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Sonny Sandoval | |
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 Sandoval performing in 2013 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Paul Joshua Sandoval |
| Born | May 16, 1973 San Diego, California, U.S. |
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| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1992–present |
| Labels | |
| Member of | P.O.D. |
Paul Joshua "Sonny" Sandoval (born May 16, 1973) is an American musician, rapper, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the co-founder and lead vocalist of nu metal band P.O.D.
Sandoval was born in San Diego, California, to a Chamorro-Hawaiian mother and a Mexican-Italian father. [1] When he was eighteen, Sandoval's mother was diagnosed with leukemia. [2] During her illness, Sandoval was greatly influenced by his mother's faith as a devout Christian. [3] [4]
Sandoval is best known as co-founder and the lead vocalist of the metal band P.O.D. Over the course of their career, the band has received three Grammy Award nominations, contributed to numerous motion picture soundtracks and toured internationally. They have sold over 12 million records worldwide. [2] With their third studio album, The Fundamental Elements of Southtown , P.O.D. achieved their initial mainstream success; the album was certified platinum by the RIAA in 2000. [5] [6]
Since 2008, Sandoval has been part of an outreach group, The Whosoevers, with Ryan Ries, Lacey Sturm of Flyleaf, and Brian Welch, guitarist for the nu metal band Korn.
Before the formation of P.O.D., Sandoval was a member of a rap/hip-hop group in high school called Unlicensed Product. [7]
Sandoval appeared in Project 86's self-titled album in the song "Six Sirens". In 2004, he contributed to two tracks on Anastacia's self titled album, "Seasons Change" and "I Do". He has been named number 63 in Hit Parader's Top 100 Metal Vocalists of All Time in 2006.
Sandoval published autobiography Son of Southtown on February 25, 2025. [7] [8]
In 2023, the City of San Diego declared June 23 to be "Sonny Sandoval Day," meant to honor the vocalist. [9]
He and his wife Shannon married in 1996, and have two daughters and a son. [10] [11] He resides in San Diego. [12]
For most of P.O.D.'s career, Sandoval was well known for his dreadlocks (which, by the release of the video for "Going in Blind", reached his waist). At the time of the release of P.O.D.'s seventh studio album, When Angels & Serpents Dance , he cut them off, but has since regrown them. [13]
P.O.D. was with Atlantic for four albums and two EPs. The band signed with Atlantic in 1998, after selling more than 40,000 copies of its independently released EPs. The group's Atlantic debut, "The Fundamental Elements of Southtown", came out in 1999 and went platinum, while 2001's "Satellite" was a multi-platinum success. But the group felt that personnel changes at Atlantic were responsible for recent sales dips — more than 500,000 copies of 2003's "Payable On Death" were sold, but less than 250,000 copies of the recent "Testify".
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