Ali Tabatabaee () is an Iranian-American musician who is one of two main vocalists in the American band Zebrahead.

Background

Before joining Zebrahead, Tabatabaee was a pre-med student at

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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 (both Allopathic M.D. and Ostepathic D.O.) in the United States, Australia, Canada, and Caribbean Islands. It is designe ...

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,

System of a Down System of a Down (also known as SoaD or simply System) is an Armenian-American heavy metal band formed in Glendale, California, in 1994. Since 1997, the band has consisted of Serj Tankian (lead vocals, keyboards); Daron Malakian (guitar, voc ...

, and N.W.A. In 1999, while on the Warped Tour, Tabatabaee was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease, 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, ''

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'', 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.

Career

He is featured on the

Reel Big Fish Reel Big Fish is an American ska punk band from Orange County, California. The band gained mainstream recognition in the mid-to-late 1990s during the third wave of ska with the release of the gold-certified album ''Turn the Radio Off''. Soon af ...

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 Matty Lewis is an American musician, primarily known for his work as the rhythm guitarist and vocalist of punk rock band Zebrahead from 2005 to 2021. Jank 1000 Jank 1000 was a suburban pop punk band originally formed in late 1998, in the suburb ...

were asked by

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

to record vocals for a new theme song, titled " His World", which appears in the 2006 game '' Sonic The Hedgehog''. Tabatabaee also composes most of the songs that Zebrahead performs.

References

Rappers from California Rap rock musicians West Coast hip hop musicians American punk rock singers Nu metal singers Living people American people of Iranian descent 21st-century American rappers Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-rock-singer-stub