P.O.D.

Lead singer of the Rap/Rock band P.O.D. (abbreviated for "Payable On Death"), Sonny Sandoval was born in 1974 in the town the band often refers to as "the southtown" in San Ysidro, California (which is between San Diego and Tijuana). Sonny, whose birth name is is Paul Sandoval was born to a Hawaiin mother and a Mexican-Italian father. He graduated high school in 1992 along with fellow band members Marcos Curiel and Noah Bernardo Jr. Noah (who is Sonny's cousin, and more commonly know as "Wuv") and Marcos (who is best friends with both Noah and Sonny) asked Sonny to join their rock band. Sonny at that time was in his own rap group, but agreed to join the band of his cousin and good friend. Sonny's mother had died when he was only 18, and his mother was only 37. From this experience Sonny felt a new way about life with strengthened his spirituality, which matched the legacy of the then band in progress. All three members grew up in San Ysidro, California and have been friends since high school. The fourth member of the band, Mark Daniels (more commonly know as "Traa") was obtained while Sonny, Wuv, and Marcos, were watching him play at a Los Angeles club. They felt they "had to have him in the band" when they heard how all four of them sounded together when they played their music. Mark was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, and grew up with sounds of James Brown, but he had made the move to the San Diego area after being asked to join P.O.D. The band was signed to Atlantic records in 1998, after independently producing their own records for six years prior. P.O.D. came out with their first popular CD titled "The Fundamental Elements of Southtown" in 1999, which produced a lot of popular singles such as "Rock the Party" and "Southtown." In 2001 they came out with their sophomore album which became their biggest global success called "Satellite" which was scheduled to be released on 9/11/01. They faced a tough choice that day of whether to go ahead and release it that day. Today all four members are married men and live in the San Diego area. Sonny still lives in his home town of San Ysidro, California with his wife and daughter Nevaeh (heaven spelled backwards, and born in 2000).