Ali Tabatabaee (; born February 27, 1973) is an Iranian-American musician who is one of two main vocalists in the rock band

Zebrahead Zebrahead is an American rock band from La Habra, California, formed in 1996. The group's current line-up comprises rapper Ali Tabatabaee, bassist Ben Osmundson, drummer Ed Udhus, lead guitarist Dan Palmer and lead vocalist and rhythm guita ...

. Alongside bandmate Matty Lewis, he performed the titular character's

theme song Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

for the 2006 video game ''

Sonic the Hedgehog is a video game series and media franchise created by the Japanese developers Yuji Naka, Naoto Ohshima, and Hirokazu Yasuhara for Sega. The franchise follows Sonic the Hedgehog (character), Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battle ...

''.

Biography

Tabatabaee was born in

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

on February 27, 1973. Before joining

, Tabatabaee was a pre-med student at

UC Irvine UC may refer to: Education In the United States * University of California system * University of Charleston, West Virginia * University of Chicago, Illinois * University of Cincinnati, Ohio * Upsala College, East Orange, New Jersey (''defunct ...

majoring in Biology and minoring in Theater. After graduating, he decided to take a year off from school to take the

MCAT The Medical College Admission Test (MCAT; ) is a computer-based standardized examination for prospective medical students in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the Caribbean Islands. It is designed to assess problem solving, critical ...

and to apply to medical school. It was during this time that he started singing with the other members of Zebrahead. After a year away from school he was accepted into the University of Chicago Medical School. However, due to Zebrahead's early success, he deferred acceptance for one year. "I didn't expect music to go anywhere. I thought I'd do it for a year and then I'd leave, and in a week's period, I got an acceptance to med school and we were supposed to do a showcase and the label was going to fly us to New York and I had to tell the school; they wanted to know. So I deferred for a year and then decided that I didn't want to go back after a year.... I think usic isthe ultimate way to express culture. To do that for a living? Everybody should aspire to do that." Tabatabaee cites some of his favorite bands as

A Tribe Called Quest A Tribe Called Quest was an American Hip hop music, hip hop group formed in Queens, New York City, in 1985,Q-Tip< ...

, System of a Down, and

N.W.A. N.W.A (an abbreviation for Niggaz Wit Attitudes) was an American hip-hop group formed in Compton, California in 1987. Among the earliest and most significant figures of the gangsta rap subgenre, the group is widely considered one of the great ...

In 1999, while on the Warped Tour, Tabatabaee was diagnosed with

Hodgkin's Disease Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a type of lymphoma in which cancer originates from a specific type of white blood cell called lymphocytes, where multinucleated Reed–Sternberg cells (RS cells) are present in the lymph nodes. The condition was named a ...

, a type of cancer, which he underwent chemo therapy and radiation therapy to cure. While being treated, he continued to work with his bandmates in writing songs for their album, '' Playmate of the Year'', and a few months before the album's release, he completed his therapy. He claims that because of what he was going through, some of the songs from that album are very special to him. Tabatabaee is featured on the Reel Big Fish DVD ''You're All in This Together'' on the song "Unity" (originally by Operation Ivy). Due to Zebrahead's growing popularity in Japan, Tabatabaee and Zebrahead bandmate Matty Lewis were asked by

Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...

to record vocals for a new theme song, titled " His World", which appears in the 2006 game ''

Sonic The Hedgehog is a video game series and media franchise created by the Japanese developers Yuji Naka, Naoto Ohshima, and Hirokazu Yasuhara for Sega. The franchise follows Sonic the Hedgehog (character), Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battle ...

''. Tabatabaee also composes most of the songs that Zebrahead performs.

References

External links

* Rappers from California American rap rock musicians Iranian musicians Iranian singers Iranian rock singers West Coast hip-hop musicians American punk rock singers Nu metal singers Living people American people of Iranian descent 21st-century American rappers 1973 births {{US-rock-singer-stub