# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/frank-zappa
# Generated: 2026-08-31T13:54:18.252Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/frank-zappa"
name: "Frank Zappa"
slug: "frank-zappa"
description: "A self-taught composer who spent three decades pulling rock music apart and reassembling it with jazz runs, orchestral fragments, and caustic jokes about American stupidity. Zappa released over 60 albums, most of them defiantly uncategorizable, and treated censorship battles like performance art."
tagline: "American musician (1940–1993)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Zappa.jpg"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "United States"
  isoCode: "US"
category:
  name: "Musicians"
  slug: "musicians"
profileType:
  name: "Singer / Musician"
  slug: "singer"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q177220"
birthDate: "1940-12-21"
deathDate: "1993-12-04"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           77.99
  momentum:             2.429983060417843
  historical:           29.528268
  currentAttention:     11.04537754735383
  sourceConfidence:     90
  profileCompleteness:  90
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
totalFollowers: 11500
tags:
  - name: "Musicians"
    slug: "musicians"
  - name: "Singer / Musician"
    slug: "singer-musician"
  - name: "Singer-Songwriter"
    slug: "singer-songwriter"
  - name: "Classical"
    slug: "classical"
  - name: "Voice Acting"
    slug: "voice-acting"
  - name: "Music Production"
    slug: "music-production"
  - name: "Screenwriting"
    slug: "screenwriting"
  - name: "Movies"
    slug: "movies"
platforms:
  - platform:  "X"
    url:       "https://x.com/zappa"
    handle:    "zappa"
  - platform:  "FACEBOOK"
    url:       "https://www.facebook.com/Zappa"
    handle:    "Zappa"
  - platform:  "IMDB"
    url:       "https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0953261/"
    handle:    "nm0953261"
  - platform:  "SPOTIFY"
    url:       "https://open.spotify.com/artist/6ra4GIOgCZQZMOaUECftGN"
    handle:    "6ra4GIOgCZQZMOaUECftGN"
  - platform:  "WEBSITE"
    url:       "https://www.zappa.com"
  - platform:  "YOUTUBE"
    url:       "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj5ZiBBqpe0Tg4zfKGHEFuQ"
    handle:    "Frank Zappa - Topic"
    followers: 11500
sources:
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Zappa"
    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q127330"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Frank%20Zappa"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%83_%D8%B2%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%A7"
    title: "فرانك زابا"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ast.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Zappa"
    title: "Frank Zappa"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://azb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86%DA%A9_%D8%B2%D8%A7%D9%BE%D8%A7"
    title: "فرانک زاپا"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bar.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Zappa"
    title: "Frank Zappa"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A4%D1%80%D1%8D%D0%BD%D0%BA_%D0%92%D1%96%D0%BD%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%82_%D0%97%D0%B0%D0%BF%D0%B0"
    title: "Фрэнк Вінсент Запа"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A4%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BA_%D0%97%D0%B0%D0%BF%D0%B0"
    title: "Франк Запа"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A6%AB%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%B0%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AF%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%82%E0%A6%95_%E0%A6%9C%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AF%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%AA%E0%A6%BE"
    title: "ফ্র্যাংক জ্যাপা"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://br.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Zappa"
    title: "Frank Zappa"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Zappa"
    title: "Frank Zappa"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Zappa"
    title: "Frank Zappa"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ckb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86%DA%A9_%D8%B2%D8%A7%D9%BE%D8%A7"
    title: "فرانک زاپا"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Zappa"
    title: "Frank Zappa"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Zappa"
    title: "Frank Zappa"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%A6%CF%81%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%BA_%CE%96%CE%AC%CF%80%CE%B1"
    title: "Φρανκ Ζάπα"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eml.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Zappa"
    title: "Frank Zappa"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Zappa"
    title: "Frank Zappa"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Zappa"
    title: "Frank Zappa"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Zappa"
    title: "Frank Zappa"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Zappa"
    title: "Frank Zappa"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86%DA%A9_%D8%B2%D8%A7%D9%BE%D8%A7"
    title: "فرانک زاپا"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Zappa"
    title: "Frank Zappa"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ar.wikiquote.org/wiki/%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%83_%D8%B2%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%A7"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://az.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frenk_Zappa"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://bg.wikiquote.org/wiki/%D0%A4%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BA_%D0%97%D0%B0%D0%BF%D0%B0"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://ca.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frank_Zappa"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://cs.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frank_Zappa"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://musicbrainz.org/artist/e20747e7-55a4-452e-8766-7b985585082d"
    title: "MusicBrainz"
    type:  "DATABASE"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Frank Vincent Zappa was born December 21, 1940, and grew up absorbing 20th-century classical modernism, rhythm and blues, and doo-wop in equal measure. He started writing classical pieces in high school while drumming in R&B bands, then switched to guitar and formed the Mothers of Invention. Their 1966 debut Freak Out! married satirical rock songs to extended sound collages, setting the template for what he'd do for the next 27 years: improvisation, sonic experiments, and lyrics that mocked religion, schools, and politicians with surgical precision. He called the through-line across his 60-plus albums "Project/Object"—recurring musical phrases and characters that made his discography feel like one long, unruly composition. He championed free speech, hated censorship, and avoided drugs while most of his peers did the opposite. Zappa died December 4, 1993, leaving behind a body of work that divides listeners cleanly: admirers hear compositional brilliance, detractors hear cleverness without warmth.