Frank Zappa – Biographical Sketch



Zappa, Frank Vincent. 1940-1993. He was born in Baltimore, 

Maryland on December 21, 1940 to Frank Vincent Zappa, Sr., 

and Rose Zappa. He was married to Gail Sloatman on 

September 21, 1967. His first child, Moon Unit Zappa was 

born on October 1, 1967.  His second child, Dweezil Zappa, 

was born September 5, 1969.  Frank Zappa died December 4, 

1993 in Los Angeles, California. Zappa did not finish 

college or have any formal training. He won a Grammy for 

Jazz from Hell in 1988. There are many web sites devoted 

to Zappa available on the Internet.



Throughout his early childhood, Zappa's family moved from 

place to place, but staying on the East Coast of the United 

States. However, the family followed the will of Frank Zappa 

Sr. and moved to California when Frank Jr. was 10 years of 

age. When Zappa was 12, he started playing the drums, 

beating on anything he could find. Although not a terror, 

Zappa was somewhat mischievous during his teenage years, 

preferring to build explosive devices over most anything 

else. During high school Zappa became involved with a number 

of bands that mostly performed in the Do-whap style. He 

learned guitar as well as drums. After high school, he 

studied music theory for six months at Chaffey College in 

Alta Loma, California. That did not last for long, until 

Zappa began performing with Don Van Vliet (who later became 

Captain Beefheart) in the early 1960s. Around 1962 Zappa 

wrote the musical score for a Western film, and built his 

first recording studio using the profit from that film in 

1963.  In 1964 Zappa joined the Soul Giants. He gradually 

became the leader of the group, and the name was changed 

several times until it settled at the Mothers of Invention. 

This band specialized in pop song parodies, experimental 

compositions, and protest songs. As the popularity of the 

Mothers of Invention gained steam, Zappa began incorporating 

more exposed guitar solos into the songs. 



During the late 60s Zappa met and married Gail Sloatman, and 

they had their two children, Moon Unit and Dweezil.  Also, 

during this time Zappa composed the score to the film 200-

Motels, which received mixed reviews. In 1970 the Mothers of 

Invention disbanded, only to regroup in 1971 with new members. 

At this point, the songs the band recorded were some of the 

most obscene of its history, but the vulgarity quickly 

subsided and in 1973 the band had its first hit single, Don’t 

Eat the Yellow Snow. This spurred the group on to become a 

popular touring band, playing extremely difficult and 

virtuosic music in concert. The band’s name was changed once 

again, but to Zappa, and at that time Frank Zappa formed his 

own record label, also called Zappa. The lyrics to the songs 

started to become more offensive, and Mercury (who 

distributed Zappa’s label) refused to run one of Zappa’s 

songs. At this point, Frank Zappa opted to start yet another 

record label called Barking Pumpkin which was mail-order only, 

and eventually picked up for distribution by CBS 

International. In the 1980s Frank Zappa changed his musical 

focus from the band to composition of classical music. With 

the advent of the Synclavier, Zappa began to compose 

electronic music that was admittedly influenced by Edgar 

Varése. Many of the world’s most respected ensembles began 

to commission works by Zappa, and major orchestras such as 

the London Symphony performed all-Zappa concerts. Zappa 

died from cancer in Los Angeles on December 4, 1993.



Scott R. Toth 

4-8-2003