Born Adam Nyerere Bahner, Tay Zonday is a graduate student in American Studies at the University of Minnesota. While growing up, his parents discouraged him from listening to popular music, giving him piano and voice training directly; his mother's experience as a stage kid and Juilliard student shaped her belief that the life of an arts professional led only to struggle and poverty. Later, after randomly collecting MP3s through Napster and other downloading services, he found his only interest in music was creative, not as a consumer; he continues to ignore popular music and insists he only listens to his own music now.
Bahner chose his stage name at random, after querying Google and getting no response (four months later the search term returned 700,000 web pages referencing "Tay Zonday").
© 2009
