Dweezil Zappa

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

He is the son of musical composer and performer Frank Zappa.

Exposed to the music industry from an early age, Zappa developed a strong affinity for playing the guitar and producing music.

Able to learn directly from guitarists such as Steve Vai and Eddie Van Halen, Zappa released his first single (produced by Eddie Van Halen) at the age of 12.

In addition to writing and recording his own music, Zappa has carried on the legacy of his father's music by touring with the group Zappa Plays Zappa.

The band features renditions of Zappa's original material and the lineup has often included Zappa alumni such as Napoleon Murphy Brock, Steve Vai, Terry Bozzio and others.

Dweezil Zappa was born on September 5, 1969, in Los Angeles, California to Frank Zappa and Gail Zappa.

He is the second of four siblings: his older sister, Moon, younger sister Diva and younger brother Ahmet, and 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 ancestry.

Dweezil's registered birth name was Ian Donald Calvin Euclid Zappa.

The nurse at the hospital at which he was born refused to register him under the name Dweezil, to the point of arguing with Gail in the delivery room about it.

Rattled at this turn of events, Frank rapidly listed the names of several musician friends, and the nurse added all of them to the birth certificate.

"Dweezil" was a nickname coined by Frank for a funny-looking pinky toe of Gail's. At the age of five years, 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.

In the 1980s, Zappa worked as an MTV VJ and was promptly fired after badmouthing MTV on The Howard Stern Show (also, he had his father Frank Zappa co-hosting, who said that it would be okay for young Republicans to kill themselves after a Suicide PSA).

He also recorded some solo albums, as well as playing for other artists.

Zappa can be heard playing lead guitar on the 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".

He also had a part in the futuristic Arnold Schwarzenegger film The Running Man as Stevie ("Don't touch that dial!"), and gave his most famous cameo role in John Hughes's Brat Pack film, Pretty in Pink, as Andie's friend, Simon.

Since the 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.

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 & 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").

For his 1991 album Confessions, Zappa recorded a cover of the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive" which featured vocals by Ozzy Osbourne.

However, due to Osbourne's label refusing to allow the feature, the vocals were re-recorded by Donny Osmond, who was signed to the same label as Zappa.

The version with Osbourne's vocals later appeared on Osbourne's box set Prince of Darkness.

In 1998, Zappa played music agent John Kaplan in the Warner Bros. family comedy Jack Frost.

In 1999, Dweezil, alongside his brother, Ahmet Zappa, starred in a show featuring celebrities, bands and dance troupe called Happy Hour which debuted April 3, 1999, on the USA Network.

The show lasted for one season despite its success due to a copyright dispute over the title of the show.

To promote the show, he and Ahmet appeared briefly on the World Wrestling Federation's Rage Party, held the night prior to WrestleMania XV.

In "Weird Al" Yankovic's 2003 eleventh studio album Poodle Hat, Zappa performs the opening guitar solo and sings on the track, "Genius in France".

Zappa 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 Eddie 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 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 have followed each year since 2007.