Don Van Vliet (, born Don Glen Vliet ;

Noted for his powerful singing voice with its wide range, Van Vliet also played the harmonica, saxophone and numerous other wind instruments.

During his teen years in Lancaster, California, Van Vliet developed an eclectic musical taste and formed " a mutually useful but volatile " friendship with Frank Zappa, with whom he sporadically competed and collaborated.

Van Vliet has been described as " one of modern music's true innovators " with " a singular body of work virtually unrivalled in its daring and fluid creativity ".

Known for his enigmatic personality and relationship with the public, Van Vliet made few public appearances after his retirement from music ( and from his Beefheart persona ) in 1982.

Van Vliet died in 2010, having suffered from multiple sclerosis for many years.

Van Vliet was born Don Glen Vliet in Glendale, California, on January 15, 1941, to Glen Alonzo Vliet, a service station owner of Dutch ancestry from Kansas, and Willie Sue Vliet ( née Warfield ), who was from Arkansas.

He claimed to have as an ancestor Peter Van Vliet, a Dutch painter who knew Rembrandt.

Van Vliet also claimed that he was related to adventurer and author Richard Halliburton and the cowboy actor Slim Pickens, and said that he remembered being born.

Van Vliet began painting and sculpting at age three.

For some time during the 1950s Van Vliet worked as an apprentice with Rodrigues, who considered him a child prodigy.

Van Vliet later admitted personal hesitation to take the scholarship based upon the bitterness of his parents ' disencouragement.

Van Vliet remained interested in art ; his paintings, often reminiscent of Franz Kline's, were later featured on several of his own albums.

Van Vliet claimed that he never attended public school, alleging " half a day of kindergarten " to be the extent of his formal education and saying that " if you want to be a different fish, you've got to jump out of the school.

While attending Antelope Valley High School in Lancaster, Van Vliet became close friends with fellow teenager Frank Zappa, the pair bonding through their interest in Chicago blues and R & B.

Van Vliet is portrayed in both The Real Frank Zappa Book and Barry Miles ' biography Zappa as fairly spoiled at this stage of his life, the center of attention as an only child.

After Zappa began regular occupation at Paul Buff's PAL Studio in Cucamonga he and Van Vliet began collaborating, tentatively as " The Soots ".

" In a 1970 interview with Rolling Stone, Van Vliet requests " don't ask me why or how " he and Zappa came up with the name.

Van Vliet enrolled at Antelope Valley Junior College as an art major, but decided to leave the following year.

" After managing a Kinney's shoe store, Van Vliet relocated to Rancho Cucamonga, California, to reconnect with Zappa, who inspired his entry into musical performance.

Van Vliet was quite shy but was eventually able to imitate the deep voice of Howlin ' Wolf with his wide vocal range.

An analytic philosopher, Rorty believed that combining Willard Van Orman Quine's criticism of the analytic-synthetic distinction with Wilfrid Sellars's critique of the " Myth of the Given " allowed for an abandonment of the view of the thought or language as a mirror of a reality or external world.

Van Basten famously dropped regulars like Clarence Seedorf, Patrick Kluivert, Edgar Davids and Roy Makaay and benched Mark van Bommel, because he believed that they were either past their prime or constantly underachieving.

Dawn chorus is believed to be caused by high-energy electrons that get caught in the Van Allen radiation belt.

Van Pelt and Cunningham believed the cat was probably a large feline, such as a Jaguar, Leopard or Mountain Lion.

He is believed to have had access to the Royal Collection and to have copied works by Titian and Anthony Van Dyck, the court painter of King Charles I of England.

The altar-piece, the Assumption, was often attributed to Anthony van Dyck, though in reality it is by Van Sulden ; whilst the painting over the side altar, believed to be by Peter Paul Rubens.

Although U. S. Army Major Jefferson Van Horne is believed to have passed near the area in 1849 on his way to take command of what would later become Fort Bliss, the town is instead named for Lt. James Judson Van Horn who commanded an army garrison at the Van Horn Wells beginning in 1859.

Actor-director Jerry Paris was inspired to create the character of Mork after directing an unusual and memorable episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show in which van Dyke's Rob Petrie believed the Earth had been surreptitiously invaded by walnut-eating aliens who stole humans ' thumbs and imaginations.

Van Sant originally believed Clarke's title referred to the story of several blind men trying to describe an elephant and each one drawing different conclusions based on which body part they were touching.

Van Duin believed that the dam would breach within the next 10 or 20 years.

Van Egmond became increasingly disgruntled at what he perceived as the Canada Company's failure to expend obligated amounts of money from the Huron Tract Improvement Fund for the development of local roads and other infrastructure, as well as at what he believed was the company's disregard for the general well-being of the arriving settlers.

Hanging beside his lovely black and white marble chimney-piece in the Princess ' Room is a painting which is believed to be a preliminary sketch for the famous Van Dyck portrait " Children of Charles I.

Clay believed the Democrats would again nominate Martin Van Buren, who was ardently opposed to annexation, and this would keep annexation from becoming an issue in the campaign.

The Van Alstynes collaborated on the production of a hymnal featuring only hymns written by them, but it was rejected by Biglow and Main, ostensibly because the directors believed the public would not buy a hymnal featuring only two composers, but probably due to the complexity of the melodies.

" Asked if he would be going to heaven or hell, Van Der Beek said that he had " always believed that each religion is a little bit right and a little bit wrong.

It is noted that Van Helsing had encountered Apocalypse before and previously believed him a vampire.

In 1999 Van der Sar's stature of being one of Europe's top goalkeepers drew attention from Manchester United after the departure of Peter Schmeichel, however Van der Sar moved to Italian club Juventus for a fee believed to be worth around £ 5 million.

On the Court, Roberts was a swing vote between those, led by Justices Louis Brandeis, Benjamin Cardozo, and Harlan Fiske Stone, as well as Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, who would allow a broader interpretation of the Commerce Clause to allow Congress to pass New Deal legislation that would provide for a more active federal role in the national economy, and the Four Horsemen ( Justices James Clark McReynolds, Pierce Butler, George Sutherland, and Willis Van Devanter ) who favored a narrower interpretation of the Commerce Clause and believed that the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause protected a strong " liberty of contract.

Shapley believed that spiral galaxies weren't systems equal to the Milky Way and in one of his arguments he used the results of Van Maanen, who measured the rotation of the spiral arms of spiral galaxies.

He has said Brown believed Van Patter was about to " blow the whistle " on the misappropriation of funds by certain party members and according to Mother Jones magazine, the Black Panther Party is “ almost universally believed to be responsible ”.