Captain Beefheart, a.k.a. Don Van Vliet, dies at 69

by Simon Vozick-Levinson
Categories: In Memoriam

Dec 17 2010 04:45 PM ET

http://img2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/imgs/101217/Captain-Beefheart_240.jpg
Image Credit: Jan Persson/Redferns/Getty Images

Avant-garde rock legend and visual artist Don Van Vliet, who performed under the name Captain Beefheart, passed away today at age 69. A representative of New York City’s Michael Werner Gallery, which showed his paintings, confirms the sad news to EW. Van Vliet died of complications from multiple sclerosis at a hospital in Northern California this morning.

Born in California in 1941, Van Vliet dubbed himself Captain Beefheart and began experimenting with eccentric rock’n'roll sounds in the mid-1960s. His first two releases with the Magic Band drew positive notice from some connoisseurs but failed to connect with the wider public. Van Vliet next forged a close creative partnership with Frank Zappa, a former high school classmate, who signed Beefheart to his Straight Records and produced 1969′s Trout Mask Replica. While the bizarre double album was not a major commercial success, it quickly became a cultural landmark. Van Vliet effectively redefined the frontiers of popular music, singing snatches of surreal imagery in disturbing tones over music that drew on blues, jazz, psychedelia, and a thousand other subgenres. Trout Mask Replica is still cited today as an essential art-rock document.

Van Vliet continued recording as Captain Beefheart with a rotating group of Magic Band members through 1982. (Read about his five best albums.) In later years, he shifted his primary focus to creating visual art, a world in which he won some acclaim. The Michael Werner Gallery displayed his work for decades, with their most recent Van Vliet show occurring in 2007. Earlier this month, one of Van Vliet’s paintings was reportedly being offered at an asking price of $40,000.

Please join the Music Mix in sending our condolences to Van Vliet’s family and friends.

(Follow the Music Mix on Twitter: @EWMusicMix.)

http://music-mix.ew.com/2010/12/17/captain-beefheart-dies/


Dan

R.I.P., Beefy.

Captain Beefheart was great fun.  He collaborated with Frank Zappa and Zappa fans loved him.  He was a god among psychedelic blues and progressive rock aficionados.  I know Beefheart was one of those rock legends who was familiar to me for his fame but I cannot comment on his music because he never won me over.  It was just a question of style, not musicianship.  It's puzzling, I love Zappa and I love Tom Waits.  Beefheart was sort of a middle ground between the two, yet I was never drawn to him. 

A lot of hipster hearts are broken today, I can tell you that much!  I'm sure my friends from the hipster record stores are holding their vigils!
:\'(

Here is the Captain in a more youthful day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLdRh7qdi_g

So sad!  :\'(

RIP Mr.Beefheart.  :(

Now he meets-up with Frank Zappa...again! :\'(

Now he meets-up with Frank Zappa...again! :\'(


Both of them are playing good music up there in heaven.  :)

Both of them are playing good music up there in heaven.  :)


If there's a Rock 'n' Roll heaven, then you know they've got one hell of a band.