Performance · Other credits
Captain Beefheart
also recorded as Don Van Vliet
real name Don Glen Vliet
United States · 1941-01-15 – 2010-12-17
Captain Beefheart is credited on 627 releases across 95 albums tracked on Gatefold, active 1967–2026 — the collector-built map of who actually made the music.

627
Credits
95
Albums
7
Decades active
465
In collections
Biography
Showing the Discogs bio
Born: 15th January 1941, Glendale, California, USA.
Died: 17th December 2010, Arcata, California, USA.
Captain Beefheart, aka Don Van Vliet; vocalist, harp-player, saxophonist, flautist, songwriter, lyricist, poet & painter. As a frontman of "Captain Beefheart And His Magic Band" or working without The Magic Band, the captain recorded a dozen official albums. Several live releases would follow, some of them perhaps not entirely official. Van Vliet's career path was also interwoven with that of Frank Zappa, and was followed by secluded 'retirement' with his wife in 1982 when he began painting full time. He maintained an affinity for wildlife throughout his life and was a keen conservationist. He forged a successful career as a painter, exhibiting in galleries in New York, the UK and Europe, before dying of complications from multiple sclerosis. First recorded appearance: "A Low Forceps Delivery," featuring Don Glen Vliet, at Glendale Research Hospital 16:25 hours on 1941-01-15.
Bio from Discogs
Credited work
627 releases · 95 albums · active 1967–2026
- Performance · 1,331
- Other credits · 404
- Production · 38
Studios: Whitney Recording Studios · T.T.G. Studios · Sunset Sound · Armadillo World Headquarters
Discography
Records they worked on — most-collected first.

Hot Rats
1969

Nuggets (Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968)
1972

Trout Mask Replica
1969

Safe As Milk
1967

Bongo Fury
1975

The Big Lebowski (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
1998

Lick My Decals Off, Baby
1970

Cavalcade
2021

Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)
1978

Mirror Man
1971

Strictly Commercial (The Best Of Frank Zappa)
1995

Doc At The Radar Station
1980

The Spotlight Kid
1972

Black Rooster E.P
2002

Unconditionally Guaranteed
1974

The Lost Episodes
1996

Wild Winter
2014

Where The Action Is! (Los Angeles Nuggets: 1965-1968)
2009

Cheap Thrills
1998

You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 4
1991

Top Secret
1982

Diddy Wah Diddy
1971

The Hot Rats Sessions
2019

I'm Going To Do What I Wanna Do (Live At My Father's Place 1978)
2000
Frequent collaborators
- Frank Zappa
- Zappa
- Various
- The Jack And Jim Show
- The Kills
- The Tubes
- Jack Nitzsche
- Moris Tepper
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