Frank Zappa

Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American guitarist, composer, singer and satirist.

Other information

Zappa was married twice, once to Kay Sherman (1959–1964; no children), and then to Gail (Sloatman) Zappa, with whom he remained until his death. They have four children: Moon Unit, Dweezil (born Ian Donald Calvin Euclid Zappa, (the names of his band members) because the hospital refused to put Dweezil on the birth certificate; Dweezil later legally changed his name to "Dweezil") ("Dweezil" is also the name Frank had given to one of Gail's toes), Ahmet Emuukha Rodan, and Diva Muffin. One time he was a guest on The Tonight Show, chatting with guest-host Jay Leno. Leno asked Zappa why he had given his children such unusual names. Zappa answered, in a casual tone of voice, "Because I wanted to!" And that was that. Zappa once said in an interview that if their names ever gave them problems, it would be because of the last name.

Related Topics:
Moon Unit - Dweezil - Ahmet Emuukha Rodan - Diva Muffin - The Tonight Show - Jay Leno

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After his death an internet email campaign to the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center led to an asteroid being named in his honor: 3834 Zappafrank, the asteroid having been discovered by Czech astronomers. http://www.klet.org/names/view.php3?astnum=3834 http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andymurkin/Resources/MusicRes/ZapRes/asteroid.html Since then other things have been named in his honor including: another asteroid (16745 Zappa), a gene (ZapA gene of Proteus mirabilis, a microbe that causes urinary tract infections http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andymurkin/Resources/MusicRes/ZapRes/ZapA.html), a goby fish (Zappa confluentus http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andymurkin/Resources/MusicRes/ZapRes/fish.html ), a jellyfish (Phialella zappa which was actually named by Nando!), an extinct mollusc (Amauratoma zappa), and a spider with an abdominal mark supposedly resembling Zappa's mustache (Pachygnatha zappa http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andymurkin/Resources/MusicRes/ZapRes/spider.html).

Related Topics:
International Astronomical Union - Asteroid - 3834 Zappafrank - 16745 Zappa - Gene - Proteus mirabilis - Goby - Zappa confluentus - Jellyfish - Phialella zappa - Mollusc - Amauratoma zappa - Spider - Pachygnatha zappa

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In 1995 a series of Intel PC motherboards were named after him.

Related Topics:
Intel - Motherboards

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In September 2005, the city of Berlin debated renaming a Street 13 in the Marzahn district the "Frank-Zappa-Strasse."

Related Topics:
Berlin - Marzahn

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Zappa made a cameo appearance in the 1968 film starring the Monkees, Head with a talking cow. He also made a cameo appearance on an episode of the Monkees TV series.

Related Topics:
Cameo appearance - 1968 film - Monkees - Head

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He was the voice of the pope in a 1992 episode of The Ren & Stimpy Show. He appeared on What's My Line? and Saturday Night Live, in a sketch as Connie Conehead's date; he played a drug dealer once in Miami Vice, appeared on Dick Cavett's interview show in the early 1970's with the Flo and Eddie version of the band, and other interview shows. He also appeared on MTV and a one hour Zappa TV special.

Related Topics:
1992 episode - The Ren & Stimpy Show - What's My Line - Saturday Night Live - Connie Conehead - Miami Vice - Dick Cavett - MTV

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Zappa was the guest host and musical guest of the October 21, 1978 show of Saturday Night Live. His sense of humor alienated him from the cast and his mugging-to-the-camera performance has led to Lorne Michaels never allowing the show to be shown in repeats or on video.

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He is referenced in the song "Smoke on the Water" by the legendary British Hard Rock band, Deep Purple.

Related Topics:
Smoke on the Water - Hard Rock - Deep Purple

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