Weird Al Yankovic

The time has come for "Weird Al" Yankovic, the biggest selling comedy recording artist of all time, to return to Northeastern Ohio for a show at the Akron Civic Theatre. He was just nominated for two Grammy's including a Best Comedy Album nomination for his first album in five years, Alpocalypse, plus one for Best Short Form Video for the song "Perform This Way."

Few would have guessed that Yankovic, who as an awkward, accordion-playing teenager got his start sending in homemade tapes to the Dr. Demento Radio Show, would go on to enjoy a varied and successful career that is now entering its fourth decade. Over that time he's won 3 Grammys (with 14 nominations), racked up 31 Gold and Platinum Albums, and won countless awards and accolades for Weird Al classics like 'Eat It," "Like a Surgeon", "Fat", "Smells Like Nirvana","Amish Paradise" and "The Saga Begins." Yankovic is also well-known for his cult-hit feature film UHF (1989), his late CBS Saturday morning series The Weird Al Show and the numerous AL-TV specials that he's made for MTV and VH1 over the years. His previous album Straight Outta Lynwood (2006), the highest-charting of his career, spawned the Billboard Top 10 single "White & Nerdy", the video of which spent two months at #1 on iTunes and garnered over 100 million hits on the Internet.

Since then, Yankovic has performed 240 concerts throughout North America, Australia and Europe, including England's All Tomorrow's Parties Festival. He released his greatest hits package The Essential "Weird Al" Yankovic (Legacy), directed the themed attraction's Brain: A 3-D Journey through the Human Brain (featuring cameos by everybody from Fabio to Paul McCartney) and accumulated over 2 million followers on Twitter. And with the recent release of his children%u2019s book When I Grow Up (HarperCollins), Al now adds "New York Times Bestselling Author" to his resume.

The first single from Alpocalypse is the Lady Gaga parody "Perform This Way". This song has had its fair share of controversy - suffice it to say that after a number of crossed wires and a crazy media firestorm, all is well now it has Lady Gaga's full approval and blessing. Yankovic is directing the video clip for "Perform This Way", and his proceeds from the single and video will go to the Human Rights Campaign.

Alpocalypse also features parodies of Miley Cyrus ("In The CIA"), Taylor Swift ("TMZ"), B.o.B Featuring Bruno Mars ("Another Tattoo") and T.I. ("Whatever You Like"). The album's requisite polka medley "Polka Face" features accordion-driven versions of songs by the biggest artists of the day, including Justin Bieber, Ke$ha, Britney Spears, P!nk, Lady Antebellum, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga.

For more information: www.weirdal.com
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