Serj Tankian was born on August 21,1967 and is an American musician, political activist and entrepreneur.
43 Facts About Serj Tankian
2.
Serj Tankian is the lead vocalist, frontman, primary songwriter, keyboardist, and occasional rhythm guitarist of heavy metal band System of a Down, which was formed in 1994.
3.
Serj Tankian released Elect the Dead Symphony, a live orchestral version of Elect the Dead featuring the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra.
4.
Serj Tankian is the founder of the record label Serjical Strike Records, and is currently represented by Velvet Hammer Music and Management Group.
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Serj Tankian is regarded as one of the greatest singers in modern day heavy metal, with praise given to his unusual delivery and his wide vocal range.
6.
Serj Tankian was born in Beirut, Lebanon, on August 21,1967.
7.
Serj Tankian was accepted into California State University, Northridge, graduating with a marketing degree in 1989.
8.
Serj Tankian started his activism during his college years, attempting to draw attention to the recognition of the Armenian genocide during his time as president of the university's Armenian Students Association.
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Serj Tankian has said that his activism started with the Armenian Youth Federation and the Shant Student Association of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation.
10.
Serj Tankian appeared on MTV's You Rock the Deuce to promote Elect the Dead.
11.
Serj Tankian sang with Les Rita Mitsouko on the song "Terminal Beauty".
12.
Serj Tankian released a new song "Fears" in November 2008 exclusively in support of Amnesty International's Global Write-A-Thon.
13.
On March 16,2009, Serj Tankian performed an orchestral version of the album Elect the Dead with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra in New Zealand.
14.
In 2009, Serj Tankian collaborated with the band Viza for their track "Viktor".
15.
Serj Tankian said that collaborating on the show has been a great learning experience for him.
16.
In January 2011, Serj Tankian released a music video for his song "Reconstructive Demonstrations" from his album Imperfect Harmonies.
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Serj Tankian announced on his Facebook page, during the video's release, that a new EP entitled Imperfect Remixes would be released sometime within 2011.
18.
Serj Tankian co-wrote a musical with the American playwright Steven Sater.
19.
In early July 2011, Serj Tankian posted a video on YouTube showing two samples of new songs.
20.
Serj Tankian promised to return and put on a concert to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, which he did on April 24,2015, playing for free for over two hours in Yerevan's Republic Square.
21.
Serj Tankian released his fourth studio album Orca Symphony No 1 on June 25,2013.
22.
Serj Tankian had a guest appearance on the song "Out of Line" on Device's self-titled album.
23.
Serj Tankian appeared on the Tech N9ne album Something Else in 2013 on the song "Straight Out the Gate".
24.
Serj Tankian composed music for I Am Not Alone, a 2019 documentary film about the 2018 Armenian revolution.
25.
Serj Tankian released his first ever EP titled Elasticity on March 19,2021.
26.
Serj Tankian announced the release of his EP, and released the title track "Elasticity", along with a music video for it, on February 5,2021.
27.
Serj Tankian released his second EP titled Perplex Cities on October 21,2022.
28.
Serj Tankian grew up listening to traditional Armenian music in his exiled community in Lebanon and sang it with his father Khatchadour Serj Tankian.
29.
Serj Tankian discovered pop music only once his family moved to Los Angeles in the 1970s via the Bee Gees' soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever, that led him to delve into it.
30.
Serj Tankian said that the first hard rock album that left an impact on him was 1992's Angel Dust by Faith No More.
31.
When System of a Down toured with Faith No More singer Mike Patton, who at the time fronted his other band Mr Bungle on the 2000 SnoCore Tour, Serj Tankian said that both vocalists "had some of the most interesting conversations" of his life.
32.
Besides the experimental vocals of Patton, Serj Tankian is greatly influenced by Frank Zappa, especially by his albums Sheik Yerbouti and Joe's Garage.
33.
In 2018, Serj Tankian founded Kavat Coffee, a company that focuses on Armenian coffee.
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Serj Tankian is passionate about human rights, recognition of genocides, and social justice.
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Serj Tankian has organized and participated in many protests, from Armenian genocide recognition to Axis of Justice protests held by him and AOJ co-founder Tom Morello.
36.
Serj Tankian said in an interview that he has "the same religion as that tree over there".
37.
Serj Tankian is friendly with current Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who wrote a song called "Hayastane" which Serj Tankian performed in April 2020.
38.
Serj Tankian was an executive producer and composer for the documentary I Am Not Alone, which chronicled the rise of Pashinyan.
39.
Serj Tankian is a supporter of the Black Lives Matter protests, as he stated in his interview with h-pem.
40.
In 2020, Serj Tankian condemned the actions of Azerbaijan in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and expressed his support to Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh.
41.
Since September 27,2020, when the war broke, Serj Tankian has been very active on social media, posting daily messages and has spoken to a number of media outlets about the issue, including Forbes.
42.
Serj Tankian became a vegetarian, claiming in an interview with PETA that his change was due to "touring and its variety of edible crap", and he felt it was "instinctive somewhat".
43.
On June 9,2012, Serj Tankian married his long-time girlfriend Angela Madatyan, an Armenian woman from Vanadzor, in a private ceremony in Simi Valley, California.