Pauline Butcher

Pauline Butcher & FZ

Pauline Butcher (after her marriage "Pauline Bird") was Zappa's secretary from 1968 to 1972. She was hired during The Mothers first European tour to translate the lyrics from Absolutely Free. Her naivety in the music world (such as asking Eric Clapton what instrument he played.) appealed to FZ and he asked her to work as his secretary. She moved out to The Log Cabin where, amongst her many duties, she ran the United Mutations fan club.

Ill health forced her return to England in 1972. She has since worked as a teacher and a writer for theatre and radio.

On September 14, 2001 she released her autobiography, Freak Out! My Life with Frank Zappa.

Relating books, articles

• FZ in The Real Frank Zappa Book: "The residents at that time included my wife, Gail; my secretary, Pauline Butcher; our road manager, Dick Barber; Pamela Zarubica; Ian Underwood; Motorhead Sherwood; and a girl named Christine Frka - the woman on the cover of the Hot Rats album crawling out of the crypt."

• She ismentioned in My Brother Is an Italian Mother (Jazz & Pop, 1968, C. R. Zappa).

• A 2005 interview Me and Frank - Pauline Bird remembers her time with "musical mystery Frank Zappa in the 1960s". - article on bbc.co.uk.

• A 2011 interview http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/oct/03/frank-zappa-women