Van Vliet had retired from music in the early 1980s and had lived a reclusive existence for the last few years, with constant rumors of deteriorating health.

An early associate and friend of Frank Zappa's Van Vliet became a critically lauded performer and recording artist after his Zappa-produced breakthrough album Trout Mask Replica.

He was the crucial link between the "Old Weird America" of the Depression-era blues and the '80s surrealism of Beefheart-influenced artists like Tom Waits and David Lynch.

If you cared about music in a deep and visceral way, Beefheart and his work were inescapable in the last few decades (every musician you respect, most likely worshiped him). For the larger musical audience, he was much less visible. I told someone I know just now "Beefheart died" and he asked "The guy who played with Zappa?"

For many of us, Zappa (no disrepect to the Great Frank) was the guy who played with Beefheart.
A great loss for American art--no question.

A video gallery to remember Captain Beefheart: