About Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940, Baltimore, Maryland – December 4, 1993, Los Angeles, California) was an American composer, musician, guitarist, filmmaker, producer, and satirist. His work spanned several distinct musical genres: rock, jazz, and contemporary music, with a connection to musique concrète. Frank Zappa also occasionally directed films and music videos, and designed album covers, which he also produced entirely. He released over sixty albums during his lifetime, recording them first with The Mothers of Invention and then, for the most part, under his own name. From a young age, he was interested in 20th-century classical composers, notably Edgar Varèse, Igor Stravinsky, Anton Webern, and in 1950s rhythm and blues. He wrote his first classical music compositions in high school, while playing drums in rhythm and blues bands. He finally turned to the guitar, which remained his instrument of choice for most of his career.With his extensive body of work and nearly all of his recorded concerts preserved at his home in a space called The Vault, his family continued to release albums after his death, with total releases in the 21st century exceeding 120 albums. He also launched the solo careers of several musicians who were members of his various bands, which he called The Rockin' Teenage Combo. He was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 and received a Grammy Award for his lifetime achievement in 1997. In 2002, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him 71st on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, and 22nd on its 2011 list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists.
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