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Dweezil Zappa

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Dweezil Zappa

Dweezil Zappa (born Ian Donald Calvin Euclid Zappa, September 5, 1969) is an American rock guitarist.

Biography

Early life

Zappa was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Adelaide Gail Sloatman, who worked in business, and musician Frank Zappa.[1] He is the second of four siblings: his older sister, Moon Unit, younger sister Diva and younger brother Ahmet. He is the cousin of actress Lala Sloatman.[2] Zappa's father was of Sicilian, Greek, Arab and French descent and his mother was of Danish, French, Irish and Portuguese ancestry.[3]

Dweezil's registered birth name was Ian Donald Calvin Euclid Zappa.[4] The hospital at which he was born refused to register him under the name Dweezil, so Frank listed the names of several musician friends. "Dweezil" was a nickname coined by Frank for an oddly-curled pinky-toe of Gail's. At five years old, Dweezil learned that his legal name was different, and he insisted on having his nickname become his legal name. Gail and Frank hired an attorney and soon the name Dweezil was official.

Main career

In the 1980s, Zappa worked as an MTV VJ and was promptly fired after badmouthing MTV on The Howard Stern Show. He also recorded some solo albums, as well as playing for other artists. Zappa can be seen in the music video for Don Johnson's top 40 song, "Heartbeat". He also played co-lead guitar (along with Reb Beach) on Winger's cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze". Dweezil has said that Eddie Van Halen was his favorite guitar player, and he began copying Van Halen's distinctive guitar style. He also had a part in the futuristic Arnold Schwarzenegger movie The Running Man as Stevie ("Don't touch that dial!"), and gave his most famous cameo role in John Hughes's brat-pack movie starring Molly Ringwald Pretty in Pink as Andie's friend, Simon.

Since the early 1990s, Zappa has been working on a piece of music named "What the Hell Was I Thinking?", a 75-minute piece featuring guitar solos by dozens of famous guitar players. The project has suffered from numerous difficulties and has been reworked several times since the '90s. Dweezil said in September 2004:[5] "I started recording it on analog tape almost 13 years ago... There are probably about 35 guest guitar players on it, everybody from Brian May to Edward van Halen, Eric Johnson, Angus and Malcolm Young — it's quite a crazy project. I'm still waiting and hoping to record Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page as some of my final guests on there."[5]

In the mid 1990s, Zappa voiced the character Ajax Duckman on the animated series Duckman. He also briefly appeared in the television sitcom Normal Life with sister Moon Unit Zappa and former Laverne and Shirley star Cindy Williams. He composed and performed the theme music for The Ben Stiller Show (the solo from Spinal Tap's "Break Like the Wind"). In 1999 Dweezil, alongside with his brother, Ahmet, starred in TV show called Happy Hour which debuted April 3, 1999 on the USA Network. The show lasted for one season.

Dweezil Zappa performing on the "Zappa Plays Zappa" tour in 2006.

In "Weird Al" Yankovic's 2003 eleventh studio album Poodle Hat, Zappa performs the opening guitar solo and lends his vocal talents to the track, "Genius in France". In 2006, Zappa organized the "Zappa Plays Zappa" tour. He assembled a band of young musicians with a view to bring the music of Frank Zappa to a younger audience. The tour also featured guest appearances by Steve Vai, Napoleon Murphy Brock and Terry Bozzio. The tour began in Europe in May with dates in the U.S. from June. After a break it continued in the U.S. on October 18, 2006. The 2007 version of the tour ran from July, finishing in Australia in early December, and featured Ray White as special guest. The shows ended with the promise: "There are so many songs we want to learn to play ... see ya'll next year ...", and further tours in 2008 and 2009 have followed.[6]

Dweezil Zappa at Bluesfest 2008 in Ottawa

Personal life

Zappa's first serious relationship of note was with Katie Wagner, daughter of actor Robert Wagner, star of the series Hart to Hart. Zappa also dated actress Molly Ringwald during the shooting on her movie Pretty In Pink. He had a brief courtship with a high-school actress Jill Sayre, whom he met while studying acting at the Milton Katselas Theatre and later went on to have a brief relationship with actress Sharon Stone.

For six years, Zappa dated musician Lisa Loeb. Zappa and Loeb wrote and performed music together, and even went on tour with Loeb's band. The couple co-hosted the cooking show Dweezil & Lisa on Food Network in 2004. The couple broke up in the summer of 2004.

Zappa married fashion stylist Lauren Knudsen on September 3, 2005 in Los Angeles. They have two daughters: Zola Frank Zappa (born 2006) and Ceylon Zappa (born 2008).[7][8]

Musical equipment

Guitars

Effects

  • DBX 162 Stereo Compressor[11]
  • Freekish Blues - Bety Bdbst (Clean Boost/Overdrive)
  • Eventide 949 Harmonizer
  • Eventide Delay
  • Mickmix Dynaflanger x2
  • Aphex Expressor Compressor
  • Acces Electronics MIDI Foot controller
  • Mutron Bi-Phase
  • Systech Harmonic Energizer
  • Chandler Delay
  • Afro Fuzz
  • Real Octavia'
  • Janglebox Compressor
  • Digitech GSP 1101
  • Native Instruments Guitar Rig[12]
  • Sound Sculpture Switchblade system[13]
  • Fractal Audio Systems Axe-Fx[14]

Amplifiers

Discography

Solo

With Ahmet Zappa

With Zappa Plays Zappa

Guest appearances

References

  1. ^ Dweezil Zappa Biography (1969-)
  2. ^ "Lala Sloatman at IMDB". {{cite web}}: Text "accessdate?2007-08-06" ignored (help)
  3. ^ Miles, Barry (2004). Zappa. Grove Press. p. 124. ISBN080211783X. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |month= and |coauthors= (help)
  4. ^ These were the names of Frank Zappa's musicians and associates Ian Underwood, Donald van Vliet, Calvin Schenkel and Euclid James "Motorhead" Sherwood; see "What are the names of Frank Zappa's kids?". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accesesdate= ignored (help).
  5. ^ a b James, Daniel (2004). "Dweezil Zappa: 64-bit Computing & The Frank Zappa Archive". Sound on Sound. Retrieved 2008-02-20. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  6. ^ http://www.zappaplayszappa.com/tourdates.html
  7. ^ Edler, Molly Snyder (2007-06-17). "Dweezil and Frank reunite in "Zappa Plays Zappa"". Retrieved 2008-02-20.
  8. ^ Zappa, Dweezil (2008-06-06). "On the road again/Dyna Flangers". Retrieved 2009-04-13.
  9. ^ http://www.hagstromguitars.com/zappa.html
  10. ^ Artist: Dweezil Zappa Fender.com Retrieved: 2009-05-17
  11. ^ In the Studio with... Dweezil Zappa Guitarworld.com Retrived: 2009-05-17
  12. ^ http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=0gqCtPcN5NE
  13. ^ a b http://www.fuzz.se/main.asp?go=8&src=&sgo=0&am=1&aid=425
  14. ^ http://fractalaudio.com/artist.html
  15. ^ http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-10228680_ITM

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