原名Don Van Vliet的Captain Beefheart是现代音乐真正的改革者之一。他拥有惊人的四个半八度的音域、独树一帜的节奏感和荒谬主义的歌词，同时他还拥有一种邪恶的乐感，借此，他把自由爵士、三角洲布鲁斯、晚期的古典音乐和早期摇滚乐融合成了一种充满创造性和大胆想象的新音乐。虽然他从未接近过主流市场，也基本没卖出过几张唱片，但他所带来的冲击却是无法估量的，在后来的朋克、新浪潮和后朋克潮流中到处可以感受到他所留下的影响。

Van Vliet四岁时就因天赋禀异得到了葡萄牙雕刻家Augustinio Rodriguez的注意，他被称为是一个神童。1954年，他得到了一份去欧洲学习的奖学金，但他的父母拒绝了，相反，他的家迁居到了摩哈维沙漠，在那里，他得到了年轻的Frank Zappa向朋友一样的关心和对待。在那时，Van Vliet自学了萨克斯和口琴，并加入了当地的两支节奏布鲁斯乐队。在Van Vliet上了大学以后，只过了一个学期，他便与Zappa跑到了加州的Cucamonga，在那里他与Zappa计划拍摄一部名为《Captain Beefheart Meets the Grunt People》的电影，但后来此事不了了之，Zappa最后去洛杉矶成立了著名的Mothers of Invention乐队，Van Vliet则回到了摩哈维地区，将Captain Beefheart作为自己的艺名，并于1964年成立了自己的第一支伴奏乐队the Magic Band。

最初的the Magic Band是一支布鲁斯摇滚风格的乐队，在形态上还比较大众化，所以得以与A&M签约，并成功地推出了单曲“Diddy Wah Diddy”，这也为他们录制一张专辑提供了机会。但当唱片公司的老板Jerry Moss听过“Frying Pan”、“Electricity”和“Zig Zag Wanderer”这些歌以后，却以“太消极”为由拒绝为其出版，深受打击的Beefheart于是找了个地方隐居了起来。1967年，在对乐队人员进行了调整之后，乐队将那些歌曲重新剪辑成了《Safe as Milk》，然而制作人Bob Krasnow未经乐队同意便将其重新混音改头换面为为迷幻风格的《Strictly Personal》，这导致心灰意冷的Beefheart再次隐居了起来。幸好Zappa在此时成立了自己的Straight唱片公司，他找到了Beefheart，并答应他享有百分之百的创作自由，于是“牛心”中又燃起了壮志雄心。他在九个小时内疯狂地创作了28首歌，并以全新的人员重新组成了最终定型的Magic Band。1969年，意义重大的双张专辑《Trout Mask Replica》发行，之后是1970年同样惊世骇俗的《Lick My Decals Off，Baby》。然而在1972年发行的《The Spotlight Kid and Clear Spot》中，Beefheart采用了比较商业化的音色。不久，the Magic Band解散组成了另一支乐队Mallard，Beefheart则被他的东家Reprise搁置了起来。经过两年的休息，Beefheart和新的但短命的the Magic Band又发行了两张流行布鲁斯专辑《Unconditionally Guaranteed》和《Bluejeans and Moonbeams》，接下来又是另一段假期。1978年的《Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)》则标志着他又回归于早期佳作里的那种古怪的风格。1982年的《Ice Cream for Crow》发行后，Beefheart再次从音乐圈归隐山林，但这次是因为一个好的想法：他回到了沙漠中，以拖车为家，专注于绘画创作。1985年，他举办了他的第一次大型画展，抽象原始的风格令人想起了Francis Bacon。就像他的音乐一样，他的画作也受到了广泛的赞誉，有的作品甚至以25000美元的高价售出。进入九十年代，因为身患多种硬化症，Beefheart消失在人们的视野中，但还是发行了五张一套的盒装选辑《Grow Fins》和以及双张精选《The Dust Blows Forward》。

Born Don Vliet, Captain Beefheart was one of modern musics true innovators. The owner of a remarkable four-and-one-half octave vocal range, he employed idiosyncratic rhythms, absurdist lyrics and an unholy alliance of free jazz, Delta blues, latter-day classical music and rock & roll to create a singular body of work virtually unrivalled in its daring and fluid creativity. While he never came even remotely close to mainstream success, Beefhearts impact was incalculable, and his fingerprints were all over punk, new wave and post-rock.

Don Vliet was born January 15, 1941 in Glendale, California (he changed his name to Van Vliet in the early 60s). At the age of four, his artwork brought him to the attention of Portuguese sculptor Augustinio Rodriguez, and Vliet was declared a child prodigy. In 1954, he was offered a scholarship to study in Europe; his parents declined the proposal, however, and the family instead moved to the Mojave Desert, where the teen was befriended by a young Frank Zappa. In time Vliet taught himself saxophone and harmonica, and joined a pair of local R&B groups, the Omens and the Blackouts.

After a semester at college, he and Zappa moved to Cucamonga, California, where they planned to shoot a film, Captain Beefheart Meets the Grunt People. As the project remained in limbo, Zappa finally moved to Los Angeles, where he founded the Mothers of Invention; Van Vliet later returned to the Mojave area, adopted the Beefheart name and formed the first lineup of his backing group the Magic Band with guitarists Alex St. Clair and Doug Moon, bassist Jerry Handley and drummer Paul Blakely in 1964.

In their original incarnation, the Magic Band were a blues-rock outfit who became staples of the teen-dance circuit; they quickly signed to A&M Records, where the success of the single Diddy Wah Diddy earned them the opportunity to record a full-length album. Comprised of Van Vliet compositions like Frying Pan, Electricity and Zig Zag Wanderer, label president Jerry Moss rejected the completed record as too negative, and a crushed Beefheart went into seclusion. After replacing Moon and Blakely with guitarist Antennae Jimmy Semens (born Jeff Cotton) and drummer John Drumbo French, the group (fleshed out by guitarist Ry Cooder) recut the songs in 1967 as Safe as Milk.

After producer Bob Krasnow radically remixed 1968s hallucinatory Strictly Personal without Beefhearts approval, he again retired. At the same time, however, Zappa formed his own , Straight Records, and he soon approached Van Vliet with the promise of complete creative control; a deal was struck and after writing 28 songs in a nine-hour frenzy, Beefheart formed the definitive lineup of the Magic Band — made up of Semens, Drumbo, guitarist Zoot Horn Rollo (born Bill Harkleroad), bassist Rockette Morton (Mark Boston) and bass clarinetist the Mascara Snake (Victor Fleming) — to record the seminal 1969 double album Trout Mask Replica.

Following 1970s similarly outre Lick My Decals Off, Baby, Beefheart adopted an almost commercial sound for the 1972 releases The Spotlight Kid and Clear Spot. Shortly thereafter, the Magic Band broke off to form Mallard, and Beefheart was dropped by his label, Reprise. After a two-year layoff, he released a pair of pop-blues albums, Unconditionally Guaranteed and Bluejeans and Moonbeams, with a new, short-lived Magic Band; following another fallow period, 1978s Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) marked a return to the eccentricities of his finest work.

After 1982s Ice Cream for Crow, Van Vliet again retired from music, this time for good; he returned to the desert, took up residence in a trailer and focused on painting. In 1985, he mounted the first major exhibit of his work, done in an abstract, primitive style reminiscent of Francis Bacon. Like his music, his art won wide acclaim, and some of his paintings sold for as much as $25,000. In the 1990s Van Vliet dropped completely from sight when he fell prey to multiple sclerosis; however, releases like 1999s five-disc Grow Fins box set and the two-disc anthology The Dust Blows Forward maintained his prominence.