Myth
Prior to the announcement of the 70th birthday release in 2008, Vega was thought to have been ten years younger. The 2005 book Suicide: No Compromise lists 1948 as his birth year and quotes a 1998 interview in which Vega talks about watching Elvis Presley on The Ed Sullivan Show (1956) as a "little kid". A 1983 Los Angeles Times article refers to him as a 35-year-old. Several other sources also list 1948 as his birthdate.
Two 2009 articles confirm the 1938 birth date, one in Le Monde about the Lyon exhibit and one in the magazine Rolling Stone.
Vega also long claimed to be half-Catholic, but later, in a 2008 interview with The Jewish Chronicle, admitted he lied to "fuel the myth".
Read more about this topic: Alan Vega
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