Cedric Bixler-Zavala

About

Cedric Bixler-Zavala (born November 4, 1974) is an American musician. He has been the lead singer and lyricist of the progressive rock band The Mars Volta since its inception in 2001. He was the lead singer and only constant member of the post-hardcore group At the Drive-In, the lead singer of the band Antemasque, and is a frequent collaborator with musician Omar Rodriguez-Lopez.

Cedric Bixler-Zavala was born as Cedric Bixler in Redwood City, California. His father, Dennis Bixler-Marquez, was born in Mexico City to a white American man of partial German ancestry, and a Mexican woman. His mother, Rosa Zavala, is Mexican-American and was born in El Paso. His father is a professor of Chicano Studies at University of Texas, El Paso. His parents were bilingual, but Bixler-Zavala says his command of proper Spanish is limited to “Spanglish”. His Spanish maternal surname, Zavala, is a Castilian version of the Basque family name Zabala.
Bixler-Zavala is a high school dropout. While attending high school, he was involved in the El Paso punk scene, playing in a number of local bands. This is where he met lifelong friend and collaborator Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, whom he has known…