for his recent Grammy win, stating "That parody was the reason I won the Grammy, because it made the record so big it was undeniable. It was so big overseas that people were telling me they had heard my version of Weird Al's song."

Yankovic was briefly denied permission to parody Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" for his song "Perform This Way" for release on his next album, but through his release of the song on YouTube and subsequent spread via Twitter, Lady Gaga and her staff asserted that her manager had made the decision without her input, and Gaga herself gave Yankovic permission to proceed with the parody's release. Gaga was considered "a huge Weird Al fan", and she stated that the parody was a "rite of passage" for her musical career and considered the song "very empowering".

Negative

One of Yankovic's most controversial parodies was 1996's "Amish Paradise", based on "Gangsta's Paradise" by hip-hop artist Coolio, which, in turn, was based on "Pastime Paradise" by Stevie Wonder. Reportedly, Coolio's label gave Yankovic the impression that Coolio had granted permission to record the parody, but Coolio maintains that he never did. While Coolio claimed he was upset, legal action never materialized, and Coolio accepted royalty payments for the song. After this controversy, Yankovic has always made sure to speak directly with the artist of every song he parodied. At the XM Satellite Radio booth at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show Yankovic and Coolio made peace. On his website, Yankovic wrote of this event, "I don’t remember what we said to each other exactly, but it was all very friendly. I doubt I’ll be invited to Coolio’s next birthday party, but at least I can stop wearing that bulletproof vest to the mall."

In 2003, Yankovic was denied permission to make a video for "Couch Potato", his parody of Eminem's "Lose Yourself": {{Block quote|Last year, Eminem forced me to halt production on the video for my 'Lose Yourself' parody because he somehow thought that it would be harmful to his image or career.}} For the ''Poodle Hat'' ''Al TV'' special, Yankovic raised the question of artistic expression in a fake interview with Eminem. As Yankovic has always done for his ''Al TV'' specials, he edited the footage of a previous Eminem interview and inserted himself asking questions for comic effect.

Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers expressed disappointment of Yankovic's parody of "Under the Bridge" and "Give it Away" called "Bedrock Anthem", saying that while he "[likes] Weird Al and everything", he "didn't think it was very good".

Refused parodies

On numerous occasions, Prince has refused Yankovic permission to record parodies of his songs. Yankovic has stated in interviews that he has "approached him every few years [to] see if he's lightened up." Yankovic related one story where, prior to the American Music Awards where he and Prince were assigned to sit in the same row, Yankovic got a telegram from Prince's lawyers, demanding he not make eye contact with the artist.

Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page is a self-proclaimed Yankovic fan, but when Yankovic wished to create a polka medley of Led Zeppelin songs, Page refused. Yankovic was, however, allowed the very rare opportunity to re-record a sample of "Black Dog" for a segment of "Trapped in the Drive-Thru".

Paul McCartney, also a Yankovic fan, refused Yankovic permission to record a parody of Wings' "Live and Let Die", entitled "Chicken Pot Pie", because McCartney is a vegetarian and found the parody to be in bad taste.

In 2006, Yankovic gained James Blunt's permission to record a parody of "You're Beautiful". However, after Yankovic had recorded "You're Pitiful", Blunt's label, Atlantic Records, rescinded this permission, despite Blunt's personal approval of the song. The parody was pulled from Yankovic's ''Straight Outta Lynwood'' due to his label's unwillingness to "go to war" with Atlantic. Yankovic released the song as a free download on his MySpace profile, as well as his official website, and plays it in concert, since it was not Blunt himself objecting to the parody.

Live performances

Yankovic often describes his live concert performances as "a rock and comedy multimedia extravaganza" with an audience that "ranges from toddlers to geriatrics." Apart from Yankovic and his band performing his classic and contemporary hits, staples of Yankovic's live performances include a medley of parodies, many costume changes between songs, and a video screen on which various clips are played during the costume changes. A concert from Yankovic's 1999 tour for the ''Running with Scissors'' album ("Touring with Scissors") was released on VHS in 1999 and on DVD in 2000. Titled ''"Weird Al" Yankovic Live!'', the concert was recorded at the Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael, California, on October 2, 1999. For legal reasons, video clips (apart from those for Yankovic's own music videos) could not be shown for the home release, and unreleased parodies were removed from the parody medley for the performance.

2003 saw Yankovic on tour overseas for the first time. Before 2003, Yankovic and his band had toured only the United States and parts of Canada. Following the success of ''Poodle Hat'' in Australia, Yankovic performed eleven shows in Australia's major capital cities and regional areas in October of that year. Yankovic returned to Australia and toured New Zealand for the first time in 2007 to support the ''Straight Outta Lynwood'' album.

On September 8, 2007, Yankovic performed his 1,000th live show at Idaho Falls, Idaho. Yankovic is scheduled to tour in the summer of 2010. The initial plan was to tour after his 13th album will be released, but in a podcast in May 2010, Yankovic revealed that the album would not be released before or during the tour, but sometime after.

Yankovic performed his first ever European mini-tour, including an appearance at the All Tomorrow's Parties music festival in Minehead, England in December 2010. Yankovic was picked to perform by the Canadian band Godspeed You Black Emperor who curated the festival's lineup. Yankovic played three other dates in the UK around his festival appearance before performing a single date in the Netherlands.

Other work

''UHF''

In 1989, Yankovic starred in a full-length feature film, co-written by himself and manager Jay Levey, and filmed in Tulsa, Oklahoma called ''UHF''. A satire of the television and film industries, also starring Michael Richards, Fran Drescher, and Victoria Jackson, it brought floundering studio Orion their highest test scores since the movie ''RoboCop''. However, it was unsuccessful in theaters.

The film has since become a cult classic, with out-of-print copies of the VHS version selling for up to $100 on eBay until the release of the DVD in 2002. Yankovic occasionally shows clips from the film at his concerts (to which MGM, the film's current owner, initially objected in the form of a cease and desist letter). In an apparent attempt to make it more accessible to overseas audiences, where the term UHF is used less frequently to describe TV broadcasts, the film was titled ''The Vidiot From UHF'' in Australia and parts of Europe.

''UHF'' shows the creation of Yankovic's signature food—the Twinkie Wiener Sandwich. The snack consists of an overturned Twinkie split open as a makeshift bun, a hot dog, and Easy Cheese put together and dipped in milk before eating. Yankovic has stated that he has switched to using tofu hot dogs since becoming a vegetarian, but still enjoys the occasional Twinkie Wiener Sandwich.

Notable television appearances

Yankovic had a TV series called ''The Weird Al Show'', which aired from September 1997 to December 1997 on CBS. Though the show appeared to be geared at children, the humor was really more for his adult fans (as such, it is often compared to ''Pee-wee's Playhouse''). The entire series was released on DVD by Shout! Factory on August 15, 2006.

Yankovic has hosted ''Al TV'' on MTV and ''Al Music'' on MuchMusic many times, generally coinciding with the release of each new album. For ''Poodle Hat'', ''Al TV'' appeared on VH1 for the first time. A recurring segment of ''Al TV'' involves Yankovic manipulating interviews for comic effect. He inserts himself into a previously conducted interview with a musician, and then manipulates his questions, resulting in bizarre and comic responses from the celebrity.

VH1 produced a ''Behind the Music'' episode on Yankovic. His two commercial failures (his film ''UHF'' and his 1986 album ''Polka Party!'') were presented as having a larger impact on the direction of his career than they really had. Also, Coolio's later disapproval of "Amish Paradise" was played up as a large feud. Much was also made over his apparent lack of a love life, though he got married shortly after the program aired.

Yankovic has done voice-overs for a number of animated series. He appeared in a 2003 episode of ''The Simpsons'', singing "The Ballad of Homer & Marge" (a parody of John Mellencamp's "Jack and Diane") with his band. The episode, "Three Gays of the Condo", in which Marge hires Yankovic to sing the aforementioned song to Homer in an attempt to reconcile their marriage, later won an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less Than One Hour)". Yankovic also had a cameo in a 2008 episode, entitled "That 90's Show", during which he records a parody of Homer's grunge hit "Shave Me" entitled "Brain Freeze" (Homer's song, "Shave Me", was itself a parody of Nirvana's "Rape Me") making Yankovic one of only a handful of celebrities to appear twice on the show playing themselves. He has had one notable appearance in the animated Adult Swim show ''Robot Chicken'' voicing a kid who becomes a giant robot. The episode also featured Al's music video, "Weasel Stomping Day". Yankovic is the voice for Squid Hat on the Cartoon Network show, ''The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy''. He is also the announcer of the cartoon's eponymous video game adaptation. Yankovic had a guest appearance voicing Wreck-Gar, a waste collection vehicle Transformer in the ''Transformers: Animated'' cartoon series; previously, Yankovic's "Dare to Be Stupid" song was featured in the 1986 animated film ''The Transformers: The Movie'', during the sequence in which the Wreck-Gar character was first introduced; as such, the song is referenced in the episode. He also plays local TV talent show host Uncle Muscles on several episodes of ''Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job'' along with other appearances on the show. Weird Al has also supplied the voice of one-shot character 'Petroleum Joe' on ''The Brak Show''. He also voiced himself on a ''Back at the Barnyard'' episode.

An exhaustive list of television shows on which Yankovic has appeared is available on his official website.

Directing career

"Weird Al" Yankovic has directed many of his own music videos; he has directed all of his music videos from 1993’s "Bedrock Anthem" to 2006’s "White & Nerdy". He also directed the end sequence of 1986’s "Christmas at Ground Zero" (an original piece juxtaposing Christmas with nuclear warfare) from his ''Polka Party!'' album and the title sequence to ''Spy Hard'', for which he sang the title song. Yankovic wrote, directed and starred in the short 3-D movie attraction "Al's Brain: A 3-D Journey Through The Human Brain", which premiered at the Orange County Fair in Costa Mesa, California in 2009. The $2.5 million project sponsored by the Orange County Fair, including a brief cameo by Sir Paul McCartney that Yankovic directed during McCartney's tour at the 2009 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Fair CEO Steve Beazley, who supported the project, considers the project a success and is considering leasing the exhibit to other fairs; the second appearance of the exhibit will be at the Puyallup Fair in Washington.

In addition to his own, he has directed several videos for Hanson (the ''Titanic'' sequences in "River"), The Black Crowes ("Only a Fool"), Ben Folds ("Rockin' the Suburbs"), Jeff Foxworthy ("Redneck Stomp" and "Party All Night"), Blues Explosion ("Wail"), and The Presidents of the United States of America ("Mixed Up S.O.B"). He has cameo appearances in his videos for Blues Explosion, Hanson (as the interviewer), and Ben Folds (as the producer fixing Folds' "shitty tracks").

Cartoon Network feature film

On January 25, 2010, Yankovic announced that he signed a production deal with Warner Bros. and is set to write and direct a live-action feature film. Although Yankovic previously wrote the script for ''UHF'', this was to be the first movie Yankovic directed. Little is currently known about the movie. However, Yankovic did state that he would not be starring in the movie, as Cartoon Network wanted a younger protagonist. During an interview on the Comedy Death-Ray Radio, Yankovic revealed that though Cartoon Network "loved" his script, the network decided that they were no longer intending to produce feature films. Yankovic stated that he would instead shop the script around to other potential studios.

Writing

Yankovic wrote ''When I Grow Up'' (ISBN 0-06-192691-4), a children's book released on February 1, 2011 and published by HarperCollins. The book features 8-year-old Billy presenting to his class the wide variety of imaginative career possibilities that he is considering. Yankovic stated that the idea for the book was based on his own "circuitous" career path. The book allows Yankovic to apply the humorous writing style found in his music in another medium, allowing him to use puns and rhymes. Yankovic worked with Harper Collins' editor Anne Hoppe—the first time that Yankovic has had an editor—and found her help as a positive experience. The book is illustrated by Wes Hargis, who, according to Yankovic, has a "a childlike quality and a very fun quality and a very imaginative quality" that matched well with Yankovic's writing. The book reached the #4 position on the New York Times Best Seller list for Children's Picture Books for the week of February 20, 2011.

Other media

In 2008, Weird Al joined Michael J. Nelson as a guest on the RiffTrax treatment of ''Jurassic Park''.

On November 10, 2009, Weird Al was a guest "internet scientist" on Rocketboom's "Know Your Meme" video series, in the installment on the topic of Autotune, hosted by Jamie Wilkinson.

Eric Appel produced a Funny or Die movie trailer for "Weird: The Al Yankovic Story", a fictional biographical film that parodies other films based on musicians; Yankovic (played by Aaron Paul) is seen hiding his "weirdness" from his parents (Gary Cole and Mary Steenburgen), making it big using song parodies with the help of Dr. Demento (Patton Oswalt), falling in and out of love with Madonna (Olivia Wilde), and fading into alcoholism and being arrested, where his father finally admits he is "weird" as well. Yankovic himself plays a music producer in the short.

Weird Al joined the band Hanson in their music video for "Thinking Bout Somethin" in which he plays the tambourine.

Yankovic contributes backing vocals for the song "Time" on Ben Folds' album ''Songs for Silverman''.

Yankovic also appeared in the recent ''Halloween II'' as himself on a news channel.

Yankovic was also one of many celebrities who took part in the NOH8 Campaign against Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage in California.

Yankovic was approached by a beer company to endorse their product. Yankovic had turned it down because he believed that "a lot of my fans were young and impressionable." Yankovic later posted on his Twitter account that he never regretted the decision.

Misattribution and imitators

Songs posted to file sharing networks are often misattributed to him due to their humorous subject matter. Often, his surname is misspelled (and thus mispronounced) as "Yankovich", among other variations. Much to the disdain of Yankovic, these misattributed files include songs that are racist, sexually explicit, or otherwise offensive. A young listener who had heard several of these offensive tracks by way of a file sharing service confronted Yankovic online, threatening a boycott due to his supposedly explicit lyrics. Quite a few of the songs, such as "Star Wars Cantina" by Mark Jonathan Davis (later of Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine), "Star Wars Gangsta Rap", "Yoda Smokes Weed", "Chewbacca" and several more have a ''Star Wars'' motif. Some songs misattributed to him are not songs, but spoken skits, such as "Sesame Street on crack", which is also widely misattributed to Adam Sandler.

Yankovic cites these misattributions as "his only real beef with peer-to-peer file sharing sites": }}

A list of songs frequently misattributed to Yankovic can be found at The Not Al Page and a list of all commercially released songs recorded by Yankovic can be found on his website.

Fan-driven campaigns

The Weird Al Star Fund is a campaign started by Yankovic's fans to get him a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Their mission is to "solicit, collect, and raise the necessary money, and to compile the information needed for the application to nominate "Weird Al" Yankovic for a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame." Fans worldwide have sent donations to raise the US$15,000 needed for a nomination. In addition to the preferred method of cash donations, many methods were used to raise money for the cause, such as a live benefit show held April 11, 2006, and selling merchandise on the official website and eBay, including T-shirts, calendars, and cookbooks. On May 26, 2006, the campaign hit the then-$15,000 target, just five days before the May 31 deadline to submit the necessary paperwork. However, Yankovic was not included on the list of inductees for 2007. On February 9, 2007, the Hollywood Chamber Of Commerce raised the price to sponsor a new star to $25,000 and as such the Fund is accepting donations again. Yankovic's application was resubmitted for consideration in 2007, but he was not included among 2008's inductees.

Similar to the Weird Al Star Fund, a second fan-driven campaign called "Make the Rock Hall 'Weird'" has tried to enshrine him into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, for which he has been eligible since 2004. Previous attempts to raise awareness for the campaign and support Yankovic's nomination included a petition drive from 2006 to 2007, which raised over 9000 signatures; an art competition in 2005; additionally, a documentary film about the campaign is currently being developed. In addition to these efforts, an ongoing campaign is underway in which supporters of Yankovic's nomination are requested to send "sincere, thoughtful" letters to the Rock Hall Foundation's headquarters in New York. The Hall has not considered Yankovic for nomination since the campaign started in 2004. A 2009 ''Rolling Stone'' poll named Weird Al as the top artist that should be nominated for the Hall of Fame, followed by Rush and The Moody Blues in the top ten."

Discography

Studio albums

1984 1985 1986 1988 1989 1992 1993 1996 1999 2003 2006 2011

rowspan=2	Title	Releaseyear	Peak chart position
! style="width:3em;font-size:90%"	Billboard Comedy Album
''"Weird Al" Yankovic">"Weird Al" Yankovic (album)	"Weird Al" Yankovic''	1983	139
''"Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D''	|	17
''Dare to Be Stupid''	|	50
''Polka Party!''	|	177
''Even Worse''	|	27
''UHF – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff''	|	146
''Off the Deep End''	|	17
''Alapalooza''	|	46
''Bad Hair Day''	|	14
''Running with Scissors (album)	Running with Scissors''	|	16
''Poodle Hat''	|	17	11
''Straight Outta Lynwood''	|	10	1
''Alpocalypse''	|	9	1

Note: Billboard Comedy Album chart was first published in November, 2004.

EPs

Title	Release year
''Another One Rides the Bus (EP)	Another One Rides the Bus''	1981
''Selections from Straight Outta Lynwood''	2006
''Internet Leaks''	2009

Compilation albums

Title	Release year
''Greatest Hits (Weird Al)	Greatest Hits''	1988
''The Food Album''	1993
''Permanent Record: Al in the Box''	1994
''Greatest Hits (Volume II)">Greatest Hits Volume II ("Weird Al" Yankovic album)	Greatest Hits (Volume II)''	1994
''The TV Album''	1995
''The Essential "Weird Al" Yankovic''	2009

Awards and nominations

Grammy Awards

!Year	!Nominated work	!Award	!Result
	1984		"Eat It"	Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album	Best Comedy Recording
	Grammy Awards of 1986>1985		''Dare to Be Stupid''
	Grammy Awards of 1988>1987		''Polka Party!''
rowspan="3"		Fat (song)>Fat"	Grammy Award for Best Concept Music Video	Best Concept Music Video
	''Even Worse''	Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album	Best Comedy Recording
	Peter and the Wolf">Peter and the Wolf ("Weird Al" Yankovic & Wendy Carlos album)>Peter and the Wolf''	Grammy Award for Best Album for Children	Best Recording for Children
	Grammy Awards of 1993>1992		''Off the Deep End''
	46th Grammy Awards>2003		''Poodle Hat''
rowspan="2"
	52nd Grammy Awards>2009

Gold and platinum records

! Recording	! Gold	! Platinum	! DoublePlatinum
''"Weird Al" Yankovic''	U.S.
''"Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D''	CanadaU.S.	U.S.
"Eat It"	AustraliaCanadaU.S.
''Dare to be Stupid''	U.S.	U.S.
''Even Worse''	CanadaU.S.	U.S.
''"Weird Al" Yankovic's Greatest Hits''	Canada
''Off the Deep End''	CanadaU.S.	CanadaU.S.
''The Food Album''	U.S.
''Alapalooza''	CanadaU.S.	Canada	Canada
''Greatest Hits Volume II''	Canada
''Bad Hair Day''	CanadaU.S.	CanadaU.S.
''Running With Scissors''	AustraliaCanadaU.S.	U.S.
''Straight Outta Lynwood''	U.S.
"White & Nerdy"	U.S.	U.S.

The "Eat It" single reached the #1 position on the Australian singles chart in 1984.

The "White & Nerdy" single was certified platinum for digital downloads and gold for ringtone downloads in the U.S.

Videography

The following is a comprehensive list of Yankovic's long form videos to date, with the United States release date.

Video title !! Release date
''The Compleat Al''	August 1985
	July 21, 1989
''The "Weird Al" Yankovic Video Library''	May 1992
''Alapalooza: The Videos''	December 1993
''"Weird Al" Yankovic: The Ultimate Collection''	1993
''Bad Hair Day: The Videos''	June 1996
''"Weird Al" Yankovic: The Videos''	January 1998
''"Weird Al" Yankovic Live!''	November 23, 1999
''"Weird Al" Yankovic: The Ultimate Video Collection''	November 3, 2003
''The Weird Al Show - The Complete Series''	August 15, 2006

Awards and nominations

{| |- |Grammy Award winners

"Fat" – Best Concept Music Video (1988)

|- |Grammy Award nominees

"Jurassic Park" – Best Music Video, Short Form (1994)

|- |Australian gold long form videos

''The Ultimate Video Collection''

|- |U.S. gold long form videos

''The "Weird Al" Yankovic Video Library''

''Alapalooza: The Videos''

''"Weird Al" Yankovic Live!''

''Bad Hair Day: The Videos''

|- |U.S. platinum long form videos

''The Ultimate Video Collection''

|}

Cameos and special appearances in film

1988: ''Tapeheads''

1988: ''The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!''

1991: ''The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear''

1994: ''Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult''

1996: ''Spy Hard''

1997: ''Safety Patrol''

2000: ''Nothing Sacred''

2002: ''Desperation Boulevard''

2003: ''Haunted Lighthouse''

2008: ''Nerdcore Rising''

2009: ''Halloween II''

References

External links

Official website

"Weird Al" timeline from Exclaim!

Category:1959 births Category:Accordionists Category:American accordionists Category:American comedy musicians Category:American male singers Category:American members of the Churches of Christ Category:American music video directors Category:American novelty song performers Category:American musicians of English descent Category:American musicians of Italian descent Category:People of Yugoslav descent Category:American satirists Category:American singer-songwriters Category:American vegans Category:American vegetarians Category:American voice actors Category:California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo alumni Category:Christian vegans Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Living people Category:Nerdcore hip hop artists Category:Parody musicians Category:People from Los Angeles, California Category:People from Lynwood, California Category:Polka musicians

ar:ويرد أل يانكوفيك ca:Weird Al Yankovic cs:Weird Al Yankovic da:"Weird Al" Yankovic de:Weird Al Yankovic es:"Weird Al" Yankovic eo:"Weird Al" Yankovic fr:Weird Al Yankovic ko:위어드 알 얀코빅 hr:"Weird Al" Yankovic id:"Weird Al" Yankovic is:„Weird Al“ Yankovic it:"Weird Al" Yankovic he:וירד אל ינקוביק la:Alfredus Yankovic lv:"Dīvainais Els" Jenkeviks hu:Alfred Matthew Yankovic nl:"Weird Al" Yankovic ja:アル・ヤンコビック no:«Weird Al» Yankovic pl:Weird Al Yankovic pt:"Weird Al" Yankovic ro:„Weird Al” Yankovic ru:«Странный Эл» Янкович simple:Weird Al Yankovic sl:»Weird Al« Yankovic sr:Weird Al Yankovic fi:”Weird Al” Yankovic sv:"Weird Al" Yankovic th:"เวียร์ด อัล" แยนคอวิค tr:"Weird Al" Yankovic uk:«Дивний Ел» Янковик zh:「怪人奧爾」揚科維奇

Coordinates	55°45′06″N37°37′04″N
name	Al Green
background	solo_singer
birth name	Albert Greene
alias	The Reverend Al Green
birth date	April 13, 1946
origin	Forrest City, Arkansas, U.S.
instrument	Vocals, guitar
genre	R&B;, gospel, soul
occupation	Reverend, vocalist, producer, songwriter
years active	1967–present
label	Hi, Myrrh, The Right Stuff
associated acts	The Creations, Willie Mitchell
website	}}

Albert Greene (born April 13, 1946), better known as Al Green, is an American gospel and soul music singer. He reached the peak of his popularity in the 1970s, with hit singles such as "You Oughta Be With Me", "I'm Still In Love With You", "Love and Happiness", and "Let's Stay Together". In 2005, ''Rolling Stone'' named him #65 in their list of the '100 Greatest Artists of All Time'. The nomination stated that "people are born to do certain things, and Al was born to make us smile." The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Green in 1995, referring to him as "one of the most gifted purveyors of soul music." Green has sold more than 20 million records.

Biography

Green was born in Forrest City, Arkansas. He was the sixth of ten children born to Robert and Cora Greene. The son of a sharecropper, he started performing at age ten in a Forrest City quartet called the Greene Brothers; he dropped the final "E" from his last name years later as a solo artist. They toured extensively in the mid-1950s in the South until the Greenes moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, when they began to tour around Michigan. His father kicked him out of the group because he caught Green listening to Jackie Wilson.

Green formed a group called Al Greene & the Creations in high school. Curtis Rogers and Palmer James, two members of the Creations, formed an independent label called Hot Line Music Journal. In 1967, under the new name Al Greene & the Soul Mates, the band recorded "Back Up Train" and released it on Hot Line Music; the song was an R&B; chart hit. The Soul Mates' subsequent singles did not sell as well. Al Green's debut LP ''Back Up Train'' was released on Hot Line in 1967. The album was upbeat and soulful but didn't do well in sales. This was the only album on the Hot Line label. Green came into contact with band leader Willie Mitchell of Memphis' Hi Records in 1969, when Mitchell hired him as a vocalist for a Texas show with Mitchell's band and then asked him to sign with the label.

Rise to stardom

Mitchell predicted stardom for Green, coaching him to find his own, unique voice at a time when Green had previously been trying to sing like his heroes Jackie Wilson, Wilson Pickett, James Brown, and Sam Cooke. Green's debut album with Hi Records was ''Green Is Blues'', a slow, horn-driven album that allowed Green to show off his powerful and expressive voice, with Mitchell arranging, engineering and producing. The album was a moderate success. The next LP, ''Al Green Gets Next to You'' (1970), included a hit remake of the Temptations classic "I Can't Get Next to You", and more significantly, Green's first of seven consecutive gold singles, "Tired of Being Alone". ''Let's Stay Together'' (1972) was an even bigger success, as was ''I'm Still In Love With You'' (1972). ''Call Me'' was a critical sensation and just as popular at the time; it is one of his most fondly remembered albums today. ''Al Green Explores Your Mind'' (1974) contained his own song "Take Me to the River", which was later turned into an R&B; hit (#7) by label-mate Syl Johnson and also covered by Talking Heads (#26 Pop) on their second album.

Turn to Gospel

On October 18, 1974, Mary Woodson White, a girlfriend of Green's, assaulted him before committing suicide at his Memphis home. Although she was already married, White reportedly became upset when Green refused to marry her, some four months after he peaked at #32 on the Hot 100 with the ironically titled "Let's Get Married". At some point during the evening, White doused Green with a pan of boiling grits while he was showering, causing burns on Green's back, stomach and arms. Then she went and found his .38 and killed herself. The police found in her purse a note declaring her intentions and her reasons. "The more I trust you," she'd written, "the more you let me down."

Green cited the incident as a wake-up call to change his life. He became an ordained pastor of the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Memphis in 1976 and continues to serve in this capacity, delivering services down the street from Graceland. Continuing to record R&B;, Green saw his sales start to slip and drew mixed reviews from critics. 1977's ''The Belle Album'' was critically acclaimed but did not regain his former mass audience. In 1979 Green injured himself falling off the stage while performing in Cincinnati and interpreted this as a message from God. He then concentrated his energies towards pastoring his church and gospel singing, also appearing in 1982 with Patti Labelle in the Broadway musical ''Your Arms Too Short to Box with God''. According to ''Glide Magazine'', "by the late 70s, he had begun concentrating almost exclusively on gospel music." His first gospel album was ''The Lord Will Make a Way''. From 1981 to 1989 Green recorded a series of gospel recordings, garnering eight "soul gospel performance" Grammys in that period. In 1985, he reunited with Willie Mitchell along with Angelo Earl for ''He Is the Light'', his first album for A&M; Records. In 1984, director Robert Mugge released a documentary film, ''Gospel According to Al Green'', including interviews about his life and footage from his church. In 1989, Green released "I Get Joy", again with producer/guitarist Angelo Earl. In 2001, he appeared in the movie and soundtrack of ''On the Line'' featuring Lance Bass.

Return to R&B;

After spending several years exclusively performing gospel, Green began to return to R&B; (Rhythm & Blues). First, he released a duet with Annie Lennox, "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" for ''Scrooged'', a 1988 Bill Murray film. In 1989 Green worked with producer Arthur Baker writing and producing the international hit "The Message Is Love". In 1991 he created the introductory theme song for the short-lived television series ''Good Sports'' featuring Ryan O'Neal and Farrah Fawcett. In 1992, Green recorded again with Baker, the Fine Young Cannibals, and reunited with his former Memphis mix engineer (this time functioning as producer) Terry Manning, to release the album ''Don't Look Back''. His 1994 duet with country music singer Lyle Lovett blended country with R&B;, garnering him his ninth Grammy, this time in a pop music category. Green's first secular album in some time was ''Your Heart's In Good Hands'' (1995), released to positive reviews but disappointing sales, the same year Green was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

In 2000, Green published ''Take Me to the River'', a book discussing his career. Green received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002.

In 2001, Green's live cover of Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come" was released on the soundtrack to Will Smith's film ''Ali'' (the song plays when Muhammad Ali learns of the death of close friend Malcolm X).

By 2003 Green released a non-religious (secular) album entitled ''I Can't Stop'', his first collaboration with Willie Mitchell since 1985's ''He is the Light''. In March 2005 he issued ''Everything's OK'' as the follow-up to ''I Can't Stop''. Green also collaborated with Mitchell on this secular CD.

In 2004, Green sang a duet, "Simply Beautiful", with Queen Latifah on her ''The Dana Owens Album''. In 2006, Green worked on his latest studio album for Blue Note Records with The Roots' Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson. The album, ''Lay It Down'', was released May 27, 2008 and includes tracks featuring John Legend, Corinne Bailey Rae and Anthony Hamilton. Green said in an interview that he would have liked to duet with Marvin Gaye: "In those days, people didn't sing together like they do now," he said.

In 2008, Green's album ''Lay It Down'' marked his full return to chart success, reaching number nine on the Billboard hit album chart. It was his most successful album release in 35 years.

In 2009, Al Green, along with Heather Headley, released a version of the song "People Get Ready" on the compilation album ''Oh Happy Day: An All-Star Music Celebration''.

In June 2010 Al Green appeared on the BBC show ''Friday Night with Jonathan Ross'' and sang "Let's Stay Together" accompanied by David Gilmour and Jools Holland.

Discography

Awards

In 2004, Green was inducted into the Gospel Music Association's Gospel Music Hall of Fame. Also in 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked him #65 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. He was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2009 BET Awards on June 24, 2009 .

On August 26, 2004, Green was honored as a BMI Icon at the annual BMI Urban Awards. He joined an impressive list of previous Icon honorees including R&B; legends James Brown, Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Bo Diddley

In 2009, Al Green was inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame. Green's biggest hit, "Let's Stay Together", was voted a Legendary Michigan Song that same year.

See also

List of best-selling music artists

References

External links

Official Al Green website

[ Al Green] at Allmusic

Green Is Blues 40th Anniversary website

Al Green: Biography

Category:1946 births Category:African American musicians Category:African American singers Category:American male singers Category:American Protestants Category:American rhythm and blues singers Category:American pop singers Category:Songwriters from Arkansas Category:Musicians from Arkansas Category:American gospel singers Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees‎ Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:Living people Category:Smooth jazz musicians Category:American tenors Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Category:Gospel Music Hall of Fame inductees Category:People from Grand Rapids, Michigan Category:People from Kent County, Michigan Category:Musicians from Michigan Category:People from Memphis, Tennessee Category:People from Shelby County, Tennessee Category:Musicians from Tennessee Category:American Christians Category:American Pentecostals Category:Members of the Church of God in Christ Category:Bell Records artists Category:Hi Records artists Category:MCA Records artists Category:RCA Records artists Category:A&M; Records artists Category:Blue Note Records artists

an:Al Green ca:Al Green cs:Al Green de:Al Green es:Al Green eu:Al Green fr:Al Green it:Al Green ka:ელ გრინი nl:Al Green ja:アル・グリーン no:Al Green nn:Al Green pl:Al Green pt:Al Green ru:Грин, Эл fi:Al Green sv:Al Green th:อัล กรีน

Coordinates	55°45′06″N37°37′04″N
name	Mishary Rashid Al-Afasy
birth date	September 05, 1976
birth place	Kuwait
religion	Islam
occupation	Imam, Qari, Khateeb, Munshid (Nasheed Artist) }}

Sheikh Mishary bin Rashid Alafasy (; born in Kuwait in September 5, 1976) is a Kuwaiti national and a qari. He is the Imam of Masjid Al-Kabir (Grand Mosque (Kuwait)) in Kuwait City, and leads the taraweeh prayers in Ramadan every year. He studied at the College of the Quran and Islamic Studies at the Islamic University of Madinah and specialized in the ten readings and translations of the Quran. Also, he has been certified by a number of scholars of Quran. He makes frequent appearances on television. Many of his recitations can be also found on YouTube or MukminTV.

On March 24, 2007 Sheikh Mishary traveled to the United States of America and visited two mosques: Islamic Center of Irvine in California, and the ICD (Islamic Center of Detroit) in Michigan. He was escorted by Suleiman Salem throughout the week to various mosques, mostly in Detroit, Dearborn, Ann Arbor, and Hamtramck. The audio tapes of his recitations during his visit to America can be found on his website, and also on YouTube or MukminTV.

On September 2009, Sheikh Mishary traveled to the ICOI or Islamic Center of Irvine, but had to leave early due to family emergency.

On October 25, 2008, Sheikh Mishary was awarded the first Arab Creativity Oscar by the Arab Creativity Union in Egypt. The event was sponsored by the General Secretary of the League of Arab States Mr. Amr Mousa as a recognition of Sheikh Mishary Alafasy role in promoting Islamic principles and teachings utilizing the modern technology to deliver the peaceful message of Islam.

There are two Space channels for Sheikh Meshary, The first is Alafasy TV and another more recent channel, Alafasy Q. Sheikh Mishary is also a munshid. Samples can be found on the Alafsy official website.

In August 2009, Sheikh Alafasy released a nasheed video called "Ramadan" under the Zain label, in which he sings in Arabic, English, and French. A voice-only recording, it was positively received in the Muslim world with television stations broadcasting throughout the month. The video can be viewed through YouTube.

During the month of Ramadan, in 2010, Al-Afasy returned to the ICOI to once again lead the taraweeh prayer.

Family

He is married, has two daughters and one son. He is referred to by the kunya-- "Abu Rashid".

Nasheed Albums

#Uyoon Al Afaaee (2004) #Laysa Al Gharib (2005) #Haneeni (2006) #Qalbi Sagheer (2007) #Zekrayat (2008) #Ramadan (2009) #Anaqeed(2010) #Daughters of the Wind (2011)

See also

Quran

Qirat

Tajweed

References

External links

Official Site

Alafasy's Ramadan nasheed, August 2009

Recitation by Sheikh Mishary Rashed Al-afasy

Tala al Badru Sheikh Mishary Alafasy Nasheed

Alafasy on Qaree.com

Recitation Of Mishari

Sheikh Mishary Rashed Alafasy

Alafasy Albums

Islamway Radio Quran Recitation

SunniPath Library – Quran Recitation by Mishary Rashed al-Efasy

AlafasyTalk

Hi Quality Mp3 of Mishary Rashed al-Efasy

Thealif.com – Listen Quran online

Category:Living people Category:1976 births Category:Islamic University of Madinah alumni Category:Qur'an reciters Category:Kuwaiti imams Category:21st-century imams

ar:مشاري راشد العفاسي de:Mishary Rashid Al-Afasy fr:Mishary Rashid Al-Afassy id:Al-Afasy ms:Mishary Rashid Al-Afasy

Coordinates	55°45′06″N37°37′04″N
Image name	Saif al-Islam Gaddafi.jpg
Name	Saif al-Islam Muammar al-Gaddafiسيف الإسلام معمر القذافي
Birth date	June 25, 1972
Birth place	Tripoli, Libya
Birthname	Saif al-Islam Muammar al-Gaddafi
Nationality	Libyan
Alma mater	Al Fateh University (B.Eng)IMADEC University (MBA)London School of Economics (PhD)
Occupation	(GDF) Founder & President
Profession	Engineer, Politician
Religion	Islam
Website	GDF }}

Saif al-Islam Muammar al-Gaddafi (born June 25, 1972, , translated as "Sword of Islam, Muammar of the Qaddafa"), is the second son of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi and his second wife Safia Farkash. He is a part of his father's inner circle, performing public relations and diplomatic roles on behalf of his father. In Libya, he was during his father's reign the second most-widely recognized official after his father and had been mentioned as a possible successor, though he has denied this.. He is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity against the Libyan people, including torturing and killing civilians.

Education and career

In 1994, Saif al-Islam graduated with a BSc in Engineering Science from Tripoli's Al Fateh University, and earned an MBA from Vienna's IMADEC University in 2000.

His paintings made up the bulk of the international Libyan art exhibit, "The Desert Is Not Silent" (2002–2005), a show which was supported by a host of international corporations with direct ties to the Gaddafi regime.

In 2008, he was awarded a PhD from London School of Economics, for a thesis entitled "The role of civil society in the democratisation of global governance institutions: from 'soft power' to collective decision-making?" Examined by Meghnad Desai (London School of Economics) and Anthony McGrew (University of Southampton), among the LSE academics acknowledged in the thesis as directly assisting with it were Nancy Cartwright, David Held and Alex Voorhoeve. Professor Joseph Nye of Harvard University is also thanked for having read portions of the manuscript and providing advice and direction. In a later investigation by Channel 4 News, they found that 6% of the 93,000-word thesis was copied from other sources.

He owns an architectural agency in Tripoli—the National Engineering Service and Supplies Company.

Saif is the president of the Libyan National Association for Drugs and Narcotics Control (DNAG). In 1997, he founded the official charity, the Gaddafi International Foundation for Charity Associations, which has intervened in various hostage situations involving Islamic militants and the crisis of the HIV trial in Libya and the resulting European Union-Libyan rapprochement.

Speaking in Sabha on August 20, 2008, Saif said that he would no longer involve himself in state affairs. He noted that he had previously "intervene[d] due to the absence of institutions", but said that he would no longer do so. He dismissed any potential suggestion that this decision was due to disagreement with his father, saying that they were on good terms. He also called for political reforms within the context of the Jamahiriya system and rejected the notion that he could succeed his father, saying that "this is not a farm to inherit".

International diplomacy

Saif was instrumental in negotiations that led to Libya's abandoning a weapons of mass destruction programme in 2002–2003. He arranged several important business deals on behalf of the Libyan regime in the period of rapprochement that followed. He was viewed as a reformer, and has openly criticized the regime:

In 2003, he published a report critical of Libya's record on human rights.

On December 10, 2004, shortly before a trip by Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin to Tripoli, in an interview with ''The Globe and Mail'' Saif requested a formal apology from the Canadian government, for joining U.S.-led sanctions against Libya after the Lockerbie bombing, and for denying him a student visa to study in Canada in 1997. His request was met with incredulity in Canada, and the Canadian government announced that no apology would be forthcoming.

HIV trial

Saif admitted in interviews that the Bulgarian nurses had been tortured and the government denied them a fair trial. His admissions were said to have badly damaged his reputation in Libya.

Isratine proposal

Saif introduced the Isratine proposal to permanently resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through a secular, federalist, republican one-state solution. The first ever opinion poll survey to be undertaken in both Pakistani and Indian-controlled Kashmir, conducted by King's College, London, and the polling organisation IPSOS-MORI, was also Saif's brainchild, having arisen out of discussions he had with British academic Robert Bradnock, the author of the 2010 Chatham House report on the survey.

2008 agreement with Italy

Saif was involved in negotiating compensation from Libya's former colonial power, Italy, and on August 30, 2008 a Friendship, Partnership and Cooperation Agreement was signed in Benghazi by his father and Italy's prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Compensation for American terror victims

He was also negotiating with the United States in order to conclude a comprehensive agreement making any further payments for American victims of terror attacks that have been blamed on Libya – such as the 1986 Berlin discotheque bombing, the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and the 1989 UTA Flight 772 bombing – conditional upon U.S. payment of compensation for the 40 Libyans killed and 220 injured in the 1986 United States bombing of Tripoli and Benghazi. On August 14, 2008, the U.S.-Libya Comprehensive Claims Settlement Agreement was signed in Tripoli. Former British Ambassador to Libya Oliver Miles described the agreement as "a bold step, with political cost for both parties" and wrote an article in the online edition of ''The Guardian'' querying whether the agreement is likely to work.

In an August 2008 BBC TV interview, Saif Gaddafi said that Libya had admitted responsibility (but not "guilt") for the Lockerbie bombing simply to get trade sanctions removed. He further admitted that Libya was being "hypocritical" and was "playing on words", but Libya had no other choice on the matter. According to Saif, a letter admitting "responsibility" was the only way to end the economic sanctions imposed on Libya. When asked about the compensation that Libya was paying to the victims' families, he again repeated that Libya was doing so because it had no other choice. He went on to describe the families of the Lockerbie victims as "trading with the blood of their sons and daughters" and being very "greedy": "They were asking for more money and more money and more money".

Diplomacy for extraditing Libyans

Interviewed by French newspaper ''Le Figaro'' on December 7, 2007, Saif said that the seven Libyans convicted for the Pan Am Flight 103 and the UTA Flight 772 bombings "are innocent". When asked if Libya would therefore seek reimbursement of the compensation paid to the families of the victims (US$2.33 billion), Saif replied: "I don't know." Saif led negotiations with Britain for the release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the convicted Pan Am 103 conspirator.

In 2007, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Tripoli, with whom it is alleged he helped broker an arms deal, including missiles.

In November 2008, Saif made a high-profile visit to the United States where he met with US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice. During the meeting, Rice raised the case of Libya's jailed political dissident and democracy activist, Fathi El-Jahmi.

Stand-off with US officials

In 2009, Saif claimed that Libya's opinion of him was shaped largely by his role in Libya's engagement with the West, saying "If something goes wrong, people will blame me, whether I am in a certain official position or not." He expressed frustration with the US, saying Libya's decision to give up its Weapons of Mass Destruction programs was contingent upon "compensation" from the US, including the signing of the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement, economic cooperation, and cooperation in purchasing conventional weapons and military equipment. He stated, "We share rich natural resources – oil and gas – along the borders, yet we have no capacity to defend that wealth." Because of a US legal embargo, Libya cannot purchase weapons from the United States, Sweden, or Germany, and has been disallowed from buying "Tiger" vehicles with American-manufactured engines from Jordan. He asked for greater military assistance, as Libya had committed itself to destroying chemical stockpiles, but would require at least $25 million to do so. Saif said the United States had "humiliated" his father during his visit to New York in 2009, and said that his father's tent and residence issues were disappointing and his UN speech had been misinterpreted. Saif said that his father was barred from visiting Ground Zero, which also frustrated him. Saif held a standoff with US officials in November 2009, refusing to send a shipment of HEU back to Russia unless the United States had renewed its commitment to cooperation with Libya.

Arrest warrant

A warrant for his arrest was issued in late June 2011, for crimes against humanity.

2011 Libyan civil war

On February 20, 2011 at 18:00 EST, he made an extemporaneous speech on Libyan state TV. In it, he blamed the civil war on tribal factions and Islamists acting on their own agendas, drunken and drugged. He promised reforms, and said the alternative would be civil war causing no trade, no oil money, and the country taken over by foreigners. He promised tens of thousands dead if protests continued, and "a river of blood". He closed by saying, "We will not let Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya and BBC trick us." Many analysts disagreed with his assessment, including Oliver Miles, a former British Ambassador to Libya. In an interview to ABC news reporter Christiane Amanpour Saif al-Islam denied that his father's regime is killing civilians. On February 28, 2011 a video became available online in which Saif Gaddafi appears to spur on a crowd of followers to fight the opposition, and promises weapons to them, while brandishing a G36 assault rifle. On June 27 an arrest warrant was issued by ICC. In August 2011, Saif gave an interview to the New York Times stating that Libya was becoming more closely aligned to Islamists and would likely resemble Iran or Saudi Arabia. Saif said that his father was working closely with Islamists within the rebellion to splinter the resistance.

On August 21, 2011, the National Transitional Council claimed that Saif al-Islam was arrested by the Libyan National Liberation Army, pursuant to an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court. However, on the early morning of August 23, Saif al-Islam was seen by Western journalists apparently moving on his own free will outside of the Rixos Hotel. Later reports stated that he had been briefly captured, but had escaped.

Personal life

Saif has a reputation for hard-partying and womanizing, drifting him apart from the hardline Islamic conservatism in Libya. In 2006, Saif al-Islam Muammar Gaddafi was romantically linked to the Israeli actress, Orly Weinerman. In 2009, he threw a party in Montenegro for his 37th birthday. Notable guests included Oleg Deripaska, Peter Munk and Prince Albert of Monaco. He previously hosted similar parties in St Tropez and Monaco.

British society

Gaddafi has been hosted at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle by the British royal family. Gaddafi claims that former Prime Minister Tony Blair is a personal friend who took an interest in advising Libya on oil revenues and finance. In 2009, he spent a weekend at Waddesdon Manor, home of financier Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild, where he was the guest of Lord Mandelson and Nathaniel Philip Rothschild. He later stayed at the Rothschild holiday home in Corfu. Nathaniel Rothschild was a guest at Saif's 37th birthday celebration in Montenegro.

Links with the London School of Economics

Saif received his PhD from the London School of Economics in 2008. LSE Professor David Held was one of the mentors of Saif Gaddafi according to a ''New York Times'' article. Through the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation, Saif subsequently pledged a donation of £1.5 million to support the work of the LSE's Centre for the Study of Global Governance on civil society organizations in North Africa. Following the LSE Libya Links affair, the LSE has issued a statement indicating that it will cut all financial ties with the country and will accept no further money from the Foundation, having already received and spent the first £300,000 installment of the donation.

Like the thesis of former German minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, of the vice president of the European parliament, Silvana Koch-Mehrin, Veronica Sass, daughter of former Bavarian minister president Edmund Stoiber, and Mathias Pröfrock, a German CDU politician, Saif's thesis is analyzed using crowdsourcing.

Commentators claim that passages appear to have been plagiarised from other sources without attribution. Pressure is being put on the LSE to revoke his qualification. LSE has set up a review process. and investigate the claims.

References

External links

Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation

Profile at GlobalSecurity.org

Saif Gaddafi's vision for Libya, ''BBC News'', November 16, 2004

Libya 'tortured' Bulgarian medics, ''BBC News'', August 9, 2007

Qaddafi's son declares he's leaving politics, ''The New York Times'', August 22, 2008

ABC interview

Gaddafi son calls for democracy, ''BBC News'', September 16, 2009

Unknotting Father’s Reins in Hope of ‘Reinventing’ Libya, Landon Thomas Jr., ''The New York Times'', February 28, 2010

Gaddafi's son talks of conspiracy, ''Aljazeera English'', February 20, 2011

Translated transcript of February 20, 2011 speech

Factbox: Facts about Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, ''Reuters'', February 21, 2011

Profile: Libya's Saif al-Islam, ''Aljazeera English'', February 21, 2011

Saif Al-Gaddafi, "The Role of Civil Society in the Democratization of Global Governance Institutions: From 'Soft Power' to Collective Decision-Making?" PhD Thesis, London School of Economics, 2008.

Category:1972 births Category:Living people Category:Alumni of the London School of Economics Category:Fugitives wanted by the International Criminal Court Category:Fugitives wanted on crimes against humanity charges Saif Category:Libyan engineers Category:Libyan politicians Category:People from Tripoli Category:People of the 2011 Libyan civil war Category:Plagiarism controversies

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