Profile of Serj Tankian on Famous Like Me

Serj Tankian (born August 21, 1967) is an Armenian-American musician born in Beirut. He is the lead vocalist of System of a Down, a name inspired by a Daron Malakian poem titled "Victims of a Down". In addition to his current singing duties with System of a Down, Serj has started his own record label, Serjical Strike, in an effort to release music otherwise ignored by the mainstream. The first act on this new label is a side-project dubbed "Serart" featuring Serj himself and famed world-musician Arto Tuncboyaciyan. His first poetry book, Cool Gardens, was published by MTV Books and features artwork by fellow Angeleno, Sako Shahinian.

An outspoken musician, Serj has spoken out against violence and injustice abroad. On September 13, 2001, shortly after the attacks of September 11, 2001, Serj penned an essay, which he posted on the official System of a Down website, titled "Understanding Oil". Promptly removed by Sony, the essay was seen by many, still shaken by the attack, as justification for the terrorists' actions, though this wasn't what Serj was trying to put across, he was merely writing from the terrorists point of view and many took it the wrong way.

More recently, Serj has partnered with Tom Morello of Audioslave(formally guitarist of Rage Against The Machine) to create Axis of Justice, an activist organization aimed at motivating youth interest in politics and into Genocide recognition. On January 3, 2003, Serj and Tom led a protest march in Santa Monica, California handing out bagged lunches to the homeless in violation of a city ordinance that requires charitable organizations, while handing out food in public, to follow restaurant code. He is also a vegetarian.

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