Being a musician is hard work. The competition is fierce, and getting your voice out so that people can hear you and buy your music is no easy feat. Modern technology has made it slightly easier to record and distribute your talent, but in days gone by, getting yourself noticed was not easy.
Nobody knows this better than Alfred Matthew Yankovic. Better known these days are Weird Al, he started off not even wanting to be a musician. He was an incredibly bright student, starting school a year early and skipping second grade and ending up at college two years younger than everyone else.
Yankovic, a self styled nerd, never thought he could make a living out of music so studied for a degree in architecture, graduating in 1980. He was also valedictorian of his senior class. However, all though his student days Yankovic was trying his hand at making music.
He developed a very unique style of parodying popular songs, but struggled to get any recording studios to sign him despite the widespread popularity of his efforts.
Yankovic slowly built up a portfolio of “funny” songs, gathered a band around him and attracted some dedicated managers and engineers — most of which are still with him to this day.
Weird Al is best known for his parodies, but produces many original songs as well. He has released 13 albums to date, sometimes to mixed reviews, but always strives to remain true to his own unique style.Love him or hate him, while he undoubtedly would have made an excellent architect, he would have left the music world a lot poorer had he not followed his dream.
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