Biography of the Day : Daron Malakian

From Wikipedia :

Daron Vartan Malakian (born July 18, 1975) is the lead guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist in System of a Down. The band has been on a hiatus since 2006. He is currently the lead singer and guitarist in Scars on Broadway. Like the rest of the Hollywood-based band System of a Down, he is of Armenian ancestry, but is the only member to actually have been born inside the U.S. (Los Angeles). He placed 30th in Guitar World's List of The 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Guitarists of All Time.

Early Life

Daron was born on July 18, 1975 in U.S. as an only child to an Iraqi-Armenian father Vartan Malakian and Iranian-Armenian mother Zepur Malakian. At a very early age, Daron got into heavy metal music; his distant cousin played him a KISS record when he was four years old and he was hooked. Daron wanted to play the drums , but his parents got him a guitar instead because they said "You can't turn the drums off." By the time Daron was a teenager, he got into heavier metal bands such as Slayer, Venom, Metallica, Pantera, Sepultura and Cannibal Corpse. At around 17 he started getting into The Beatles and Peter, Paul and Mary as two of his biggest influences on him as a songwriter. Daron went to Rose & Alex Pilibos Armenian school in Little Armenia, Hollywood, which bandmates Serj Tankian and Shavo Odadjian also attended. Daron is still a big Slayer fan, as is band member Shavo Odadjian who sometimes wears Slayer t-shirts to shows. In his childhood, he also became a fan of the Los Angeles Kings Hockey Team, which can be seen in the video of 'Toxicity' and the booklet of the album with the same title.

~Isaiah