Frank Vincent Zappa
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Frank Zappa 1940-1993 released over 60 albums, from rock to orchestral, with The Mothers of Invention and solo. He testified before Congress in 1985 against music censorship and is the only artist inducted into both the Jazz and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame. He died of prostate cancer at age 52 in 1993.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Frank Zappa — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Frank Zappa by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Frank Zappa — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Frank Zappa played drums beginning at age 12, then switched to guitar at 18, playing in local R&B groups. He was born on December 21, 1940 in Baltimore, Maryland to Francis Vincent Zappa, from Partinico, Sicily, and Rose Marie Colimore, of Italian descent. He attended Antelope Valley High School and briefly enrolled at Chaffey College before dropping out.
Zappa’s career took off when he scored the 1965 film Run Home, Slow, written by his high school English teacher. He used the proceeds to buy a recording studio and soon formed The Mothers of Invention, releasing their debut album Freak Out! in 1966. Zappa’s output included over 60 albums, such as the satirical We’re Only in It for the Money 1968 and the orchestral Lumpy Gravy. He also composed film soundtracks like 200 Motels 1971 and appeared on television shows including Saturday Night Live 1975 and Miami Vice 1985.
Zappa married Gail Zappa in a civil ceremony in 1967, using a pin that read Congratulations from Mayor Lindsay instead of a ring. They had four children: Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet, and Diva Zappa. He taught his children a lesson about sibling rivalry by handcuffing them together in the bathroom and making them listen to a tape of their squabbling. Zappa did not drink alcohol and continued smoking cigarettes even after being diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1991.
Zappa was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 and the Jazz Hall of Fame in 1994, the only artist inducted into both. An asteroid, Zappafrank, was named after him in 1994. Statues in Vilnius, Lithuania 1995, Bad Doberan, Germany, and Baltimore, Maryland honor him. The annual Zappanale festival in Germany celebrates his music. He is remembered for his output of over 60 albums and his opposition to censorship.
The complete filmography of Frank Zappa — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by Frank Zappa — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
A wall of memorable lines from Frank Zappa — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
Rock Journalism Is People Who Can’t Write, Preparing Stories Based on Interviews with People Who Can’t Talk, in Order to Amuse People Who Can’t Read.
I Never Set Out to Be Weird. It Was Always Other People Who Called Me Weird.
I’ve Smoked Ten Marijuana Cigarettes in My Life. and They’ve Given Me a Sore Throat, a Headache, and Made Me Sleepy. I Can’t Understand Why Anyone Would Wanna Use the Stuff. It Seems Such an Impractical Pastime as You Can Get Sent to Jail for It.
Bad Facts Make Bad Law, and People Who Write Bad Laws Are in My Opinion More Dangerous Than Songwriters Who Celebrate Sexuality.
Some Rock Musicians Make a Bunch of Money and Stick It up Their Noses I Stick Mine in My Ear.
Work Is the Only Reason I Leave Home. I’m Not a Tourist. I Don’t Travel for Pleasure. I Don’t Take Vacations. I Only Leave the House When I Have Something to Do.
Censoring What You Say Is One of the Ways in Which People Who Are Not Nice Can Take Away Your Personal Freedom.
It Is Probably More Natural to Perform Sex with a Sea Urchin Than to Be Interviewed.
Watch Out Where the Huskies Go, Don’t You Eat That Yellow Snow.
Some Scientists Claim That Hydrogen, Because It Is so Plentiful, Is the Basic Building Block of the Universe. I Dispute That. I Say That There Is More Stupidity Than Hydrogen, and That Is the Basic Building Block of the Universe.
My Dad Was Employed as a Meteorologist at the Edgewood Arsenal. They Made Poison Gas There During World War II, so I Guess It Would Have Been the Meteorologist’s Job to Figure Out Which Way the Wind Was Blowing When It Was Time to Shoot the Stuff Off.
I Think Business Is a Good Thing. Generals Could Learn a Lot from Corporate Executives. the First Rule Is, You Don’t Kill Your Customers.
Those Who Are Crazy Enough to Take the Chance on Spending Money to Make Some Unusual Object or Event Take Place Are an Endangered Species.
Jazz Isn’t Dead, It Just Smells Funny.
I Think Live Aid Was the Biggest Cocaine Money Laundering Scheme of All Time.
A Mind Is Like a Parachute. It Doesn’t Work If It Isn’t Open.
If You End up with a Boring Miserable Life Because You Listened to Your Mom, Your Dad, Your Teacher, Your Priest, or Some Guy on Television Telling You How to Do Your Shit, Then You Deserve It.
To Me, a Cigarette Is Food. I Live My Life Smoking These Things, and Drinking the ‘Black Water’ in This Cup Here.
Little-known facts about Frank Zappa — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
He voluntarily gave up his driver’s license because he detested waiting in line at the DMV.
He played a tape of his children squabbling while they were handcuffed together in the bathroom to show them how ridiculous their bickering sounded.
In an interview before his death, Zappa stated he had experienced urinary issues for years but the prostate cancer was not detected until it was inoperable, causing him bitterness. He urged others with similar symptoms to seek multiple medical opinions.
Zappa is the first and so far only artist to be inducted into both the Jazz and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame.
During his last days, he wanted to make a movie called Dwell, a musical about a giant spider from the spider’s point of view, planned with the team from Mystery Science Theater 3000.
He bought a small recording studio with the proceeds from his score for Run Home, Slow 1965; first came to public attention when he was arrested in a scandal involving the studio, but he was later cleared.
Gene Simmons visited the Zappa family at their home, and Zappa showed him hundreds of master tapes of unreleased music.
He disliked being called a rock legend, considering it a pathetic term. He also rejected the term test pilot pushing the edge for sounding too military. When called an eccentric genius, he replied that he was eccentric, perhaps a genius.
Despite his prostate cancer, Zappa continued to smoke, calling cigarettes food and tobacco his favorite vegetable, and he did not believe cigarettes caused reported health problems.
He did not drink alcohol.
Following his death, he was interred in an unmarked grave next to Lew Ayres at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.
Zappa sponsored Hagstrom guitars early in his career, but on his first three Mothers of Invention albums he used a Gibson ES-5 Switchmaster. During the mid- to late 1970s, he played a highly modified Gibson SG clone. He owned one of Jimi Hendrix’s guitars that was lit on fire by Hendrix at the 1968 Miami Pop Festival, which Dweezil later restored.
The small town of Bad Doberan, Germany, holds an annual Zappanale festival celebrating his life and music, first held in 1990.
In July 1994, the International Astronomical Union named a Czech-discovered asteroid Zappafrank.
His father, Francis Vincent Zappa, was born in Partinico, Sicily, and his mother, Rose Marie Colimore, was born in Baltimore, Maryland to Italian parents.
Included a warning-cum-guarantee on his late-1980s albums, deriding the Religious Right’s attack on rock music and censorship, concluding that if there is a Hell, its fires wait for them, not us.
Started out playing drums in his teens, then adopted his brother’s f-hole acoustic guitar, trying to copy horn and guitar solos from blues and jazz records. Later studied music theory in college.
He was voted the 21st Greatest Rock n Roll Artist of all time by Rolling Stone.
Co-founded Bizarre Records in 1967 under the umbrella of Reprise Records, which was founded by Frank Sinatra. The label released works by Wildman Fisher, the GTOs, Lord Buckley, Captain Beefheart, and others.
Has an enormous following in the former Communist countries of eastern Europe.
In March 2003, his 1979 album Joe’s Garage came 20th in Classic Rock Magazine’s list of the 30 greatest concept albums of all time.
In 1995, a group of Lithuanian artists erected the world’s first Zappa statue in Vilnius, the capital. Since then, statues have been erected in Bad Doberan, Germany, and Baltimore, Maryland.
Inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995.
Used a wah-wah pedal with his onstage guitar setup, but usually left it set in one position as a filter rather than rocking it.
Wrote his own copyright notice that appeared on his later records and was the first to specifically mention sampling. Also released the first 3-inch CD single, with a remix of Peaches En Regalia, in the late 1980s.
Inducted into the International Mustache Hall of Fame in 2015 inaugural class in the category Music & Arts.
Is known affectionately by his fans as FZ.
Various reworkings of his songs have been recorded, including versions in Baroque instrumental and a cappella vocal stylings.
He was into high-end synthesizers and was one of the first to own a Synclavier, the first commercially available digital synthesizer, which cost $100,000 in 1982.
Father of Diva Zappa, Moon Unit Zappa, Dweezil Zappa, and Ahmet Zappa.
As a child, his favorite television program was Robert Clampett’s puppet show Time for Beany 1949.
Subject of the song Frank by Wild Man Fischer.
When marrying Gail Zappa in a civil ceremony, he attached a pin that read Congratulations from Mayor Lindsay onto her in lieu of a ring. John V. Lindsay was mayor of New York City at the time.
Was school friends with Don Van Vliet, later known as Captain Beefheart.
Founded Barking Pumpkin Records in 1981, as well as Zappa Records, Barfko-Swill mail order distribution, and DiscReet Records.
By his own admission, Zappa was not well read and was uninterested in literature, except for William S. Burroughs’ novel Naked Lunch, which he would read aloud in concert.
Zappa is credited with discovering Steve Vai, whom he hired as his lead guitarist from 1980 to 1983. They remained friends until Frank’s death.
In 1963 at age 22, he convinced the producers of The New Steve Allen Show 1961 that he could use a bicycle as a musical instrument and appeared on the show, but his demo was a failure.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Frank Zappa.
Celebrities similar to Frank Zappa — same craft, ranked by reach.
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