Guide Note

Grad student, Minneapolis native and self-taught amateur musician Tay Zonday is the baritone behind the Chocolate Rain Meme. Zonday uploaded a home video of himself singing his original song, "Chocolate Rain" to YouTube in late April of 2007, a video which soon went viral and catapulted the 25-year-old into the spotlight.

In summer of 2007, Zonday was a guest on the Opie and Anthony radio show and performed live on Jimmy Kimmel Live during the "Internet Talent Showcase" segment. Zonday was interviewed by Mahalo's Veronica Belmont on Mahalo Daily and "Chocolate Rain Guy" appeared in the South Park episode "Canada on Strike".

Over 4,200 parodies of the song have surfaced on the Internet, including cover versions from John Mayer, and Green Day drummer, Tre Cool.

Fast Facts

1. Video uploaded to YouTube on April 22, 2007
2. Received over 17,000,000 views in less than a year
3. YouTube Channel has over 32,000 subscribers
4. Zonday's real name is Adam Bahner
5. Song repeats the phrase "chocolate rain" 48 times
6. Won 2007 YouTube award for Best Music Video

1. "You know, you just kind of put something silly up on YouTube and it gets lots of attention."
2. "I get a lot of messages asking is my voice real."
3. "I appreciate that people enjoy it. Not all the attention has been positive, but I appreciate it...I'm blessed that anyone would choose to become a member of my audience."
4. "I am so out of the pop-culture loop."