System of a Down founder Serj Tankian was born on August 21, 1967, in Beirut, Lebanon. He and his family immigrated to Los Angeles in 1975. He studied marketing at California State University and started his own software company before beginning his music career with the formation of System of a Down in 1995. In 1998, System of a Down signed on to Rick Rubin's American imprint, and over the following seven years released five well-received albums, the second of which, Toxicity, thrust them into the forefront of the metal community, garnered a Grammy nomination, and sold millio...