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Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959)〔 is an American singer, songwriter, parodist, record producer, satirist, actor, music video director, film producer, and author. He is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts, original songs that are style pastiches of the work of other acts, and polka medleys of several popular songs, featuring his favored instrument, the accordion. Since his first-aired comedy song in 1976, he has sold more than 12 million albums (), recorded more than 150 parody and original songs, and has performed more than 1,000 live shows. His works have earned him four Grammy Awards and a further 11 nominations, four gold records, and six platinum records in the United States. Weird Al's first top ten ''Billboard'' album (''Straight Outta Lynwood'') and single ("White & Nerdy") were both released in 2006, nearly three decades into his career. His latest album, ''Mandatory Fun'' (2014), became his first number-one album on its debut week. Weird Al'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, The Black Crowes, and The Presidents of the United States of America. With the decline of music television and the onset of social media, Weird Al used YouTube and other video sites to publish his videos; this strategy proved integral helping to boost sales of his later albums including ''Mandatory Fun''. Weird Al has stated that he may forgo traditional albums in favor of timely releases of singles and EPs following on this success. In addition to recording his albums, Weird Al wrote and starred in the film ''UHF'' (1989) and ''The Weird Al Show'' (1997). He has also made guest appearances and voice acting roles on many television shows and video web content, in addition to starring in ''Al TV'' specials on MTV. He has also written two children's books. == Early life == Yankovic was born in Downey, California and raised in Lynwood, California. He is the only child of Nick and Mary Yankovic. His father was born in Kansas City, Kansas, of Yugoslavian〔 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 Elizabeth Vivalda in 1949. Mary, who was of Italian and English descent, had come to California from Kentucky, and 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,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Permanent Record: Al in the Box )〕 to whom he is not related.〔 Yankovic said that "() 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 included Frankie Yankovic and Myron Floren. 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 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 attended Lynwood High School. Yankovic was active in his school's extracurricular programs, including the National Forensic League sanctioned speech events, 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."〔 Weird Al graduated in 1975 and was valedictorian of his senior class.〔 Yankovic attended California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo where he earned a bachelor's degree in architecture.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「"Weird Al" Yankovic」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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