Zappa was born on December 21, 1940, in Baltimore, Maryland. His mother, Rose Marie (née Colimore), was of Italian (Neapolitan and Sicilian) and French ancestry; his father, whose name was anglicized f… See more

In April 1965, Ray Collins, singer of a local R&B band called the Soul Giants, asked Zappa to take over as guitarist in the Soul Giants, following a fight between Collins and the group's original guitarist. Zappa accepted, a… See more

In 1970, Zappa met conductor Zubin Mehta. They arranged a May 1970 concert where Mehta conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic augmented by a rock band. According to Zappa, the music was mostly written in m… See more

Zappa cut ties with Phonogram after the distributor refused to release his song "I Don't Wanna Get Drafted", which was recorded in February 1980. The single was released independently by Zappa in the United Stat… See more

Zappa died from prostate cancer on December 4, 1993, at his home with his wife and children by his side. At a private ceremony the following day, his body was buried in a grave at the Westwood Village Memorial P… See more