Rafi Calderon (born Rafáel Andres Calderón; April 26, 1981) is a musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist of the indie rock band Eternal Panda.
Early Life
Born in Cuba to Celia, an art teacher, and Julian, a dentist, Calderon's father moved the family from Trinidad to Queens, New York when Calderon was two years old. He was raised speaking Spanish and English at home. He has one younger sister, Ana, and a year after she was born they lost their father to lung cancer. Calderon was eight years old, and has said that the aftermath was "almost unbearable at times." His family was evicted from many of their homes from being unable to pay rent on time, eventually staying with their mother's friends for the major part of Calderon's teenage years. About his upbringing, Calderon has said, "I'm not at all ashamed. I talk about as much as I do for a reason. If you haven't lived it, you have no idea what it's like."
Calderon began writing music as a way to speak to his father. "I used to come up with these dumb songs where I'd just talk about the day I had and set it to music. I've never been religious so it was kind of like praying to him, I guess." Eternal Panda's first album is dedicated to Julian Calderón's memory.
Career
While taking classes part-time at Manhattan Community College, Calderon met his future Eternal Panda band members. He was involved in several musical projects at the same time, such as the experimental group Dumb Basstards and later Sighclops, his "first and only" foray into rapping. On his brief rap career, Calderon has said, "We were better than Wu-Tang, probably. No disrespect to Method Man." (They wrote such songs as "Pizza Party", "Interracial Dating", and "Bitches".) While writing Eternal Panda's first album, Calderon worked several side jobs to continue supporting his mother and sister, including a janitor at McDonald's and dressing up in costumes to hand out fliers on the street to promote new business openings. Recording songs "pretty much wherever had relatively good acoustics," the band self-produced their debut, self-titled album.
The band released their sophomore album, Contra, in 2010 to critical acclaim. It was the first of their albums to reach number one on the Billboard 200 and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Alternative Album. Their most recent album, Modern Pandas of the City, is their most successful venture to date, taking on a darker and more serious tone than any of their previous music. Some of the album's popular themes are death, time, and discontentment in relationships. Calderon has kept quiet when asked about the more personal tone, only saying that he and the band have chosen to leave it up to the listener to interpret the music as they will. Modern Pandas of the City won the 2014 Grammy for Best Alernative Album.
Since the release of Eternal Panda's latest album, Calderon has kept a relatively low profile. He has voiced the recurring character of Mickey on Bob's Burgers since 2012, and joined the voice cast of Bojack Horseman for its second season. He appears on the soundtrack for the 2013 film Her, accompanying Karen O on a version of "The Moon Song". Calderon joined her at the 86th Academy Awards for a performance of the song.
Personal Life
Calderon dated singer Dahlia Faye from 2009 until 2010. Not much else is known about his dating history, though after he was photographed holding hands with an unidentified man in 2012, speculation began to arise about his sexuality. When asked about it, Calderon only replied, "I'm not hiding anything."
In regards to representation and diversity in music, Calderon has said, "We're out here, man, it just depends on whether or not they want to listen to us. And it's important that we see ourselves out here succeeding, because so many of these kids, the kids who aren't just born rich and white, are being told that they'll never achieve anything. And if there's no one in the media who looks like them to prove otherwise, why should they believe it? It's corny, but hope I can do that for someone, because I know what it feels like. I've been there." He has cited Fiona Apple, Wu-Tang Clan, David Bowie, Carlos Santana, Cat Power, and Prince as some of his biggest influences.
