Frank Zappa
Acting
Born 1940-12-21
Died 1993-12-04
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
123 credits
Read biography
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.
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Filmography
— top 60 of 123
Acting
55 credits
Saturday Night Live
Miami Vice
Omnibus
Duckman
The Ren & Stimpy Show
Faerie Tale Theatre
Classic Albums
The Monkees
Beat-Club
Steve Vai - His First 30 Years: The Documentary
Zappa
Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music
Stupor Mundi: Livre 1, Rituel de décapitation du pape
Laurel Canyon
Girls and Boys - Sex and British Pop
Nova '78
Late Night Line-Up
Stupor Mundi: Book 3, The Most Dangerous Encounter
The Wrecking Crew
Head
The Velvet Underground
Hart & Soul - The Hart Family Anthology
Frank Zappa & The Mothers: Roxy: The Movie
200 Motels
Take Your Pills
Fuck
Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words
Manson: Music from an Unsound Mind
Led Zeppelin Played Here
Echo in the Canyon
Frank Zappa - Live in Paris 1980
Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice
The Yellow Shark
Frank Zappa – Summer '82: When Zappa Came to Sicily
Marian Briozzo
Cover Your Ears
A Life of Extravaganza - The Genius Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa: Peefeeyatko
Hollywood Rocks the Movies: The 1970s
Inside Pop: The Rock Revolution
Hey, Hey, We're The Monkees
The Revenge of the Dead Indians
Kalvøyafestivalen - 50 år siden første riff
Yoko Ono: This Is Not Here
Classic Albums: Frank Zappa - Apostrophe (') Over-Nite Sensation
Frank Zappa: New York and Elsewhere
Funny
The Boy Who Left Home to Find Out About the Shivers
Derailroaded
Tom Arnold: The Naked Truth
An Evening with Frank Zappa During Which... The Torture Never Stops
Frank Zappa: The Freak Out List
The Rolling Stones - The First 20 Years
Porridge and kerosene
Super Duper Alice Cooper
Other credits
14 credits
Duckman
Zappa
Stupor Mundi: Livre 1, Rituel de décapitation du pape
Frank Zappa & The Mothers: Roxy: The Movie
200 Motels
The Yellow Shark
Mondo Hollywood
Frank Zappa – Summer '82: When Zappa Came to Sicily
Beasts
Frank Zappa: Peefeeyatko
Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention: Live at Whisky a Go Go 1968
Pink Floyd: Amougies Pop Festival
The World's Greatest Sinner
An Evening with Frank Zappa During Which... The Torture Never Stops
Directing
2 credits
Producing
2 credits
Writing
2 credits
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