Al Yankovic

In 2001, Yankovic married Suzanne Krajewski and their daughter Nina was born in 2003.

His parents died in accidental carbon monoxide poisoning on April 9, 2004.

Al Yankovic was born as Alfred Matthew Yankovic, the only child of Nick Louis Yankovic and Mary Elizabeth.

His accordion lessons began at the age of seven when a salesman offered his parents a choice of accordion or guitar lessons at a local music school. According to Yankovic, his parents were inspired by polka star Frank Yankovic (not related), and decided to go for accordion.

During his teenage years, he became a big fan of musician/comedians, such as, Tom Lehrer, Spike Jones, Allan Sherman and Stan Freberg. He was also a big fan of Elton John, who according to him was a great inspiration and his music helped this budding artist learn how to play “rock 'n roll on the accordion”.

He graduated as valedictorian from the Lynwood High School, after which he attended the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, where he studied architecture.

In his second year in California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, he became a disc jockey at the university's radio station, KCPR.

By then his friends had begun calling him ‘Weird Al’. He decided to keep the name and use it. He came up with his first recording in 1978, ‘Take Me Down’ which parodied the popular tourist destination ‘Bubblegum Alley’.

In 1979, he recorded a parody of ‘My Sharona’ by the band ‘The Knack’ which he titled "My Bologna". He sent this recording to ‘Dr. Demento’, a radio broadcaster, which was played and received good reviews.

On September 14, 1980, he was invited to the Dr. Demento Show where he played ‘Another One Rides the Bus’, a parody of Queen's hit song, live on the radio.

In 1981, he became a part of the Dr. Demento's stage show for the first time and his performance at a nightclub in Phoenix, Arizona impressed the club’s manager, Jay Levey, who inspired him to start his own band.

Yankovic’s ‘Eat It’, a parody of Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat It’ was a huge hit peaking 12th spot on the ‘Billboard Hot 100’. It remains one of his highest-charting singles.

The single ‘White & Nerdy’ from the album ‘Straight Outta Lynwood’, was widely received and reached the 9th spot in the ‘Billboard Hot 100’ charts, the highest charting single by Yankovic.