Background and career
Zacharias Manuel de la Rocha (born January 12, 1970) is an American musician, rapper, singer, songwriter, and political activist. He is best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the rock band Rage Against the Machine. Through both Rage Against the Machine and his activism, de la Rocha promotes left-wing politics in opposition to corporate America, the military–industrial complex, and government oppression.
De la Rocha was born in Long Beach, California, on January 12, 1970, to Robert "Beto" de la Rocha and Olivia Lorryne Carter. His father is a Mexican-American, with distant African and Sephardi Jewish heritage, while his mother was born to Manuel García Urias, a Mexican-American, and Olive Pearl Fleming, who was of German and Irish heritage. Beto was a muralist and a member of Los Four, the first Chicano art collective to be exhibited at a museum (LACMA, 1973). De la Rocha's great grandfather, Jose Isaac de la Rocha Acosta (1882–1920), was a Mexican revolutionary who fought in the Mexican Revolution. His maternal grandfather, Manuel García, was originally from Sonora and worked as an agricultural laborer in the U.S. De la Rocha would later see the hardships his grandfather endured reflected in the struggles of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation. De la Rocha's parents divorced when he was six, and he moved from East Los Angeles to Irvine with his mother, who attended the University of California, Irvine and earned a PhD in anthropology.
De la Rocha later described Irvine as "one of the most racist cities imaginable" and said that "if you were a Mexican in Irvine, you were there because you had a broom or a hammer in your hand."
De la Rocha met Tim Commerford in elementary school. In junior high school, they both played guitar in a band called Juvenile Expression. De la Rocha's interest in punk rock bands like The Clash, The Misfits, Sex Pistols, and Bad Religion turned into an appreciation for other bands like Minor Threat, Bad Brains, and The Teen Idles. In 1987, he joined the straight edge band Hard Stance. In 2018, Indecision Records officially released Hard Stance's entire discography.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth, in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
