Gail, whose full maiden name was Adelaide Gail Sloatman, was born on January 1st, 1945, the daughter of a nuclear weapons research physicist with the U.S. Navy, according to Zappa biographer Barry Miles. Former L.A. City Council President Pat Russell, first woman elected to post, dies at 97. Gail Zappa, wife of Frank Zappa and executrix of the Zappa Family Trust, has died. The Zappa kids were allowed to curse and address their parents as Frank and Gail. So you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream.”, ------------FOR THE RECORD: Gail Zappa: In the Oct. 13 California section, the obituary of Gail Zappa, widow of musician Frank Zappa, misstated the name of the Zappas’ home studio. The Swinging Sixties. Musician. “Her searing intelligence, unforgettable smile, wild thicket of hair and trailing black velvets leave a blur in her wake,” the statement said. I was lucky enough to meet Gail Zappa a handful of times, though it’s the first and last meeting that stay with me the most. Frank Zappa and Jimi Hendrix. Gail Zappa oversaw the release and rerelease of dozens of Frank Zappa albums, sometimes clashing with fans over the musical selections and production techniques. He graduated in 1969 from Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. Chawkins left The Times in 2015. She was 70. After her prolific husband died of prostate cancer in 1993, Gail kept Frank’s recordings in the public, putting out dozens of posthumous albums and judiciously licensing his image where appropriate. Her searing intelligence, unforgettable smile, wild thicket of hair and trailing black velvets leave a blur in her wake.”, Related: Frank Zappa Doc: Alex Winter Talks to Gail and Ahmet Zappa. In lieu of a ring, Gail received a ballpoint pen that Zappa bought from a vending machine at the marriage bureau. “I thought then, and continue to think today, that Dweezil is a nice name,” Frank wrote. © Copyright 2021 Rolling Stone, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media, LLC. She was 70. She also chose to unevenly divide the trust, which pitted the siblings against each other. Last year, Gail Zappa – Frank’s widow, who had controlled his estate since his death – was dying of lung cancer, and began to say “weird things,” according to … The Swinging Sixties. Gail Zappa, Frank Zappa's widow, has died at age 70. This year’s Dance Me This was billed as Frank’s final album and is significant for being his 100th record. After her death, the four heirs to the Zappa Family Trust discovered that Gail left them with a trust “fund” that was millions of dollars in debt. 159k followers. According to the site, Gail was reportedly battling an illness. She was 70. Gail Zappa is survived by daughters Moon Unit and Diva; sons Dweezil and Ahmet; and four grandchildren. Wife and muse of Frank Zappa who fought to protect his musical legacy after his death. Younger sibs Ahmet and Diva inherited 30% each while older sibs Moon and Dweezil were left only 20% each. She was 70. As longtime head of Zappa Family Trust, wife was responsible for issuing close to 40 albums of previously unreleased music by Frank since his 1993 death. She was 70. Other children envied their expletive-laced freedom. Disneyland artist and ‘master illustrator’ Charles Boyer dies at 86. The couple had four children – Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet and Diva – over the course of their marriage, which lasted until Frank’s death. She was responsible for releasing more than 30 of his albums, after his death. Her father, John Sloatman, was a nuclear physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project and went on to direct research projects for the U.S. military. She was 70. In the meantime, Gail Zappa had her lawyers send cease-and-desist letters to groups performing Zappa’s music without the trust’s permission. Get all the day's most vital news with our Today's Headlines newsletter, sent every weekday morning. Gail Zappa, Frank’s widow who oversaw his estate until her own death in 2015, was a savvy business person. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. Frank Zappa's widow, Gail Zappa, has died at the age of 70, TMZ reports. Resting place is Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. She was 70. “But more than any singular accomplishment, she defined herself in her personal relationships, happiest when surrounded by loved ones and artists, often one in the same. Gail spoke with Rolling Stone in August about a documentary that filmmaker Alex Winter is making about Frank’s life. Gail born under the Capricorn horoscope as Gail's birth date is January 1. LOS ANGELES — Gail Zappa, widow of the iconoclastic musician Frank Zappa and a zealous advocate for artists’ ownership rights over their work, has died. Gail Zappa, rock muse - obituary. Better-known threads of the story naturally apply. Zappa’s death Wednesday at … She met Doors frontman Jim Morrison in kindergarten, since they both had high-ranking naval officials for fathers (Frank once told a story that she hit Morrison over the head with a hammer). Legendary casting director Lynn Stalmaster dies at 93. Frank precedes Gail in death; having passed away in December 4, 1993 of prostate cancer. Zappa, who has died at the age of 70, was known both as a free spirit and as a hard-headed businesswoman. And his actual last word is his music.”. Zappa and his wife Gail would have four children with decidedly un-boring names: Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet (above), and Diva. ------------. She met Frank Zappa in the mid '60s, and the two were wed by 1967. It was the Utility Muffin Research Kitchen, not the Utility Muffin Research Kitten. I just want it revealed.”. The Rev. Gail Zappa Net Worth According to Trend Celeb Now, Gail Zappa's estimated Net Worth, Salary, Income, Cars, Lifestyles & … Zappa had been born Adelaide Gail Sloatman on January 1, 1945. LOS ANGELES (AP) - Gail Zappa, the widow of music legend Frank Zappa, has died at her Los Angeles home. Gail Zappa has been died on Oct 7, 2015 (age 70). “If I was gonna have to do this myself, I would want the question answered: ‘Why the fuck would anyone want to be a composer? Vincent Jackson, a standout wide receiver for the San Diego Chargers and a three-time Pro Bowl selection, was found dead in a Florida hotel room Monday. “Let me say it in the simplest way,” she told The Times in 2008. We want to hear from you! Burns also wrote the TV comedy-drama “Room 222,” the story of a fictional urban high school in L.A. David Vazquez, Aztec-language teacher who worked to save ancestors’ history, dies, Working out of a church basement in Santa Ana, he taught Nahuatl to a new generation, Eugenio Martínez, Watergate burglar whose bungled break-in led to Nixon’s fall, dies. She lived with her family in London as a teenager and got a job as a secretary for the Office of Naval Research and Development rather than attend college. Gail Zappa, Frank's wife and executor and head of the Zappa Family Trust, has died aged seventy. It remained in the … Charles Boyer signed on as a portrait sketch artist in 1960 and was made a Disney Legend in 2005, with a window on Main Street in his name. He has been a roving state correspondent and a columnist and reporter in the Ventura County edition. “I know the answer to that, because I lived it. A cause of death has not been revealed, though … “I remember when we were in Vienna, and they had these Mozart candies. Family spokeswoman Marcee Rondan says Zappa was surrounded by her children when she died Wednesday. A composer who co-founded the Mothers of Invention and whose work was satirical, complex, brilliant, and sometimes impenetrable, Frank Zappa released more than 60 albums during his lifetime, including “Freak Out!” (1966), “We’re Only in It for the Money” (1968), “Uncle Meat” (1969) and “Weasels Ripped My Flesh” (1970). By Philip Wilding October 08, 2015. Gail Zappa dead: Frank Zappa’s widow dies aged 70 after 'long illness' FRANK ZAPPA'S widow Gail has passed away at her Los Angeles home yesterday surrounded by … Protection and Fit: Here's How a KN95 Mask Works in the Fight Against Covid, Rush Limbaugh Did His Best to Ruin America, Dead Set: Surf Brand Slowtide Launches New Grateful Dead Poncho and Blanket Collab, Demi Lovato Docuseries Trailer: ‘I Had Three Strokes, I Had a Heart Attack’ Amid Overdose, Crowded House Preview First New Album Since 2010 With ‘To the Island’, Vicky Cornell Files Lawsuit Against Soundgarden Over Band Valuation Dispute, See Gojira’s Trippy Video for Heavy Headbanger ‘Born for One Thing’, Bootsy Collins on the Genius of Fela Kuti: ‘What He Brought Was Just So Powerful’, See Jehnny Beth’s Vulnerable Side in ‘French Countryside’ Video, documentary that filmmaker Alex Winter is making. Frederick K.C. Frank Zappa with Gail Zappa and The Mothers of Invention on the road. She was 70. People also love these ideas. He Died on December 4, 1993 (aged 52) in Los Angeles, California, U.S. Following the death of Zappa's mother, Gail, in October 2015, it was revealed that Ahmet and his sister Diva were given control of the Zappa Family Trust with shares of 30% each, while his siblings Moon and Dweezil were given smaller shares of 20% each. She also took on the German festival Zappanale, which she contended was using her husband’s name and image without a license. Family spokeswoman Marcee Rondan says Zappa was surrounded by her children … Gail Zappa died in Los Angeles on October 7, 2015. The composer recalled affectionately in his book that it was her idea to name their son Dweezil, after a “funny-looking little toe” she had. October 7, 2015 Gail Zappa, the wife of the late Frank Zappa, has died. I was interviewing Dweezil Zappa in Disneyland in 1991. “It’s exactly what Frank feared the most,” she told music journalist Larry LeBlanc in 2014. And they can … well, they can all pound salt!”. The Fania Records founder and salsa legend died on Monday in New Jersey. Price of Crenshaw Christian Center in South L.A. dies from COVID-19. Zappa’s death Wednesday at her Laurel Canyon home was announced by family members, who described her in a statement as “a doe-eyed, barefooted trailblazer.”. Want more Rolling Stone? After setting up the Zappa Family Trust, Gail issued 38 albums between 1994 and 2015 of previously unreleased music that Frank had recorded. In his autobiography, The Real Frank Zappa Book, the artist called her a “fascinating little vixen,” with whom “it took a couple of minutes, but I fell (don’t laugh) in love.”. The couple were outspoken in their defense of artists against censorship. The memories she leaves behind are indeed her own art form. A job that was tireless, consuming yet also a labor of love. '” she said. Gail had reportedly been suffering from lung cancer. Rush Limbaugh, highly influential conservative radio host, dies at 70, Rush Limbaugh had huge influence in the political sphere, setting the stage for the rise of conservative talk radio with ‘The Rush Limbaugh Show.’, Johnny Pacheco, the ‘Godfather of Salsa’ and soul of Fania Records, dies at 85. Sign up for our newsletter. A German court ruled against her. Gail passed away in L.A. on Wednesday, Oct. 7. Gail Zappa was the wife of the celebrated American rock musician and composer Frank Zappa, whom she was married to from 1967 until his death in 1993. He also was managing editor of the Ventura Star-Free Press. Zappa, “departed this earth peacefully at her home … surrounded by her children,” according to a statement from the Zappa Family Trust. Frank Zappa released 62 albums before his death from prostate cancer in 1993, and more than 50 albums of his work have been released since then. They remained married until the musician’s death. Price, a televangelist who founded the Crenshaw Christian Center, a South L.A. megachurch, died Friday at age 89. The cause of death is currently unknown, but according to a statement from the family, she died peacefully at … She encountered Zappa when she was a 20-year-old secretary at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles. Gail Zappa, widow of musician-composer Frank Zappa, shows a handful of motel keys at her Laurel Canyon home in 2013. Even in death, Limbaugh is both reviled and revered as a lightning rod, McNamara: Rush Limbaugh died as he lived — dividing America. This year's 'Dance Me This' was billed as his final album and is significant for being his 100th record. One of the buried treasures in the Frank Zappa vault is a recording of Zappa with Jimi Hendrix. The bad news is no-one knows where it is. Former Chargers wide receiver Vincent Jackson found dead in hotel room. Gail Zappa, widow of the iconoclastic musician Frank Zappa and a zealous advocate for artists’ ownership rights over their work, has died. Since his death, Gail Zappa and the Zappa Family Trust have issued an additional 38 albums of music that had been recorded by Frank but not previously released. The death, … Together, they had four children: Ahmet, Dweezil, Moon and Diva. After Franks’ passing, Gail held the torch light high and carried on with running the family business of the Zappa Family Trust. Earlier this year, the Zappa family announced that the couple’s son Ahmet would be in charge of the Trust. The Telegraph. When Tipper Gore mounted a campaign for warning labels on music with sexually explicit lyrics, Frank Zappa was among the big names who testified against her. Zappa was known both as a free spirit and as a hard-headed businesswoman. He also was famous for the 1982 hit “Valley Girl,” featuring his then-14-year-old daughter Moon Unit Zappa. He said, ‘God, what a life that would be if you wound up having your name on chocolate in a tourist mecca.’ That essentially is what Germany has done.”. “What I’ve discovered in the process … comes down to one simple thing — because everybody wants to remake his image. Allan Burns, revered writer known for ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show,’ dies at 85. Gail Zappa and the vice president’s wife later became friends, with Tipper performing on daughter Diva Zappa’s 1999 album. Frank recounted the ceremony comically in the book, stating that Gail was nine months pregnant at the time, and that he didn’t have a wedding ring and that she still didn’t have a wedding ring at the time he wrote the book, which came out in 1989. She also shared what she hoped the documentary, due sometime in 2017, would explain. Died / Death / place of death / Cause of death /Resting place. Frank Zappa was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. He cast some 400 films and TV shows and helped launch many stars. “Gail will forever be identified as a key figure in the creative renaissance that is Laurel Canyon,” the statement says. Widely hailed as one of the most inventive and provocative musicans of his time, his work was characterized by his satiric, often deviant lyrics and his use of advanced musical forms not usually found in rock music, as well as his exceptional guitar technique. Gail Zappa, wife of Frank Zappa and executrix of the Zappa Family Trust, has died. She was 97. She eventually moved to New York, where she attended the Fashion Institute of Technology in the mid-Sixties and immersed herself in the music scene before hitchhiking to Los Angeles with a friend. “My obligation was to get the work out there the way Frank built it in the first place,” she said of her role after his death. An early scene features a … Gail did so much to keep Frank Zappa’s musical legacy alive after he died in 1993. Search Obituaries & Guest Books on Legacy.com, Honor a loved one, place an obituary notice, Rev. “I don’t want anybody standing in between the audience and what Frank’s intention as a composer was, and still is,” she said in the 2008 interview. By Daina Beth Solomon LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Gail Zappa, the widow of rock music legend Frank Zappa, died on Wednesday in Los Angeles, … Eugenio Martínez, a former longtime CIA agent who participated in the Watergate burglary that led to President Nixon’s downfall, dies at 98. Rolling Stone and TMZ reported that she died following "a long battle with lung cancer". “Fuck the nurse if she didn’t like it.”. SOULMATES. Born in Philadelphia on Jan. 1, 1945, Adelaide Gail Sloatman Zappa spent her teenage years in London. In Los Angeles, Gail met and befriended future Runaways manager Kim Fowley, and recorded an album with him billed to Bunny and Bear; Miles noted that she was “Bear.” She met her husband-to-be when she was the secretary at the Sunset Strip mainstay the Whisky a Go Go. Gail Zappa, the wife of legendary musician Frank Zappa reportedly died on Wednesday October 7 at the age of 70 years of age. SOULMATES. Sparks failed to fly at their first meeting, which, as she recalled in 2013 to the Times of London, was “like a vaccination that didn’t take.”, Two years later, they married in what Zappa described in his autobiography as “a severely ridiculous civil ceremony” in New York. According to a new report from TMZ, Frank’s widow Gail had been battling an illness for quite a while now, reportedly lung cancer, and her death was not unexpected. Zappa purchased the property in the mid-1970s for around $75,000, and he lived, worked, and raised his family there until his death in 1993. She was 70. They called their home studio the Utility Muffin Research Kitchen, where a framed quote from Frank said it all: “You can’t write a chord ugly enough to say what you want sometimes. Gail Zappa met Frank when she was a secretary at the Whisky-a-Go-Go club on Sunset Strip. They started living together and married in a “severely ridiculous civil ceremony” in 1967. Gail Zappa, who has died aged 70, was the wife and muse of the cult rock musician Frank Zappa and mother of their four children, Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet and Diva. She was 70. Gail Zappa, widow of the iconoclastic musician Frank Zappa and a zealous advocate for artists’ ownership rights over their work, has died. Former Los Angeles City Council President Pat Russell, a community activist who became the first woman elected to the powerful post, died Thursday. It said, “Congratulations from Mayor Lindsay.”, They shared a zest for the absurd. Oct. 8, 2015 Gail Zappa, the widow of the rock guitarist and composer Frank Zappa, who battled major record companies and cover bands alike as a … Lynn Stalmaster became the first casting director to receive an honorary Oscar. Adelaide Gail Zappa (née Sloatman; January 1, 1945 – October 7, 2015) was the widow of musician and composer Frank Zappa and the Trustee of the Zappa Family Trust.They met in 1966 through mutual friend Bobby Jameson in Los Angeles, and they were married on September 21, 1967, while she was pregnant with her first child, Moon Zappa. Gail Zappa who was the widow of music legend Frank Zappa died on Wednesday aged 70. A cause of death has not been revealed, though TMZ reported she had had a long battle with lung cancer. Gail Zappa, Frank Zappa’s widow and head of the Zappa Family Trust, died at home on Wednesday, 7 October, according to a statement released by … A cause of death, however, has not been revealed. LOS ANGELES (AP) - Gail Zappa, the widow of music legend Frank Zappa, has died at her Los Angeles home. LOS ANGELES (AP) - Gail Zappa, the widow of music legend Frank Zappa, has died at her Los Angeles home. Cause of death is Prostate cancer, renal failure. Gail Zappa, widow of the iconoclastic musician Frank Zappa and a zealous advocate for artists’ ownership rights over their work, died Oct. 7 at her home in Los Angeles. Frederick K.C. In an interview with the Guardian, Ahmet said his first words were "f*ck you." There's no word on the cause of her death. A former obituary writer, Steve Chawkins joined the Los Angeles Times in 1987 after working as a reporter and editor at the Santa Fe Reporter in New Mexico and the Rocky Mountain News in Denver. After her husband’s death from prostate cancer in 1993, she battled tribute groups, record labels and music festivals she believed were taking illegal advantage of his music and his identity. Ahmet Zappa, son of Frank and Gail Zappa … “My job is to make sure that Frank Zappa has the last word in terms of anybody’s idea of who he is. Born Adelaide Gail Sloatman, she was the widow of musician and composer Frank Zappa.