When asked to name his favorite love song, Weird Al Yankovic replied:

If you'd like me to choose a song from my own oeuvre, I'd have to say "One More Minute." It's pretty good [...] I also like "You're Breaking My Heart" by Harry Nilsson. It was famous for being one of the few songs they were forbidden to play on the radio when I was in college. The chorus goes: "You're breaking my heart, you're tearing it apart, so f--- you."

-- Weird Al Yankovic[1]

 

Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( YANG-kə-vik; born October 23, 1959) is an American musician, comedian, and actor. He is best known for writing and performing comedy songs that often parody specific songs by contemporary musicians. He also performs original songs that are style pastiches of the work of other acts, as well as polka medleys of several popular songs, most of which feature his trademark accordion. Since having one of his comedy songs aired on The Dr. Demento Radio Show in 1976 at age 16, Yankovic has sold more than 12 million albums (as of 2015), recorded more than 150 parodies and original songs, and performed more than 1,000 live shows. His work has earned him five Grammy Awards and a further 11 nominations, four gold records and six platinum records in the U.S. His first top ten Billboard album (Straight Outta Lynwood) and single ("White & Nerdy") were both released in 2006, nearly three decades into his career. His latest album, Mandatory Fun (2014), became his first number-one album during its debut week. Yankovic's success has been attributed to his effective use of music videos to further parody pop culture, the song's original artist and the original music videos themselves. He has directed some of his own music videos and has also directed music videos for other artists including Ben Folds, Hanson, the Black Crowes, and the Presidents of the United States of America. With the decline of music television and the onset of social media, he used YouTube and other video sites to publish his videos; this strategy helped boost sales of his later albums. Yankovic has stated that he may forgo traditional albums in favor of timely releases of singles from the 2010s onward. In addition to his music career, Yankovic wrote and starred in the film UHF (1989) and the television series The Weird Al Show (1997). He has produced two satirical films about his own life, The Compleat Al (1985) and Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022). He has acted in several television shows and web series, in addition to starring in Al TV specials on MTV. He has also written two children's books, When I Grow Up (2011) and My New Teacher and Me! (2013).

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article ""Weird Al" Yankovic", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.