Captain Beefheart: Your memories Reading this made me feel outraged

He rose to fame in the 1960s with a unique style of blues-inspired rock & roll, later devoting himself to art.

People have been emailing the BBC with their memories of the artist. Don and the band just played standing on the floor – level with the audience. Photograph: EMI publishing Don Van Vliet, better-known as Captain Beefheart, one of the most influential American musicians of the 1960s and 1970s and avant garde frontman of the Magic Band, has died in California, aged 69. There was lots of interaction and I danced all night. Former 4 Non Blondes frontwoman and singer/songwriter Linda Perry wrote , “Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band … “Don Van Vliet will be sorely missed,” the gallery’s statement said. Born Don Vliet, the musician and artist was known for his early collaborations with musical kindred Frank Zappa, and for he and his backers Magic Band’s experiements in rock, combining traditional pop musics like blues, garage rock and R&B with neo-classical and free jazz. Whether you’re a Captain lover or virgin, please do check them out on this sad day. RIP January 15 1941 – December 17 2010.” She also included a link to the melancholic doo-wop track “I’m Glad” from the 1967 album Safe as Milk. Comedian and illusionist Penn Jillette tweeted , “Captain Beefheart has died. The album’s angular, dissonant take on blues rock and Van Vliet’s growling, surreal lyrics put him outside the mainstream, but staked his place in rock history. Zappa often supported him – sometimes financially – at various key points in his life, and gave him a recording contract when other labels would not touch him.

After 1982, he moved back to the Mojave desert a critical space in his upbringing and continued painting out of a trailer before dropping out of public sight entirely in the 1990s. As children they would listen to old rhythm and blues records, dreaming of projects that mostly came to nothing. New wave, punk music and rock music in general benefited from Captain Beefheart’s contributions. Sad day indeed,” Diva Zappa tweeted .

“Record producers have always been certain that Don Vliet was just a hype away from the big money,” according to a 1970 profile in Rolling Stone. Try a search Related Events Sorry, there are currently no upcoming events. Captain Beefheart takes time and effort to understand.

I have so much respect for an artist who doesn’t compromise, someone who care more for the art than the Fame. He was a provocative and unpredictable figure, given to primal screams into the microphone or even grunts and was outspoken and candid about the music industry and the people in it. I will always remember his wonderful, multi-faceted approach to music. “RIP DVV, my mum got me into you when i was 15. Nothing he did was a mistake, there were no accidents in his music. It stains, like coffee or blood.” He stubbornly refused to conform and that was perhaps one of the main reasons that commercial success eluded him as a musician, although he was fond of the lifestyle that success brought.

Joe Haveson, Darwin, USA I saw him live in Manchester when I was an 18-yr-old music student in 1975. He loved fast cars and owned variously a Hudson, a Corvette and a Jaguar. He kindly autographed the back of my ticket. I appreciate the effort, but not execution. Mikolaj Kunicki, Notre Dame, Indiana, US