Captain Beefheart

Captain Beefheart (born January 15 1941) is the stage name of Don Glen Vliet (which he later changed to Don Van Vliet), a musician, principally associated with the rock genre, but whose music is idiosyncratic and diverse to such an extent that it largely defies classification. Much of his work was conducted with an assembly of musicians, the Magic Band (see Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band).

Vliet was born in Glendale, California.

Captain Beefheart collaborated with Frank Zappa, who was a schoolfriend, although this relationship was subject to peaks and troughs.

In recent years, Captain Beefheart has become somewhat reclusive and abandoned music for painting. His artwork is as extreme and innovative as was his music. He currently lives in Northern California coast, and is believed to be suffering from multiple sclerosis.