GangstaRabbi

Steve Lieberman (born 21 June 1958), also known as the Gangsta Rabbi and The King of Jewish Punk,[2][3] (Hebrew name ליב פרץ בין אליאזר ה־בדלן ה־נזדי or Lev Ava'ran bar-Eli'ezar ha-Bad'lan ha-Naz'ari) is a Jewish-American punk rock /metal singer, songwriter, multi-instrumental musician, composer, producer and former village comptroller residing in Freeport, New York. He is a Hebrew Nazarite, the founder of The Bad'lanim, a minority sect of Judaism and a vegetarian since 1995.

Lieberman is often considered an outsider musician,[4] described as "walking the line between insanity and genius [sic]".[5] This has been partially attributed to his lifelong struggle with bipolar disorder,[6] which first struck him in 1970 at the age of 11, as well as his seven-year fight with leukemia in his later years, which ultimately was deemed terminal and has become a recurring theme in his lyrics. He has commercially released over 30 CDs and 38 cassette albums in the underground, using the Bop Bop Bigger Bab-'eL moniker and later reissued as "Bop Bop Bigger Bab-'eL featuring Steve Lieberman".[7]

On all his releases, Lieberman sings and plays all instruments. In addition to guitar, bass and beats, he adds flutes, various brass instruments and a variety of Eastern instruments. In his later years, he has added and arranged trombones in an effort to fuse punk rock with marching band music and elemental jazz, thereby creating a more powerful sound. As his condition has worsened, he has produced each subsequent album to be heavier by adding more instrumentation and distortion to symbolize his ongoing fight with the cancer and strength gained from the music and his faith.

He shared the stage with Weezer, Andrew WK, Glassjaw, Ryan Dunn and the Misfits before retiring from performing in December 2011 to battle accelerated phase myeloprolifirative leukemia.[8] He briefly returned to the stage in the spring of 2016 to perform Gangsta Rabbi's Quadrophenia performed in its entirety on a three-stop farewell tour as a solo act, accompanying himself on his trademark distorted bass, a 3-string Fender Stratocaster and alto trombone, as he remained prolific in the studio, producing nine full-length CD's since 2012.

In 2009, Lieberman signed a multi-album deal with Jewish indie label JDub Records,[9] taking the place of Matisyahu on their artist roster. As of the spring of 2011, Lieberman, a town comptroller by trade, was "the world’s only Orthodox Jewish heavy metal musician with a record deal", according to Newsday.[10]