[4] Zulueta spent his early years on the island of Oahu in Hawaii and in San Diego, California.

[1] He attended San Diego State College in 1970, where he studied arts and crafts.

[4] In 1976 he met tattoo artist Don Ed Hardy, who encouraged him to become a tattooist.

[7] In 1992, Zulueta founded Black Wave Tattoo in Los Angeles, California, which he sold in 2000.

[3] Zulueta currently resides in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he operates Spiral Tattoo.