Frank Zappa's Widow Gail Zappa Dead at 70
Source: Rolling Stone
Gail Zappa, wife of Frank Zappa and executrix of the Zappa Family Trust, has died. She was 70. A cause of death has not been revealed, though TMZ reported she had had a long battle with lung cancer. Zappa, "departed this earth peacefully at her home . . . surrounded by her children," according to a statement from the Zappa Family Trust.
"Gail will forever be identified as a key figure in the creative renaissance that is Laurel Canyon," the statement says. "But more than any singular accomplishment, she defined herself in her personal relationships, happiest when surrounded by loved ones and artists, often one in the same. The memories she leaves behind are indeed her own art form. Her searing intelligence, unforgettable smile, wild thicket of hair and trailing black velvets leave a blur in her wake.
After her prolific husband died of prostate cancer in 1993, Gail kept Frank's recordings in the public, putting out dozens upon dozens of posthumous albums and judiciously licensing his image where appropriate. Earlier this year, the Zappa family announced that the couple's son Ahmet would be taking the reins on the Trust.
Gail, whose full maiden name was Adelaide Gail Sloatman, was born on January 1st, 1945, the daughter of a nuclear weapons research physicist with the U.S. Navy, according to Zappa biographer Barry Miles. She lived with her family in London as a teenager and got a job as a secretary for the Office of Naval Research and Development rather than attend college. She met Doors frontman Jim Morrison at a very young age, in kindergarten, since they both had high-ranking naval officials for fathers; Frank once told a story that she hit Morrison over the head with a hammer. She eventually moved to New York, where she attended the Fashion Institute of Technology, in the mid-Sixties and immersed herself in the music scene before hitchhiking to Los Angeles with a friend.
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/frank-zappas-widow-gail-zappa-dead-at-70-20151007
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