Captain Beefheart

United States • 1941-01-15 – 2010-12-17

Biography

Don Van Vliet (; born Don Glen Vliet; January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010), known by his stage name Captain Beefheart, was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and visual artist. Conducting a rotating ensemble known as the Magic Band, he recorded 13 studio albums between 1967 and 1982. His music blended elements of blues, free jazz, rock, and avant-garde composition with idiosyncratic rhythms, absurdist wordplay, and Vliet's gravelly singing voice with a wide vocal range. Known as an enigmatic persona, Beefheart frequently constructed myths about his life and was known to exercise extreme, dictatorial control over his supporting musicians. Although he achieved little commercial success, he sustained a cult following as an influence on an array of experimental rock and punk-era artists. He began performing in his Captain Beefheart persona in 1964, when he joined the original Magic Band line-up. The group's 1969 album Trout Mask Replica would rank 58th in Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Beefheart eventually formed a new Magic Band with a group of younger musicians and regained critical approval through three final albums: Shiny Beast (1978), Doc at the Radar Station (1980) and Ice Cream for Crow (1982). In 1982, he retired from music and pursued a career in art. His abstract expressionist paintings and drawings command high prices, and have been exhibited in art galleries and museums across the world.

Bio from Wikipedia