Thaindian News

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA (BNO NEWS) — Musician and visual artist Don Glen Vliet, better known as Captian Beefheart, passed away on Friday. He was 69.

Vliet, of Glendale, California, died at a hospital in Northern California as he had been suffering from multiple sclerosis for several years. His condition had been deterioration lately.

As a musician, Vliet recorded 12 studio albums between 1965 and 1982 with a rotating ensemble of musicians called ‘The Magic Band.’ Frank Zappa began collaborating with the band since 1964 and began performing with ‘The Magic Band’ in 1965. Some experts credit Vliet with having strong influence in Frank Zappa’s musical development.

Vliet’s 1969 Trout Mask Replica ranked fifty-eighth in Rolling Stone magazine’s 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. He was the lead singer of his albums, but he was also in charge of most of the compositions as he played a number of instruments including harmonica, saxophone and other wind instruments.

In 1982, Vliet decided to stop making music in order to be taken more seriously in his pursuit of a career in art. His paintings were later exhibited in a number of countries, and many of them were sold at high prices.