Sebu Simonian

Simonian was born in 1978 in Aleppo,^[1] Syria to Armenian parents from Lebanon,^[7][8][9] whose ancestors were survivors of the Armenian genocide.^[1] His paternal grandfather was from the region of Cilicia (in present-day Turkey's Çukurova region).^[1][10] Simonian's parents were from Beirut, Lebanon, but "because of a civil war [his] mum had to flee and [he] happened to be born in Syria."^[11] Soon after his birth his family returned to Lebanon where they stayed until 1985^[12] and moved to the United States due to the civil war there.^[7]

Simonian grew up in Los Angeles County.^[7] His family is involved in the Armenian community,^[13] while Simonian himself was an editorial assistant at the English Section of the Armenian daily Asbarez in the late 1990s.^[14] He graduated from Glendale High School.^[1][15] He is an alumnus of the California State University, Northridge,^[5] where he studied music.^[15]

Simonian started his first band when he was 15.^[12] In 2004,^[16] Simonian (as lead singer and keyboardist) and Ryan Welker, guitarist and backing vocals, formed the rock^[17] band Aviatic.^[5]

Simonian met Ryan Merchant in 2008 through Craigslist while searching for a job as a music producer.^[18] Initially, they worked as jingle writers and wrote songs for other bands.^[19] They formed the indie pop duo Capital Cities in 2010.^[12] Simonian was featured on Brian Wilson's 2015 album No Pier Pressure, performing and producing the track "Runaway Dancer".^[20] In 2017, Simonian was featured on Armenian singer Sirusho's single "Vuy Aman".^[21]

Simonian is married and has two sons.^{[citation needed]}

Simonian wears a long beard, which has gained significant media attention.^[22][23] Rolling Stone magazine named his beard the best at the 2014 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and described it as "luxuriant [and] Rasputin-like" and rabbi-like.^[24] When asked why he doesn't shave, he responded "I'm just lazy" and added that he sees himself as "a little bit of" a hipster.