Dweezil Zappa

Dweezil Zappa (born September 5, 1969) is an American rock guitarist.

Early life
Zappa was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Adelaide Gail Sloatman, who worked in business, and musician Frank Zappa. He is the second of four siblings: his older sister, Moon Unit, younger sister Diva and younger brother Ahmet. He is the cousin of actress Lala Sloatman. Zappa's father was of Sicilian, Greek, Arab and French descent and his mother was of Danish, French, Irish and Portuguese ancestry.

Dweezil's registered birth name was Ian Donald Calvin Euclid Zappa. The hospital at which he was born refused to register him under the name Dweezil, so Frank listed the names of several musician friends. "Dweezil" was a nickname coined by Frank for an oddly-curled pinky-toe of Gail's. At five years old, Dweezil learned that his legal name was different, and he insisted on having his nickname become his legal name. Gail and Frank hired an attorney and soon the name Dweezil was official.

Career
In the 1980s, Zappa worked as an MTV VJ and was promptly fired after badmouthing MTV on The Howard Stern Show. He also recorded some solo albums, as well as playing for other artists. Zappa can be heard playing lead guitar on Fat Boys "Wipe Out"(1987) and can be seen in the music video for Don Johnson's top 40 song, "Heartbeat". He also played co-lead guitar (along with Reb Beach) on Winger's cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze". Dweezil has said that Eddie Van Halen was his favorite guitar player, and he began copying Van Halen's distinctive guitar style. He also had a part in the futuristic Arnold Schwarzenegger movie The Running Man as Stevie ("Don't touch that dial!"), and gave his most famous cameo role in John Hughes's brat-pack movie, Pretty in Pink (starring Molly Ringwald), as Andie's friend, Simon.

Since the early 1990s, Zappa has been working on a piece of music named "What the Hell Was I Thinking?", a 75-minute piece featuring guitar solos by dozens of famous guitar players. The project has suffered from numerous difficulties and has been reworked several times since the '90s. Dweezil said in September 2004: "I started recording it on analog tape almost 13 years ago... There are probably about 35 guest guitar players on it, everybody from Brian May to Edward van Halen, Eric Johnson, Angus and Malcolm Young — it's quite a crazy project. I'm still waiting and hoping to record Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page as some of my final guests on there."

In the mid 1990s, Zappa voiced the character Ajax Duckman on the animated series Duckman. He also briefly appeared in the television sitcom Normal Life with sister Moon Unit Zappa and former Laverne and Shirley star Cindy Williams. He composed and performed the theme music for The Ben Stiller Show (the solo from Spinal Tap's "Break Like the Wind"). In 1999 Dweezil, alongside with his brother, Ahmet, starred in TV show called Happy Hour which debuted April 3, 1999 on the USA Network. The show lasted for one season.



In "Weird Al" Yankovic's 2003 eleventh studio album Poodle Hat, Zappa performs the opening guitar solo and lends his vocal talents to the track, "Genius in France". In 2006, Zappa organized the "Zappa Plays Zappa" tour. He assembled a band of young musicians with a view to bring the music of Frank Zappa to a younger audience. The tour also featured guest appearances by Steve Vai, Napoleon Murphy Brock and Terry Bozzio. The tour began in Europe in May with dates in the U.S. from June. After a break it continued in the U.S. on October 18, 2006. The 2007 version of the tour ran from July, finishing in Australia in early December, and featured Ray White as special guest. The shows ended with the promise: "There are so many songs we want to learn to play ... see y'all next year ...", and further tours in 2008 and 2009 have followed.



Personal life
For six years, Zappa dated musician Lisa Loeb. Zappa and Loeb wrote and performed music together, and even went on tour with Loeb's band. The couple co-hosted the cooking show Dweezil & Lisa on Food Network in 2004. The couple broke up in the summer of 2004.

Zappa married fashion stylist Lauren Knudsen on September 3, 2005 in Los Angeles. They have two daughters: Zola Frank Zappa (born 2006) and Ceylon Indira Zappa (born 2008).

In March 2010 Dweezil's wife Lauren Knudsen filed for divorce in L.A. County Superior Court. According to the documents, she cited irreconcilable differences and applied to share joint legal custody of their two daughters.

Guitars

 * Gibson SG - Custom built to replicate his father's SG.
 * Hagström Viking - With an extra switch to control the tone.
 * Custom PRS - Built with materials chosen by Zappa for their "naturally occurring oddities".
 * Eric Johnson Fender Stratocaster - Custom fitted with a piezo pickup.
 * Fender Stratocaster - Originally used and burned by Jimi Hendrix and given to Dweezil's father.
 * Babysnake SG - Luthier built guitar with onboard effects originally owned by his father.
 * Gibson Les Paul - Late 70's early 80's model with onboard effects and coiltaps.
 * Gibson ES-5 Switchmaster - Originally used during his father's early career, heavily modified with various onboard effects.
 * Moser S.G - Used as a backup for his Gibson SG.

Effects

 * DBX 162 Stereo Compressor
 * Freekish Blues - Betty Boost (Clean Boost/Overdrive)
 * Freekish Blues - Freek Out! (Fuzz)
 * Freekish Blues - Coily Fuzz
 * Eventide 949 Harmonizer
 * Eventide Delay
 * Mickmix Dynaflanger x2
 * Aphex Expressor Compressor
 * Axess Electronics MIDI Foot controller
 * Mutron Bi-Phase


 * Systech Harmonic Energizer
 * Chandler Delay
 * Afro Fuzz
 * Real Octavia
 * Janglebox Compressor
 * Digitech GSP 1101
 * Native Instruments Guitar Rig
 * Sound Sculpture Switchblade system
 * Fractal Audio Systems Axe-Fx

Amplifiers

 * Acoustic 270 amplifier
 * Peavey Wiggy
 * Cornford MK 5011
 * Cornford MK 50H
 * Cornford RK 100
 * Cornford 4x12 Cabinet (One regular and one from the RK series.)
 * Blankenship Leeds 18w


 * Fender Super-Sonic head
 * Fender Cyber-Twin SE
 * Fender '65 Twin Reverb
 * Fender G-DEC
 * Fractal Audio Systems Axe-Fx
 * Red Wirez Guitar Cabinet IR files

Solo

 * 1982 - My Mother is a Space Cadet
 * 1986 - Havin' a Bad Day
 * 1988 - My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama
 * 1991 - Confessions
 * 2000 - Automatic
 * 2006 - Go with What You Know

With Ahmet Zappa

 * 1994 - Shampoohorn
 * 1996 - Music For Pets

With Zappa Plays Zappa

 * 2008 - Zappa Plays Zappa
 * 2010 - Return Of The Son Of...

Guest appearances

 * 1984 - Guitar solos "Stevie's Spanking" on Frank Zappa's Them or Us
 * 1984 - Guitar on Frank Zappa's You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 3 (album) on "Sharleena"
 * 1985 - Vocals on Frank Zappa's Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention
 * 1986 - Guitar solo on "Whipping Post" on Frank Zappa's ''Does Humor Belong in Music?'
 * 1988 - Winger on "Purple Haze"
 * 1990 - Guitar on Extreme's Pornograffitti on the song "He-Man Woman Hater"
 * 1993 - Lead guitar on "Dirty Love" and "Chunga's Revenge" on Zappa's Universe tribute
 * 1994 - Barks on the track "Waffenspiel" on Frank Zappa's Civilization Phaze III
 * 2000 - Guitar on Dixie Dregs's California Screamin CD performing "Peaches en Regalia"
 * 2001 - 911, on "Top of the World"
 * 2003 - "Weird Al" Yankovic's Poodle Hat album, on "Genius In France"
 * 2006 - Lead guitar on "Chunga's Revenge" and "Bavarian Sunset" on Frank Zappa's Trance-Fusion