Tay Zonday Biography

Adam Nyerere Bahner is an American singer, musician, voice artist, actor, and comedian. More widely known by his pseudonym Tay Zonday, he is one of the original YouTube stars from the early days of the platform and unarguably the first social media influencer whose fame transcended into the mainstream culture. A native of Minnesota, Bahner was an unhappy graduate student pursuing a PhD when his interest in music piqued enough for him to attend open mic contests at mom-and-pop shops. After creating the online persona Tay Zonday, he set up his YouTube channel in January 2007. Initially, the feedback he received was not promising but it changed after he posted the song ‘Chocolate Rain’, sung in a bass singing voice. It went viral, garnering Zonday international popularity. In the ensuing years, he established himself as a voice artist with involvement in projects such as ‘Robot Chicken’ and a multimedia presentation created to celebrate 50 years of NASA history. He has appeared as one of the co-stars in the sitcom ‘The Jack and Triumph Show’ and in films such as 'Internet Famous' and 'Laid in America'. Moreover, Zonday continues to work as a musician and singer and has released several songs since ‘Chocolate Rain’.