Musicians - Frank Zappa

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	Musicians - Frank Zappa

Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American composer, guitarist, singer, film director, and satirist. In his 33-year musical career, Zappa proved to be one of the most prolific musician-composers of his era, releasing over 60 albums during his lifetime, almost all of which consisted of original compositions. He was also a renowned electric guitarist and a gifted producer-engineer who self-produced almost every recording he made after his 1966 debut.

His work spanned virtually every contemporary musical genre (including avant-garde, rock, doo-wop, jazz, jazz fusion, reggae, ska, electronic music, contemporary classical, blues, musique concrète, hard rock, big band, progressive rock, pop, proto-rap and world music), and was often noted for its blend of high art, rock opera, absurdity, scatological humor, and for its hilariously caustic social satire. He was also noted as a spotter of talent and his various groups included such musical luminaries as Adrian Belew, Lowell George, Jean-Luc Ponty, Ruth Underwood, George Duke, Vinnie Colaiuta, Mike Keneally and Steve Vai.

Zappa had a large and fiercely dedicated worldwide following throughout his varied career, throughout the United States, United Kingdom, Italy, Germany and the Scandinavian countries, in particular. His early albums were a strong influence on other groups (including The Beatles) and his critically acclaimed work garnered brief mainstream success in the late 1970s and early 1980s, with hit singles: "Don't Eat The Yellow Snow", "Dancing Fool" and "Valley Girl". Zappa, as demonstrated by his disparaging comments about the music business, never put much emphasis upon mainstream acclaim.

Early life and influences

Frank Zappa was born in Baltimore, Maryland on December 21, 1940 to Francis Zappa (born in Partanico, Sicily, of Greek and Lebanese descent) and Rose Marie Colimore (who was of 3 quarters Italian including Sicilian and 1/4 French descent). He was the oldest of four children (two brothers and a sister). In January of 1951, his family relocated to the West Coast because of Frank's asthma. They settled in Monterey, California, about 100 miles south of San Francisco. Shortly thereafter, they moved to Pomona, then to El Cajon before moving a short distance, once again, to San Diego in the early 1950s.

During Zappa's earliest childhood, his father, a chemist and mathematician, worked at the Edgewood Arsenal chemical warfare facility at nearby Aberdeen Proving Ground. Due to the Zappa home's close proximity to the Arsenal, Zappa's father kept gas masks on hand in case of an accident. Evidently, this had a profound effect on the young Zappa; references to germs, germ warfare and other aspects of the "secret" defense industry occur throughout his work.

By 1955 the Zappa family had relocated to Lancaster. Lancaster was a small aerospace and farming town in Antelope Valley of the Mojave Desert, close to Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Mountains. By age 15, Zappa had attended six different high schools, which may have contributed to his sense of alienation in adult life.

Lancaster's location gave the young Zappa access to the exciting sounds coming from radio stations in Los Angeles and KSPC 88.7 FM in Claremont, where Zappa had his own Saturday night show. In addition, his parents were affluent enough to afford a record player, records, a television, and musical instruments. Television also exerted a strong influence, as demonstrated by quotations from show themes and advertising jingles found in some of his work.

Among formative events was a chronic sinus problem during his early teens. To Frank's lasting horror, his doctor treated the stubborn ailment by inserting a pellet of radium on a probe into each of his nostrils. Nasal imagery and references to the nose recur, both in his writing and in the classic collage album covers created by his longtime visual collaborator, Cal Schenkel.

As a student, Zappa was bored and given to distracting the rest of the class with his antics. He left community college after one semester to make low-budget films. Frank maintained his disdain for formal education throughout his life, taking his children out of school at age 15 and refusing to pay for their college. However, he was highly intelligent as well as ambitious and articulate. Zappa possessed a voracious drive, singular concentration, enormous creativity and a huge capacity for work and organization. His passionate interest in music, highly idiosyncratic musical interests and superior ability were demonstrated at an early age. His parents, though not musicians, had broad musical tastes. Zappa grew up influenced in equal measures by avant-garde composers such as Edgard Varèse, Igor Stravinsky and Anton Webern, local rhythm and blues and doo-wop groups (particularly local pachuco groups), and modern jazz (including bebop and free jazz).

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Musicians - Frank Zappa

Early life and influences

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