Frank Zappa

Acting · 0.7 popularity

Age

Movies

Born: December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993
From: Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Website: Visit site

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. Description above from the Wikipedia article Frank Zappa, licensed under CC-BY-SA,full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Works

98 films

Steve Vai - His First 30 Years: The Documentary

20228.5

Stupor Mundi: Livre 1, Rituel de décapitation du pape

2016

Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music

20257.8

Stupor Mundi: Book 3, The Most Dangerous Encounter

2019

The Wrecking Crew

20087.3

The Velvet Underground

20216.8

Zappa

20207.3

Hart & Soul - The Hart Family Anthology

20108.0

Head

19686.2

Nova '78

2026

Led Zeppelin Played Here

20148.0

Manson: Music from an Unsound Mind

20196.7

Fuck

20066.4

The Revenge of the Dead Indians

19937.0

Frank Zappa – Summer '82: When Zappa Came to Sicily

20147.8

Echo in the Canyon

20196.8

Marian Briozzo

2018

Take Your Pills

20186.5

Frank Zappa - Live in Paris 1980

20088.0

Frank Zappa & The Mothers: Roxy: The Movie

20156.8

Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice

20197.6

Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words

20167.4

Mondo Hollywood

19676.7

Porridge and kerosene

1997

Hey, Hey, We're The Monkees

19978.4

200 Motels

19715.2

The Yellow Shark

19928.0

An Evening with Frank Zappa During Which... The Torture Never Stops

20085.8

Tom Arnold: The Naked Truth

19914.5

EAV Rarities

2006

Pink Floyd: Amougies Pop Festival

1970

Super Duper Alice Cooper

20147.1

Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention: Live at Whisky a Go Go 1968

2024

The Big T.N.T. Show

19658.5

Classic Albums: Frank Zappa - Apostrophe (') Over-Nite Sensation

20076.5

All My Loving

19686.5

Hollywood Rocks the Movies: The 1970s

200210.0

Deep Purple: Made In Japan

197210.0

Kalvøyafestivalen - 50 år siden første riff

2021

Funny

19888.0

Frank Zappa: New York and Elsewhere

1980

Cover Your Ears

20236.0

Yoko Ono: This Is Not Here

19726.0

The Boy Who Left Home to Find Out About the Shivers

19846.5

The Making of 200 Motels

1971

Larry Flynt for President

20215.2

Frank Zappa: The Freak Out List

2010

A Life of Extravaganza - The Genius Frank Zappa

19939.0

Decade

19898.5

Derailroaded

20057.5

Služební cesta podporučíka Svěráka

19896.0

The Rolling Stones - The First 20 Years

1982

Pražákům, těm je hej

19917.5

Baby Snakes

19796.6

Classic Albums: Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention - Freak Out!

20218.6

You Are What You Eat

19684.4

Rock this Town

2022

Frank Zappa: Peefeeyatko

19918.0

Inside Pop: The Rock Revolution

1967

The Amazing Mr. Bickford

19875.8

Frank Zappa: A Token Of His Extreme

20136.1

Frank Zappa: The Broadcast Archives

2008

Uncle Meat

19876.3

The Artist Formerly Known As Captain Beefheart

1997

The Art of Dissent

2021

Made in Japan: The Rise of Deep Purple Mk II

20147.4

Stupor Mundi: Livre 2, Les Hommes qui mangèrent la montagne

2016

Frank Zappa

1971

The True Story of Frank Zappa's 200 Motels

19887.3

Frank Zappa: Does Humor Belong in Music?

19858.1

Amougies (Music Power - European Music Revolution)

19707.0

Sex in Today's World

19679.0

The Male Swagger

20267.0

Cocaine Blues

19837.0

Video from Hell

19877.3

From Straight to Bizarre

20123.8

Frank Zappa: The Dub Room Special!

19826.4

An American Dissident: un tributo a Frank Zappa

1994

Frank Zappa: A Token of His Extreme

20057.7

Frank Zappa, John Lennon & Yoko Ono: At Fillmore East

1971

Frank Zappa: We Don't Mess Around

19784.5

Frank Zappa: Phase II - The Big Note

20027.0

Frank Zappa: Music In Review

2008

Burnt Weeny Sandwich

1969

Frank Zappa: Roxy, 1973

2007

Frank Zappa: Live in Barcelona

19888.0

Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention: In the 1960's

2009

Feats First: The Life and Music of Lowell George

20158.0

Frank Zappa: A Pioneer of the Future of Music

2007

Night Flight with Frank Zappa, Porn Wars

1985

Frank Zappa: Cheaper Than Cheep

2025

Zapped: Frank Zappa par Frank Zappa

20169.5

Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention - The Lost Broadcast: The Beat Club '68

2016

Frank Zappa - John, Dan And Me

20046.0

Cheepnis

2014

Your vote

1991

Frank Zappa: Opopoppa Stockholm, Sweden

1973

Frank Zappa: The Present-Day Composer Refuses To Die

2000