Lowell George

(April, 13th, 1945 - June, 29th, 1979)

Lowell George first encountered Frank Zappa when they were children appearing on the Al Jarvis Talent Show on KLAC-TV - George performing on harmonica in a duo with his brother and Zappa gave a puppet performance. Neither won.

In the mid 1960's Lowell George|George]] joined The Factory along with school friend Martin Kibbee. They made some demos with Zappa but never achieved much successs. While the other members of The Factory evolved in Fraternity Of Man George joined The Standells as lead vocalist.

He and was hired by FZ to replace Ray Collins. In Lowell's words "no-one can replace Ray. He's a singer par excellence...I guess Frank thought I could sing." What Lowell could do was play guitar, something the world would discover soon enough. Lowell George provided guitar and/or vocal for Hot Rats (uncredited), Burnt Weeny Sandwich, Weasels Ripped My Flesh, You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 1, You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 4, and You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 5. He can be seen in the Zappa movie "Uncle Meat (The Film)".

After leaving The Mothers he formed Little Feat with Roy Estrada. His pre Mothers recordings, with the band The Factory, were released in 1993 on the FZ produced Lightning-Rod Man CD.

From an interview in the March 1975 issue of Zigzag - Lowell George:

I got into The Mothers to replace Ray - an impossible job, because no-one can replace Ray. He's a singer par excellence and has a sense of humour that I couldn't hope to get near. He did amazing things, very very funny things. Well I wound up playing more guitar than singing. I was initially hired to be the singer because I guess Frank thought I could sing, but I really ended up playing more guitar than singing. We wound up doing a lot more instrumental stuff. I appeared on a couple of albums although I didn't get credited for the albums I appeared on, I got credited on other albums, because at that period everything was sort of in a state of flux that those moments were never chronicled. No-one ever scribed who did what and when. I sang on WPLJ [a song not (from 'Weasels') but on Burnt Weeny Sandwich], and I played on Hot Rats, and I sang something else. I wasn't on Uncle Meat although my photograph was. Very strange things occurred at that period. I'm also on the 12-album set that Frank planned to release. I think I have half a side. I do a border guard routine. I'm a German border guard interviewing people as they cross the border. And I think I play one long relatively lame guitar solo, almost half a side. One of these days Frank will put that thing out - the Xmas album – that was when it was supposed to be for awhile. But nobody will take it. Nobody wants a 12-album set. It'll probably cost 30 bucks or something, and not many people will want to spend 30 bucks on a 12-album set of the history of The Mothers Of Invention. What he might do is make it a limited edition.