Captain Beefheart (born Don Van Vliet) has died at age 69 due to complications from multiple sclerosis in Northern California. Don Van Vliet began using the Captain Beefheart persona in 1964, and recorder 12 studio albums with The Magic Band. A lifelong friend and collaborator with Frank Zappa, who gave him his stage name, Captain Beefheart is regarded as a musical visionary.
Captain Beefheart sometimes played with Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, while Zappa would sometimes play with The Magic Band. Captain Beefheart has influenced punk, post-punk, alt rock, and experimental music, and everything between.
Aside from playing the saxophone, clarinet, oboe, harmonica, french horn, shehnai, theremin, flute, and picolo; Captain Beefheart was also a painter and sculptor: he focused on visual art after retiring from music in 1982. However, he has made a few guest appearance on other musicians' records since then.
Captain Beefheart Discography: Trout Mask Replica is perhaps the best-known Captain Beefheart album.
Beefheart retired from music after 1982's Ice Cream for Crow, returning to the Mojave Desert and focusing on his visual art. Though his art career was quite successful, he disappeared from public life after suffering from multiple sclerosis.
Source: pitchfork.com
Artist, whose real name is Don Van Vliet, passed away from complications of multiple sclerosis
LOS ANGELES — Don Van Vliet, better known as pioneering blues and rock musician Captain Beefheart, has died in California from complications of multiple sclerosis at age 69, a representative for the artist said on Friday.
The Michael Werner Gallery in New York, which handles Vliet's paintings, made the announcement. "Don Van Vliet will be sorely missed," the gallery's statement said.
Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band rose to prominence during the 1960s with an experimental brand of rock music that was inspired by the blues and featured offbeat rhythms and lyrics.
Their best known album is 1969's "TroutMask Replica," and while it was not a commercial hit, it won critical acclaim and is still considered among the most prominent art-rock albums ever made
Vliet was born Jan. 15, 1941, in Glendale, Calif. As a teenager, he befriended Frank Zappa, whose own brand of experimental music became popular in the 1960s and 1970s.
Captain Beefheart (born Don Van Vliet) has died at age 69 due to complications from multiple sclerosis in Northern California. Don Van Vliet began using the Captain Beefheart persona in 1964, and recorder 12 studio albums with The Magic Band. A lifelong friend and collaborator with Frank Zappa, who gave him his stage name, Captain Beefheart is regarded as a musical visionary.
Captain Beefheart sometimes played with Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, while Zappa would sometimes play with The Magic Band. Captain Beefheart has influenced punk, post-punk, alt rock, and experimental music, and everything between.
Aside from playing the saxophone, clarinet, oboe, harmonica, french horn, shehnai, theremin, flute, and picolo; Captain Beefheart was also a painter and sculptor: he focused on visual art after retiring from music in 1982. However, he has made a few guest appearance on other musicians' records since then.
Captain Beefheart Discography: Trout Mask Replica is perhaps the best-known Captain Beefheart album.
Beefheart retired from music after 1982's Ice Cream for Crow, returning to the Mojave Desert and focusing on his visual art. Though his art career was quite successful, he disappeared from public life after suffering from multiple sclerosis.
Source: pitchfork.com
Artist, whose real name is Don Van Vliet, passed away from complications of multiple sclerosis
LOS ANGELES — Don Van Vliet, better known as pioneering blues and rock musician Captain Beefheart, has died in California from complications of multiple sclerosis at age 69, a representative for the artist said on Friday.
The Michael Werner Gallery in New York, which handles Vliet's paintings, made the announcement. "Don Van Vliet will be sorely missed," the gallery's statement said.
Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band rose to prominence during the 1960s with an experimental brand of rock music that was inspired by the blues and featured offbeat rhythms and lyrics.
Their best known album is 1969's "TroutMask Replica," and while it was not a commercial hit, it won critical acclaim and is still considered among the most prominent art-rock albums ever made
Vliet was born Jan. 15, 1941, in Glendale, Calif. As a teenager, he befriended Frank Zappa, whose own brand of experimental music became popular in the 1960s and 1970s.
Don Van Vliet, who became a rock legend as Captain Beefheart, died today from complications from multiple sclerosis in California. His passing was announced by the New York-based Michael Werner Gallery, which represented his work as a painter.
View our gallery of Captain Beefheart photos
His Trout Mask Replica was Number 58 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In a 1969 review, Lester Bangs called Trout "a total success, a brilliant, stunning enlargement and clarification of his art."
Read Rolling Stone's 1970 cover story on Captain Beefheart
"Don Van Vliet was a complex and influential figure in the visual and performing arts," the gallery said in a statement. "He is perhaps best known as the incomparable Captain Beefheart who, together with his Magic Band, rose to prominence in the 1960s with a totally unique style of blues-inspired, experimental rock & roll. This would ultimately secure Van Vliet's place in music history as one of the most original recording artists of his time. After two decades in the spotlight as an avant-garde composer and performer, Van Vliet retired from performing to devote himself wholeheartedly to painting and drawing. Like his music, Van Vliet's lush paintings are the product of a truly rare and unique vision."
The Art Of Music: Captain Beefheart
Van Vliet leaves behind a wife, Jan. The two were married for more than 40 years.
Captain Beefheart Dies at Age 69. Don Van Vliet, who blended rock, blues, psychedelia and free jazz under the stage name Captain Beefheart, died Friday of complications from multiple sclerosis in a Northern California hospital. He was 69. From 1965-82, Beefheart worked with a rotating ensemble of musicians called the Magic Band, with whom he recorded 12 studio albums. Van Vliet sang and played the harmonica and saxophone among many other instruments. After two decades in music, Van Vliet retired from performing to devote himself to painting and drawing. New York City’s Michael Werner Gallery hosted several shows of Beefheart’s paintings and confirmed the musician’s death Friday. A native of Lancaster, Calif., Van Vliet was friends and a regular collaborator with another eclectic California musician, Frank Zappa. Van Vliet began performing as Captain Beefheart in 1964, and the Magic Band’s first album, 1967′s Safe as Milk, was highly regarded. His first bandmates were guitarists Alex St. Clair and Doug Moon, bassist Jerry Handley and drummer Paul Blakely. After a stint at A&M, they signed to Zappa’s Straight Records, which in 1969 released Trout Mask Replica, ranked No. 58 on Rolling Stone magazine’s 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.