Don Van Vliet

Born: 15th January 1941, Glendale, California, USA. Died: 17th December 2010, of complications from multiple sclerosis, in Arcata, California, USA. First recorded appearance: "A Low Forceps Delivery", featuring Don Glen Vliet, at Glendale Research Hospital 16:25 hours on 15/01/41. Don Van Vliet, aka Captain Beefheart, vocalist, harp-player, saxophonist, flautist, songwriter, lyricist, poet & painter. Frontman of The Magic Band and artist with a dozen official albums and more besides. An often perverse career path, interwoven with Frank Zappa, followed by 'retirement' in 1982 when he went to live in seclusion with his wife Jan Van Vliet and paint full-time. He subsequently released some poetic works, which accompanied his art portfolios & exhibitions. His career in music & art featured in the BBC documentary "The Artist Formerly Known As Captain Beefheart", with narration by John Peel & vignettes by Matt Groening, Ry Cooder, Doug Moon, John French & other past members of The Magic Band (In late April 1966 Vliet enrolled for 3 months with the American Federation Of Television And Radio Artists, using the pen-name of Don Van Vliet with a hand-scrawled caveat of "Captain Beefheart" added to the document - see images).

Vliet's compositions & tracks have also featured in the following films: "Abba Zaba" in Something In The Air (2012); "Clear Spot" in How To Be (2008) and Things We Lost In The Fire (2007); "Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles" in The Big Lebowski (1998) and vocals on Nitzsche's "Hard Workin' Man" in A Civil Action (1998) and Blue Collar (1978); "Electricity" in Entourage (TV show, Season 5).

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