Daron Vartan Malakian was the lead guitarist and main songwriter in the band System of a Down until their hiatus in 2006 and lead guitarist and lead singer in the Scars On Broadway band. Malakian has written most of the band's music, and, more recently, has taken on a large share of the vocal work for the band as well. Like the rest of the Hollywood-based band, he is of Armenian ancestry, but is the only member to actually have been born inside the U.S. . He placed 30th in Guitar World's List of "The 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Guitarists Of All Time."