WATCH: Remembering Captain Beefheart aka Don Van Vliet (VIDEOS)

By SunnyChanel | December 17th, 2010 at 8:10 pm

After a long battle with multiple sclerosis the rock icon Captain Beefheart has passed away at the age 69. He real name was Don Van Vliet and was best known as his being an extremely influential experimental musician who opted to perform under the name odd name of Captain Beefheart and had close ties with Frank Zappa and Zappas family.

This Glendale, California native is made a big impact on the rock scene with his Captain Beefheart albums such as Trout Mask Replica which is highly regarded by critics and fans alike. He had a cult like following and was considered to be “highly significant” and to have had a unmeasurable influence on the future of new wave, punk, post punk, and alternative rock with mainstream attention like appearing on David Letterman.

His forays into the arts started early when he was a highly regarded child prodigy who was known for his animal sculptures. In the mid 80s he became more reclusive and embraced the visual arts working on painting and drawings that were showcased in galleries and museums around the world.

Check out a couple pretty amazing Captain Beefheart videos below:

About the Author

Since 2007 Sunny Chanel has written thousands of pieces for Babble, she currently writes for Babble's Celebrity, Moms and Disney Voices sections. Someday Sunny will have a blog, a book and a clean house. You can find Sunny on Twitter, Google+, Pinterest and StumbleUpon.

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