Don Van Vliet

Don Van Vliet (/væn ˈvliːt/; 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. Leading 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 and absurdist wordplay. He possessed a distinctive gravelly voice and 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 the Magic Band. Although he achieved little commercial success, he sustained a cult following and became an influence on many experimental rock and punk-era artists.

Van Vliet began performing as Captain Beefheart in 1964, when he joined the original Magic Band lineup. 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.

After a period of recording more conventional blues rock to dissatisfaction among critics and fans, 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 visual art. His abstract expressionist paintings and drawings command high prices, and have been exhibited in art galleries and museums across the world.

Van Vliet was born Don Glen Vliet in Glendale, California, United States, on January 15, 1941, to Glen Alonzo Vliet, a service station owner from Kansas, and Willie Sue Vliet (née Warfield), who was from Arkansas. Van Vliet said that he was descended from adventurer and author Richard Halliburton and related to actor Slim Pickens, and that he remembered being born.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.