Tay Zonday
Encyclopedia
Adam Nyerere Bahner better known by the pseudonym
Tay Zonday, is an American musician, YouTube
personality and voice actor. He is well known by listeners for his deep baritone voice whilst singing. He garnered mainstream exposure when his song "Chocolate Rain
", and accompanying video on YouTube
, became a popular Internet meme
in July 2007. , "Chocolate Rain" has more than 73 million views.
to having his video featured on the front page of YouTube and making appearances on national television. He appeared on the Opie & Anthony Show, G4TV's
Attack of the Show!
, VH1
's Best Week Ever
, Lily Allen and Friends
, Jimmy Kimmel Live
, Tosh.O, and Maury
where he performed "Chocolate Rain" on national television a little over three months after he posted his composition on YouTube. He made the front page of Sunday's Los Angeles Times
on August 12, 2007 with additional features in The Toronto Star
, The Chicago Tribune
's RedEye
, The Star Tribune
and People
and has appeared on CNN
for a televised interview. He also has appeared on Fox News
. On February 12, 2008, he appeared on the television show Lily Allen and Friends on BBC Three, and performed a cover of Lily Allen
's debut "Smile
". In March 2008 the video won a YouTube-award in the category "Music".
The Australian Daily Telegraph
newspaper wrote: "Tay Zonday has written perhaps the most listened to song in the world right now." People said: "He's scored a YouTube hit with his repetitive, keyboard
-driven 'Chocolate Rain', and after a recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Tay Zonday's star is shining even brighter." The article also noted that celebrity musicians paid tribute to the song as its popularity rapidly peaked in August 2007. Singer John Mayer
reportedly mimicked Zonday's keyboard riff with his guitar in concert, along with appearing on Best Week Ever improvising a parody to the tune of Nelly Furtado
's "Say It Right
". Green Day
drummer Tré Cool
recorded a cover of "Chocolate Rain" which he posted on Youtube. Zonday also became the subject of thousands of other parodies and remixes on YouTube. A clip of his video was also shown on CW11
's Online Nation
, a new series. Zonday has been interviewed twice on Good Morning America
, in March and November 2008.
. He released a video titled "Cherry Chocolate Rain", in a promotion with Dr Pepper
. He starred alongside Leslie Hall
in a commercial for Firefox singing a song titled "Users Against Boredom" in a parody of We Are The World
. Tay has said his voice is often compared to Ru Paul, Paul Robeson
, Barry White
, James Earl Jones
, and Brad Roberts of the Crash Test Dummies
. He appeared in-person at Intel's Consumer Electronics Show
booth, rendering the source files of the "Chocolate Rain" YouTube video in Sony Vegas
.
The Grammy Award
-winning music video for rock band Weezer
's single "Pork and Beans
" featured Zonday along with other YouTube celebrities in May 2008, spoofing his appearance in "Chocolate Rain"; as well, he performed an acoustic
version of the song with Brian Bell
of Weezer.
As a voice actor, Zonday voiced part of a multimedia presentation built to celebrate 50 years of NASA history. He also voiced a role in AdultSwim's Robot Chicken
, spoofing his own song "Chocolate Rain".
Zonday was featured on the "Jace Hall Show", where he was comically interviewed at a famous Hollywood restaurant in a play on the dissonance between Internet-fame and the traditional entertainment industry.
In February 2010 Zonday cameoed in a Vizio
Super Bowl
commercial opened by Beyoncé. In October 2010, he appeared on Comedy Central
's Night of Too Many Stars autism charity event during a musical number with Steve Carell
and Stephen Colbert
.
In August 2011, Zonday appeared on America's Got Talent
and performed a grand total of 15 seconds of his song "Chocolate Rain".
Zonday was also featured in Dave Days' Youtube
video spoof of Justin Bieber
's song, Baby. The video has over 14 million views.
Zonday had a cameo in The Guild Season 5 episode 3, Megagame-o-ramacon!, aired on August 9, 2011.
Tay Zonday is featured in a 2011 Mike Diva comedy YouTube video as a dubstep dancing mastermind.
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Tay Zonday, is an American musician, YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
personality and voice actor. He is well known by listeners for his deep baritone voice whilst singing. He garnered mainstream exposure when his song "Chocolate Rain
Chocolate Rain
"Chocolate Rain" is a song and music video performed by American Internet personality Tay Zonday. After being posted on YouTube on April 22, 2007, the song quickly became popular. , the video has over 74,000,000 views. The music video portrays a bespectacled Zonday in a recording studio wearing a...
", and accompanying video on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, became a popular Internet meme
Internet meme
The term Internet meme is used to describe a concept that spreads via the Internet. The term is a reference to the concept of memes, although the latter concept refers to a much broader category of cultural information.-Description:...
in July 2007. , "Chocolate Rain" has more than 73 million views.
Media response
In July 2007, Zonday went from being a grad student in Minneapolis, MinnesotaMinnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
to having his video featured on the front page of YouTube and making appearances on national television. He appeared on the Opie & Anthony Show, G4TV's
G4 (TV channel)
G4, also known as G4 TV, is an American cable- and satellite-television channel originally geared primarily toward young adult viewers, originally based on the world of video games...
Attack of the Show!
Attack of the Show!
Attack of the Show! is an American live television program shown weeknights on G4, G4 Canada and Fuel TV in Australia. The program is hosted by Kevin Pereira and Candace Bailey...
, VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
's Best Week Ever
Best Week Ever
Best Week Ever is a weekly television program on the United States cable/satellite network VH1. It started airing in 2004 and was put on hiatus in the summer of 2009...
, Lily Allen and Friends
Lily Allen and Friends
Lily Allen and Friends is a British TV talk show presented by Lily Allen. The programme is produced by Princess Productions for BBC Three. It was first shown on 12 February 2008. The audience consists entirely of Lily's online friends, who sign up via the programme's website...
, Jimmy Kimmel Live
Jimmy Kimmel Live
Jimmy Kimmel Live! is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and broadcast on ABC.The nightly hour-long show made its debut on January 26, 2003, following Super Bowl XXXVII. Jimmy Kimmel Live! is produced by Jackhole Productions in association with ABC Studios...
, Tosh.O, and Maury
Maury (TV series)
Maury is a syndicated American tabloid talk show hosted by Maury Povich.When the series first aired in 1991, the show was called The Maury Povich Show and was produced by MoPo Productions in association with Paramount Domestic Television...
where he performed "Chocolate Rain" on national television a little over three months after he posted his composition on YouTube. He made the front page of Sunday's Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
on August 12, 2007 with additional features in The Toronto Star
Toronto Star
The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
, The Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
's RedEye
RedEye
The RedEye is a daily publication put out by the Chicago Tribune geared toward 18 to 34-year-olds. RedEye was created due in part to the loss of readership among young people of the Chicago Tribune and other major newspapers...
, The Star Tribune
Star Tribune
The Star Tribune is the largest newspaper in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is published seven days each week in an edition for the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area. A statewide version is also available across Minnesota and parts of Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, and North Dakota. The...
and People
People (magazine)
In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...
and has appeared on CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
for a televised interview. He also has appeared on Fox News
Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
. On February 12, 2008, he appeared on the television show Lily Allen and Friends on BBC Three, and performed a cover of Lily Allen
Lily Allen
Lily Rose Beatrice Cooper , better known as Lily Allen, is an English recording artist and fashion designer. She is the daughter of actor and musician Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. In her teenage years, her musical tastes evolved from glam rock to alternative...
's debut "Smile
Smile (Lily Allen song)
"Smile" is a song by British recording artist Lily Allen from her debut studio album, Alright, Still. It was written by Allen, Iyiola Babalola and Darren Lewis in 2004, while sampling The Soul Brothers' "Free Soul". The song was released as the lead mainstream single of the album in March 2006...
". In March 2008 the video won a YouTube-award in the category "Music".
The Australian Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph (Australia)
The Daily Telegraph is an Australian tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, by Nationwide News, part of News Corporation.The Tele, as it is also known, was founded in 1879. From 1936 to 1972, it was owned by Frank Packer's Australian Consolidated Press. That year it was sold to...
newspaper wrote: "Tay Zonday has written perhaps the most listened to song in the world right now." People said: "He's scored a YouTube hit with his repetitive, keyboard
Musical keyboard
A musical keyboard is the set of adjacent depressible levers or keys on a musical instrument, particularly the piano. Keyboards typically contain keys for playing the twelve notes of the Western musical scale, with a combination of larger, longer keys and smaller, shorter keys that repeats at the...
-driven 'Chocolate Rain', and after a recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Tay Zonday's star is shining even brighter." The article also noted that celebrity musicians paid tribute to the song as its popularity rapidly peaked in August 2007. Singer John Mayer
John Mayer
John Clayton Mayer is an American pop rock and blues rock musician, singer-songwriter, recording artist, and music producer. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut and raised in Fairfield, Connecticut, he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. He moved to Atlanta in 1997, where he refined his...
reportedly mimicked Zonday's keyboard riff with his guitar in concert, along with appearing on Best Week Ever improvising a parody to the tune of Nelly Furtado
Nelly Furtado
Nelly Kim Furtado is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Furtado grew up in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.Furtado first gained fame with her debut album, Whoa, Nelly!, and its single "I'm Like a Bird", which won a 2001 Juno Award for Single of the Year and a 2002 Grammy...
's "Say It Right
Say It Right
"Say It Right" is a song recorded by Canadian recording artist Nelly Furtado, from her third studio album, Loose . Written by Furtado, Tim "Timbaland" Mosley and Nate "Danja" Hills, the song was inspired by, as Furtado described it, the "spooky, keyboard-driven pop sound" of the band Eurythmics,...
". Green Day
Green Day
Green Day is an American punk rock band formed in 1987. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool...
drummer Tré Cool
Tre Cool
Frank Edwin Wright III, a.k.a. Tré Cool, is an American drummer, best known as the drummer for the punk rock band Green Day. He replaced the group's former drummer John Kiffmeyer in 1990...
recorded a cover of "Chocolate Rain" which he posted on Youtube. Zonday also became the subject of thousands of other parodies and remixes on YouTube. A clip of his video was also shown on CW11
CW11
CW11 may refer to:*CW11, a postcode district in the CW postcode areaThe CW Television Network affiliates:* KPLR-TV St. Louis* KSTW Tacoma/Seattle* WPIX New York City* WBXI Binghamton, New York...
's Online Nation
Online Nation
Online Nation is an American reality TV series that premiered on The CW on September 23, 2007. Scouring the endless number of websites, blogs, and user-generated materials on the Internet, Online Nation featured everything and anything that has captured the attention of the online world. In...
, a new series. Zonday has been interviewed twice on Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
, in March and November 2008.
Career
Zonday starred in a commercial for Comedy Central's "Last Laugh 07", hosted by Lewis BlackLewis Black
Lewis Niles Black is an American stand-up comedian, author, playwright, social critic and actor. He is known for his comedy style, which often includes simulating a mental breakdown, or an increasingly angry rant, ridiculing history, politics, religion, trends and cultural phenomena...
. He released a video titled "Cherry Chocolate Rain", in a promotion with Dr Pepper
Dr Pepper
Dr Pepper is a soft drink, marketed as having a unique flavor. The drink was created in the 1880s by Charles Alderton of Waco, Texas and first served around 1885. Dr Pepper was first nationally marketed in the United States in 1904 and is now also sold in Europe, Asia, Canada, Mexico, Australia ...
. He starred alongside Leslie Hall
Leslie Hall
Leslie Merritt Hall is an American satirical rap artist and front-woman for the band Leslie and the LY's and the operator of a "gem sweater museum"....
in a commercial for Firefox singing a song titled "Users Against Boredom" in a parody of We Are The World
We Are the World
"We Are the World" is a song and charity single originally recorded by the supergroup USA for Africa in 1985. It was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, and produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Omartian for the album We Are the World...
. Tay has said his voice is often compared to Ru Paul, Paul Robeson
Paul Robeson
Paul Leroy Robeson was an American concert singer , recording artist, actor, athlete, scholar who was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in the first half of the twentieth century...
, Barry White
Barry White
Barry White, born Barry Eugene Carter , was an American composer and singer-songwriter.A five-time Grammy Award-winner known for his distinctive bass voice and romantic image, White's greatest success came in the 1970s as a solo singer and with the Love Unlimited Orchestra, crafting many enduring...
, James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones is an American actor. He is well-known for his distinctive bass voice and for his portrayal of characters of substance, gravitas and leadership...
, and Brad Roberts of the Crash Test Dummies
Crash Test Dummies
The Crash Test Dummies is a Canadian folk rock/alternative rock band from Winnipeg, Manitoba, widely known for their 1993 single "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm".The band is most identifiable through Brad Roberts and his distinctive bass-baritone voice...
. He appeared in-person at Intel's Consumer Electronics Show
Consumer Electronics Show
The International Consumer Electronics Show is a major technology-related trade show held each January in the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Not open to the public, the Consumer Electronics Association-sponsored show typically hosts previews of products and new...
booth, rendering the source files of the "Chocolate Rain" YouTube video in Sony Vegas
Sony Vegas
Sony Vegas is a professional video editing software package for non-linear editing systems originally published by Sonic Foundry, now owned and run by Sony Creative Software. Originally developed as an audio editor, it eventually developed into an NLE for video and audio from version 2.0...
.
The Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
-winning music video for rock band Weezer
Weezer
Weezer is an American alternative rock band. The band currently consists of Rivers Cuomo , Patrick Wilson , Brian Bell , and Scott Shriner . The band has changed lineups three times since its formation in 1992...
's single "Pork and Beans
Pork and Beans (song)
"Pork and Beans" is a song by the American alternative rock band Weezer, released on its 2008 album Weezer. It was released in digital form on April 24, 2008. The track debuted at number 19 on Billboards Modern Rock chart, and spent eleven weeks at number one. Critics generally liked the song,...
" featured Zonday along with other YouTube celebrities in May 2008, spoofing his appearance in "Chocolate Rain"; as well, he performed an acoustic
Acoustic music
Acoustic music comprises music that solely or primarily uses instruments which produce sound through entirely acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means...
version of the song with Brian Bell
Brian Bell (musician)
Brian Bell is an American guitarist and songwriter. Active since 1989, he is best known as the rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist for the American alternative rock band Weezer. Bell joined Weezer in 1993 following the departure of founding member Jason Cropper...
of Weezer.
As a voice actor, Zonday voiced part of a multimedia presentation built to celebrate 50 years of NASA history. He also voiced a role in AdultSwim's Robot Chicken
Robot Chicken
Robot Chicken is an American stop motion animated television series created and executive produced by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich along with co-head writers Douglas Goldstein and Tom Root. Green provides many voices for the show...
, spoofing his own song "Chocolate Rain".
Zonday was featured on the "Jace Hall Show", where he was comically interviewed at a famous Hollywood restaurant in a play on the dissonance between Internet-fame and the traditional entertainment industry.
In February 2010 Zonday cameoed in a Vizio
Vizio
Vizio is a privately held producer of consumer electronics, based in Irvine, California, USA. It was founded in October 2002 as V Inc. Vizio's major partner in the consumer electronics arena is AmTran Technology, a Taiwan-based OEM/ODM that manufactures more than half of the televisions sold...
Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
commercial opened by Beyoncé. In October 2010, he appeared on Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
's Night of Too Many Stars autism charity event during a musical number with Steve Carell
Steve Carell
Steven John "Steve" Carell is an American comedian, actor, voice artist, producer, writer, and director. Although Carell is notable for his role on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, he found greater fame in the late 2000s for playing Michael Scott on The Office...
and Stephen Colbert
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Tyrone Colbert is an American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor. He is the host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, a satirical news show in which Colbert portrays a caricatured version of conservative political pundits.Colbert originally studied to be an...
.
In August 2011, Zonday appeared on America's Got Talent
America's Got Talent
America's Got Talent is an American reality television series on the NBC television network, and part of the global British Got Talent franchise. It is a talent show that features singers, dancers, magicians, comedians, and other performers of all ages competing for the advertised top prize of...
and performed a grand total of 15 seconds of his song "Chocolate Rain".
Zonday was also featured in Dave Days' Youtube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
video spoof of Justin Bieber
Justin Bieber
Justin Drew Bieber is a Canadian pop/R&B singer, songwriter and actor. Bieber was discovered in 2008 by Scooter Braun, who came across Bieber's videos on YouTube and later became his manager...
's song, Baby. The video has over 14 million views.
Zonday had a cameo in The Guild Season 5 episode 3, Megagame-o-ramacon!, aired on August 9, 2011.
Tay Zonday is featured in a 2011 Mike Diva comedy YouTube video as a dubstep dancing mastermind.
External links
- Tay Zonday Official site
- Tay Zonday's YouTube channel