Adam Yahiye Gadahn - Background and Childhood

Background and Childhood

Gadahn was born Adam Pearlman, the son of musician Phil Pearlman. Gadahn's Jewish paternal grandfather, Carl Pearlman, was a prominent urologist; and on the Board of Directors of the Anti-Defamation League. According to Gadahn, he was a "zealous supporter" of Israel. Gadahn's paternal grandmother, Agnes Branch, a Christian, was an editor for The Christian Family Chronicles ( genealogical publication for people with the surname "Christian"). Gadahn's father, originally Phil Pearlman, grew up in Orange County, California, and he and his wife, Jennifer, later changed their name to Gadahn, after the Biblical warrior Gideon. He was involved in the counterculture movement at the University of California at Irvine, and before Adam's birth became a Christian. Gadahn described his father as having been "raised agnostic or atheist, but he became a believer in One God when he picked up a Bible left on the beach." His father's religious perspective was flexible and based upon his own spiritual needs and as a new convert to Islam, Gadahn portrayed his father in manner sympathetic to his religion of conversion.

Gadahn was born in Oregon, United States, raised a Protestant Christian, and homeschooled through high school by his parents on an isolated farm in Western Riverside County, California. He played Little League baseball and participated in Christian homeschool support groups. As an adolescent he became very involved in the death metal community, making contact with fans and musicians through alternative magazines. During the summer of 1993, he formed his own one-man band called Aphasia. Gadahn contributed music reviews and artwork to a zine called Xenocide. In 1995, at age 16, Gadahn moved in with his grandparents in the West Floral Park neighborhood of Santa Ana, California. Not long after, he converted to Islam and lamented the estrangement his musical interest caused between him and his family writing, "My relationship with my parents became strained, although only intermittently so. I am sorry even as I write this."