Born: 15th January 1941, Glendale, California, USA. Died: 17th December 2010, of complications from multiple sclerosis, in Arcata, California, USA. First recorded appearance: A Low Forceps Delivery, featuring Don Glen Vliet, at Glendale Research Hospital 16:25 hours on 15/01/41. Don Van Vliet, aka
Captain Beefheart, vocalist, harp-player, saxophonist, flautist, songwriter, lyricist, poet & painter. Frontman of The Magic Band and artist with a dozen official albums and more besides. An often perverse career path, interwoven with Frank Zappa, followed by 'retirement' in 1982 when he went to live in seclusion with his wife
Jan Van Vliet and paint full-time. He subsequently released some poetic works, which accompanied his art portfolios & exhibitions. His career in music & art featured in the BBC documentary The Artist Formerly Known As Captain Beefheart, with narration by
John Peel & vignettes by
Matt Groening,
Ry Cooder,
Doug Moon,
John French & other past members of
The Magic Band (In late April 1966 Vliet enrolled for 3 months with the American Federation Of Television And Radio Artists, using the pen-name of Don Van Vliet with a hand-scrawled caveat of Captain Beefheart added to the document - see images).
Vliet's compositions & tracks have also featured in the following films: Abba Zaba in
Something In The Air (2012); Clear Spot in
How To Be (2008) and
Things We Lost In The Fire (2007); Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles in
The Big Lebowski (1998) and vocals on Nitzsche's Hard Workin' Man in
A Civil Action (1998) and
Blue Collar (1978); Electricity in
Entourage (TV show, Season 5).