[Artist] Tay Zonday : the one of talented man

Tay Zonday’s unique voice is frequently compared to James Earl Jones, Barry White, Paul Robeson, and Brad Roberts. Hailing from Minneapolis, the twenty-five-year-old continues to experiment with diverse musical-works and voice-works that he primarily shares on the internet.

Zonday has been featured in print media such as The Los Angeles Times, The Toronto Star, Yahoo! News, E! Online, The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune’s Redeye, The Minneapolis Star Tribune, and PEOPLE Magazine. His television appearances include VH1’s "Best Week Ever," G4TV’s "Attack Of The Show," ABC’s "Jimmy Kimmel Live," CNN’s "Saturday Newsroom" and CW's "Online Nation." His television features include NBC's "Last Call with Carson Daly" and ABC's "I-Caught." He has interviewed with radio’s "The Opie & Anthony Show," "The Playboy Morning Radio Show," and dozens of other regional broadcasts in the United States, Europe, and the Pacific.

Know Him More

Tay Zonday, who is of African descent, is a student in American Studies at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities in Minneapolis, Minnesota. When asked about his "background" he remarked:

The straight-faced answer is that I'm Martian. They don't have a box for me on the census form. I'm the write-in candidate that the government leaves no space for when you have to choose your race. Seriously, is race something you choose? The whole point is that I don't choose it. It is somebody else's shortcut to my soul. So journalists ask "what's your background?" like I'm supposed to retell someone else's story about me as though it's a fact of who I am and where I come from. As long as I talk about myself in fiction that someone else wrote, I might as well write my own fiction: I'm from Mars. Most believe the story that I'm a black mulatto.

He attended the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy between 1997 and 1998, leaving after his sophomore year. He then went on to earn his undergraduate degree at The Evergreen State College. He has said that growing up, his parents did not allow him to listen to popular music. When music downloading services such as Napster came around, he began to secretly build a small collection of popular music. Tay makes many references in interviews as to how much he loves his parents; despite the fact that many of his songs are dedicated to them, he describes himself as a "musical orphan", having no influences and not feeling particularly connected to any musicians or bands. Tay says his voice is often compared to Paul Robeson, Barry White, James Earl Jones, and Brad Roberts of the Crash Test Dummies.

His Singles

Tay's best known single is Chocolate Rain, released on YouTube in July 2007. The spread of the song is partly attributed to 4chan.Tay Zonday said,

I'm pretty sure the "Chocolate Rain" attention started as a joke at 4chan.org, an image board that is credited with starting lots of popular internet phenomena. It spread to a general audience and people started uploading spoofs. I don't know what causes people to listen to my music. If I could speak it, there would be no reason to write songs.

Other releases via YouTube, his website, and his MySpace include Internet Dream, The Only Way, Demons on the Dance Floor, Do the Can't Dance, and Say No to Nightmares. He has also performed covers of Rainbow Connection, Never Gonna Give You Up, and Edelweiss which were removed from YouTube when the artist chose to focus on original material. Tay's singles, in chronological order, are:

Demons on the Dance Floor
Love (featuring Kooby)
Never Gonna Give You Up (Rick Astley cover)
Chocolate Rain
Internet Dream
The Only Way
Do the Can't Dance
Say No to Nightmares
Someday
Too Big for You
Get It Back(Thug Remix)
Cherry Chocolate Rain
Chasing Eden
Crash into Weird
Start Me Up(karaoke version of the Rolling Stones song)

Collaboration with Dr Pepper

On 28 November 2007, Tay released a brand new video titled Cherry Chocolate Rain, which is, in his words, "a music video to celebrate Dr Pepper's new Cherry Chocolate beverage". Since its release the video has maintained a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars

"Cherry Chocolate Rain" Original Song by Tay Zonday

Now he is the one nominee for Webby award 2008.Let's Cheer him to be the winner.