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Frank Zappa

Frank Zappa

Acting · Sound · Crew · Art

Born December 21, 1940, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.

Frank Vincent Zappa  (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, electronic, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed album covers. Zappa produced almost all of the more than 60 albums he released with the band The Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. While in his teens, he acquired a taste for percussion-based avant-garde composers such as Edgard Varèse and 1950s rhythm and blues music. He began writing classical music in high school, while at the same time playing drums in rhythm and blues bands; he later switched to electric guitar. He was a self-taught composer and performer, and his diverse musical influences led him to create music that was often impossible to categorize. His 1966 debut album with The Mothers of Invention, Freak Out!, combined songs in conventional rock and roll format with collective improvisations and studio-generated sound collages. His later albums shared this eclectic and experimental approach, irrespective of whether the fundamental format was one of rock, jazz or classical. He wrote the lyrics to all his songs, which—often humorously—reflected his iconoclastic view of established social and political processes, structures and movements. He was a strident critic of mainstream education and organized religion, and a forthright and passionate advocate for freedom of speech, self-education, political participation and the abolition of censorship. Zappa was a highly productive and prolific artist and gained widespread critical acclaim. Many of his albums are considered essential in rock and jazz history. He is regarded as one of the most original guitarists and composers of his time. He also remains a major influence on musicians and composers. He had some commercial success, particularly in Europe, and for most of his career was able to work as an independent artist. Zappa was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. Zappa was married to Kathryn J. "Kay" Sherman from 1960 to 1964. In 1967, he married Adelaide Gail Sloatman, with whom he remained until his death from prostate cancer in 1993. They had four children: Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet Emuukha Rodan and Diva Thin Muffin Pigeen. Gail Zappa manages the businesses of her late husband under the name the Zappa Family Trust. Description above from the Wikipedia article Frank Zappa, licensed under CC-BY-SA,full list of contributors on Wikipedia.  

Filmography

Appearances as themselves (74)
  • 2026Nova '78 — Self (archive footage)
  • 2025Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music — Self (archive footage)
  • 2023Cover Your Ears — Self - Musician (archive footage)
  • 2022Rock this Town — Self (archive footage)
  • 2022Steve Vai - His First 30 Years: The Documentary — Self (archive footage)
  • 2021Classic Albums: Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention - Freak Out! — Self
  • 2021Kalvøyafestivalen - 50 år siden første riff — Self (archive footage)
  • 2021Larry Flynt for President — Self (archive footage)
  • 2021The Art of Dissent — Self - Subject (archive footage)
  • 2021The Velvet Underground — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
  • Laurel Canyon — Self (archive footage)
  • 2019Echo in the Canyon — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
  • 2019Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice — Self (archive footage)
  • 2019Manson: Music from an Unsound Mind — Self (archive footage)
  • 2019Stupor Mundi: Book 3, The Most Dangerous Encounter — Self (archive footage)
  • 2018Cosmic Debris — Himself (archive footage)
  • 2018Take Your Pills — Self (archive footage)
  • 2016Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words — Self (archive footage)
  • 2016Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention - The Lost Broadcast: The Beat Club '68 — Self
  • 2016Stupor Mundi: Livre 2, Les Hommes qui mangèrent la montagne — Self (archive footage)
  • 2016Zapped: Frank Zappa par Frank Zappa — Self - Subject (archive footage)
  • 2015Feats First: The Life and Music of Lowell George — Self (archive footage)
  • 2014Led Zeppelin Played Here — Self (archive footage)
  • 2014Made in Japan: The Rise of Deep Purple Mk II — Self (archive footage)
  • 2014Super Duper Alice Cooper — Self (archive footage)
  • 2012From Straight to Bizarre — Self
  • 2010Frank Zappa: The Freak Out List — Himself
  • 2010Hart & Soul - The Hart Family Anthology — Self (archive footage)
  • 2009Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention: In the 1960's — Himself
  • 2008Frank Zappa - Live in Paris 1980 — Self
  • 2008Frank Zappa: Music In Review — Self (archive footage)
  • 2008Frank Zappa: The Broadcast Archives — Self
  • 2008The Wrecking Crew — Self (archive footage)
  • 2007Classic Albums: Frank Zappa - Apostrophe (') Over-Nite Sensation — Self (archive footage)
  • 2006EAV Rarities — Self (archive footage)
  • 2006Fuck — Self (archive footage)
  • 2005Derailroaded — Self (archive footage)
  • 2005Frank Zappa: A Token of His Extreme — Himself
  • Girls and Boys - Sex and British Pop — Self (archive footage)
  • 2004Frank Zappa - John, Dan And Me — Himself
  • 2002Frank Zappa: Phase II - The Big Note — Self (archive footage)
  • 2002Hollywood Rocks the Movies: The 1970s — Self (archive footage)
  • 2000Frank Zappa: The Present-Day Composer Refuses To Die — Self (archive footage)
  • Classic Albums — Self (archive footage)
  • 1997Porridge and kerosene — Self (archive footage)
  • 1997The Artist Formerly Known As Captain Beefheart — Himself (archive footage)
  • 1994An American Dissident: un tributo a Frank Zappa — Self (archive footage)
  • 1993A Life of Extravaganza - The Genius Frank Zappa — Self
  • 1993The Revenge of the Dead Indians — Himself
  • 1991Tom Arnold: The Naked Truth — Self
  • 1991Your vote — Self
  • 1989Decade — Self
  • 1989Služební cesta podporučíka Svěráka — Self (archive footage)
  • 1988Funny — Self
  • 1983Cocaine Blues — Himself
  • 1982The Rolling Stones - The First 20 Years — Self
  • 1980Frank Zappa: New York and Elsewhere — Self
  • 1978Frank Zappa: We Don't Mess Around — Self
  • Saturday Night Live — Self - Musical Guest, Self - Host & Musical Guest
  • 1972Deep Purple: Made In Japan — Self (archive footage)
  • 1972Yoko Ono: This Is Not Here — Self
  • 1971The Making of 200 Motels — Self
  • 1970Amougies (Music Power - European Music Revolution) — Self
  • 1970Pink Floyd: Amougies Pop Festival — Self
  • 1968All My Loving — Self
  • Good Evening — I'm Jonathan King — Himself
  • 1967Inside Pop: The Rock Revolution — Self
  • Inside Pop: The Rock Revolution — Self
  • Omnibus — Self
  • 1967Sex in Today's World — Self
  • The Monkees — Self (uncredited)
  • Beat-Club — Self
  • 1965The Big T.N.T. Show — Self (uncredited)
  • Late Night Line-Up — Himself
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