Dweezil Zappa

At 55 years old, Dweezil Zappa has this physical status:

Dweezil Zappa (born Ian Donald Wilson Euclid Zappa; September 5, 1969) is an American rock guitarist and occasional actor.

Frank Zappa, a musical arranger and performer, is his uncle.

Dweezil was introduced to the music industry at an early age and discovered a passion for playing the guitar and making music.

Dweezil's first album (produced by Eddie Van Halen) at the age of 12, but he continues to learn directly from guitarists like Steve Vain and Eddie Van Halen.

The band includes recreations of Zappa's original material, and the lineup includes Zappa veterans such as Napoleon Murphy Brock, Steve Valiant, Terry Bozzio, and others.

Early life

Dweezil Zappa was born in Los Angeles, California, to Frank Zappa and Gail Zappa on September 5, 1969. Moon, his older sister Diva, and younger brother Ahmet are two of his four siblings, and he is the cousin of actress Lala Sloatman. Zappa's father was of Sicilian, Greek, Arab, and French descent, and his mother was of German and Portuguese origins.

Ian Donald Calvin Euclid Zappa, Dweezil's registered birth name, was Ian Donald. To the point of arguing with Gail in the delivery room, the nurse at the hospital where he was born refused to register him under the name Dweezil. Frank quickly listed the names of many musician acquaintances, with the nurse adding them to the birth certificate. Frank coined "dweezil" for an oddly curled pinky to the left of Gail's. Dweezil discovered that his legal name was not correct, and he insisted that his name be changed to reflect his legal name. Gail and Frank had recruited an advocate, but soon enough, the word Dweezil was adopted.

Personal life

Lisa Loeb, a dated singer from 1998 to 2004, Zappa dated musician Lisa Loeb. Zappa and Loeb wrote and performed together, and Zappa and Loeb performed together, while Zappa toured with Loeb's band. In 2004, the couple co-hosted Dweezil & Lisa on Food Network.

Lauren Knudsen, a Los Angeles fashion stylist, married Zappa on September 3, 2005. They have two children, Zola Frank Zappa (born 2006) and Ceylon Indira Zappa (born 2008). In March 2010, Knudsen applied for divorce in L.A. County Superior Court. She requested to reveal legal custody of their two children, according to the documents. Zappa's former prosecutor made a public announcement in March 2012 about his unpaid legal bills, despite the fact that the divorce case was still unanswered.

Following Gail's death in October 2015, the Zappa Family Trust was given a 30 percent stake in each, though Dweezil and his sister Moon were given smaller shares of 20% each. Moon and Dweezil will not get any payments from the trust until it is profitable; in 2016, it was "millions of dollars in debt"—and the trustee must refuse to profit from their father's music or merchandise bearing their name. Dweezil was sent a cease-and-desist letter from the trust after he revealed that he was going to perform his forthcoming tour as "Dweezil Zappa Plays Frank Zappa" rather than using "Zappa Plays Zappa." In reaction to the trust's decision, he renamed his performance series "50 Years of Frank": "Dweezil Zappa Plays Whatever the F@%k He Wants: the Cease and Desist Tour."

The four siblings revealed that they had reconciled in May 2018.

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Career

Zappa appeared on MTV VJ in the 1980s and was promptly dismissed after badmouthing MTV on The Howard Stern Show (also, he had his father Frank Zappa co-hosting, who said that young Republicans should kill themselves after a Suicide PSA). In addition to performing for other musicians, he also performed on some solo albums. In Don Johnson's top 40 song, "Heartbeat," Zappa can be seen leading guitar on Fat Boys' "Wipe Out" (1987), and can be seen in the music video for his top 40 hit, "Heartbeat." On Winger's cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze," he also played co-lead guitar (along with Reb Beach). Stevie appeared in Arnold Schwarzenegger's film The Running Man as Stevie ("Don't touch the dial!" "Paul" played him in John Hughes' Brat Pack film "All in Pink" (starring Molly Ringwald), as Andie's companion, Simon.

Zappa has been working on a piece of music called "What the Hell Was I Thinking?" since the 1990s. "A 75-minute piece starring guitar solos by scores of well-known guitar players." The project has suffered from numerous difficulties and has been reworked several times since the 1990s. "I started recording it on analog tape almost 13 years ago," Dweezil said in September 2004. It's likely that it will feature 35 guests, ranging from Brian May to Eddie Van Halen, Eric Johnson, Angus, and Malcolm Young. I'm still waiting and hoping to include Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page as one of my final guests on there."

Zappa produced a cover of the Bee Gees' "Stayin Alive" which featured vocals by Ozzy Osbourne on his 1991 album Confessions. However, the vocals were re-recorded by Donny Osmond, who was known as Zappa due to Osbourne's refusal to allow the feature. The version of Prince of Darkness with Osbourne's vocals appeared on Osbourne's box later.

Zappa created Ajax Duckman, a cartoon version of Duckman from the mid-1990s. He appeared on television sitcom Normal Life with sister Moon Unit Zappa and former Laverne & Shirley actor Cindy Williams for a brief period of time. He wrote and performed the theme music for The Ben Stiller Exhibition (the solo from Spinal Tap's "Break Like the Wind"). In 1998, Zappa appeared as John Kaplan, the Warner Bros. family sitcom. Dweezil and his brother, Ahmet Zappa, appeared in a series called Happy Hour in 1999 that premiered on the USA Network, featuring celebrities, bands, and dance troupes. Despite the show's popularity as a result of a copyright controversy over the show's name, it lasted for one season. He and Ahmet appeared on the World Wrestling Federation's Rage Party breifly, the night before WrestleMania XV.

"Weird Al" Yankovic's 2003 album Poodle Hat, Zappa performs the opening guitar solo and sings on the track, "Genius in France." The Zappa Plays Zappa tour was held in 2006 in Zappa, Australia. He assembled a group of young musicians in the hopes of bringing Frank Zappa's music to a younger audience. Steve Vai, Napoleon Murphy Brock, and Terry Bozzio appeared on the tour as guest artists. With dates in the United States starting in May, the tour in Europe began in May. It began in the United States on October 18, 2006. The 2007 tour began in July and ended in Australia in early December, with Ray White as the special guest. "We have so many songs we want to try... see y'all next year," the show ended, and further tours have followed each year since 2007. Ray White left Zappa Plays Zappa in 2009 for an undisclosed reason.

In one episode of Metalocalypse on Adult Swim, Zappa lent his voice to one of the characters.

In 2016, Zappa went on tour to commemorate Frank Zappa's album Freak Out! "50 Years of Frank: Dweezil Zappa Plays Whatever the F@%k He Wants Tour" was the tour's name. The tour was inspired by Zappa's rivalry with his brother Ahmet over the use of the word "Zappa Plays Zappa" moniker, resulting in Ahmet's deliverance of a cease-and-desist letter from the family trust.

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