Khaledzou

Khaled Zouhair Tabbara grew up in Youngstown, Ohio.[4][5] He came from a musical family. "My dad played the accordion. My brother always made hip hop beats and had samplers. My grandfather played banjo and organ," he said. After getting into fights and being placed under house arrest at age 12, he began participating in community theater[2][5] which gave him a creative outlet.[5] He studied telecommunications at Youngstown State University and performed weekly at The Mocha House in Boardman, Ohio.[6]

In 2000, Tabbara and his brother Rached made a record in their basement titled "The Bright Blues," with Khaled providing lead vocals.[7][2] It featured a blend of folk, bluegrass, blues, alternative rock and old school hip hop genres.[8] The two played a variety of instruments including guitar, piano, keyboard, organ, bass, samplers, harmonicas, congas, violin, turntables, accordion, mandolin, djembe, whistles and tuned glasses of water.[8] Tabbara went on to self-produce a second album called "For the Mutha Fuckin Kids" in 2002.[9]

Khaled Tabbara performing at The Zou's Annual Rocky Horror Halloween Party at Cedar's in Youngstown, Ohio in 2005.

In 2001,[10] Tabbara founded The Zou - a collective of Youngstown area musicians - to assist in performing his songs live. They performed 400 shows in 28 states.[11] The group developed a following in northeast Ohio as a result of their annual Rocky Horror Halloween party[12], which began in 2001 and[10] continued through 2017.[12] In 2006, they recorded a Rocky Horror cover album titled "Don't Dream it, Be it" at Ampreon Recorder in Youngstown, Ohio.[10] Other albums recorded under The Zou moniker include "the zou" (2004), "The Pinebox EP" (2007), "Archaeopteryx" (2008), "Kills Pt. 1" (2013) and "Kills Pt. 2" (2015).[13] Current or past members include Rob Thorndike,[12][10][11] Brendan Gauntner,[14] Dean Anshutz,[11] K808,[11][12] Jake Stephens,[12] Bernadette Lim,[15] Adam DeAscentis, Joey Graziosi,[13][11] James Harker,[12] Billy Laguardia,[11] Jesse Martin, Murad Ghazi Shorrab, [15] Rached Tabbara,[13] Nic Chiarilla, Chris Splain, Jason Clark, and Nick Cordova.[10]

Main article: Munnycat

MUNNYCAT performing at Youngstown State University in 2017.

Tabbara first met his partner and bandmate K808 in Youngstown, Ohio in 2011 after Timko booked The Zou to perform at a St. Patrick’s Day event.[16] The two began dating later that year, and joined each other's musical projects soon after.[17] They moved to Los Angeles[18] in 2016, where they formed Munnycat. They currently reside in Studio City, CA and write, produce, shoot and edit their own music videos together.[17] They released their first EP together titled “Platinum Gold” in 2017 and have gone on to release singles regularly since.[19][20][21][22][16] Their music has been featured over 100 times by brands such as FIFA, Google, and Target.[23] Their song "Platinum Gold" was featured in Coca-Cola's first advertising campaign for AHA sparkling water, which launched in March of 2020. [24]

Tabbara provided acoustic guitar and performed backup vocals for the Monkees’ Micky Dolenz during his “A Little Bit Broadway, A Little Bit Rock & Roll” residencies at 54 Below in New York City in 2015[25] and 2017,[26] with a recording of the performance released by Broadway Records in 2015.[25] In 2013 and 2014, Tabbara performed as a member of The Angel Band alongside Norbert Leo Butz and Michael J. Moritz, playing guitar and providing backup vocals.[27] A recording was released through Broadway Records on November 11th, 2013 with proceeds from the album funding a music therapy program for survivors of sexual violence.[28] He went on to perform during Norbert Leo Butz’ “Girls, Girls, Girls” residency in 2016 at 54 Below. A recording was released through Broadway Records on September 9, 2016 with Tabbara providing acoustic guitar and backing vocals.[29][30]