Voltaire (musician)
| Aurelio Voltaire | |
|---|---|
Voltaire performing on his Raised By Bats Tour in 2014
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Aurelio Voltaire Hernández |
| Also known as | Voltaire |
| Born | January 25, 1967 |
| Origin | Havana, Cuba |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | music artist, writer, cartoonist, animator, television director, teacher |
| Instruments | vocals, guitar |
| Years active | 1998–present |
| Labels | Projekt Records, Mars Needs Music and Dancing Ferret Discs |
| Associated acts |
Rasputina The Oddz Unto Ashes Amanda Palmer Julia Marcell |
| Website | www |
Aurelio Voltaire Hernández (born January 25, 1967), professionally known as Aurelio Voltaire or by the mononym Voltaire, is a Cuban-American dark cabaret artist. His stage name is his given middle name, which was the pen name of the famous French Enlightenment writer François-Marie Arouet.
Voltaire is also an experienced animator and comic artist, and is a professor at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.
In the past, when asked about his real name, Voltaire avoided the question or implied that his real name is in fact Voltaire.
Voltaire chose to use his middle name as his performance name because his namesake "saw through the hypocrisies of humanity and commented on them through satire. In essence, he was able to educate people about the world around them by making them laugh."
According to the School of Visual Arts where he is employed as a professor, Voltaire's real name is Aurelio Voltaire Hernández. Voltaire attributes "Acoustic Guitar and Vocals" on Ooky Spooky to Aurelio Voltaire Hernández, confirming that is his real name. Since then he has signed his name as Aurelio Voltaire, and is more open about it in public appearances.
His stage name is now "Aurelio Voltaire" for the following reason: "I got tired of there being other people releasing albums as Voltaire. There's an indie band in Germany and some American guy who makes instrumental hip hop. Like, do these people not do a fuckin' google search before naming their bands? Anyway, it was just easier to distinguish myself from them by using my first name."
Voltaire's father died when he was four months old. At ten months old, Voltaire emigrated to New Jersey with his mother and sister and his mother remarried. However, he states that he did not enjoy residing there, stating he was a victim of bullying because of his heritage and strange hobbies and interests. At the age of ten, Voltaire was inspired by the films of Ray Harryhausen (Jason and the Argonauts, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad), and began animating on a super 8 camera. By piecing together snippets of information from fanzines, he eventually was able to teach himself how to make foam rubber animation models and animate them. At the age of 17, he moved to New York City and got his first job as an animator with Parker Brothers. Voltaire says that he loves New York, and that the only other place he would be happy living is Tokyo.
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Wikipedia