Born in Baltimore on December 21, 1940. His family lived in the Edgewood area. In the early 1950s the Zappas moved to California where Frank began his legendary musical career.
Besides moving away prior to his musical years, he happened to forge working relationships with other Baltimoreans. Marty Perellis had been working at Motown Records where he signed Renaud’s band in 1971. By 1973 Marty was working as road manager for Zappa. He introduced drummer Chester Thompson who went on to record several albums with Zappa. Perellis was famous for his antics and was the person in the famous bear suit incident as Thompson’s attacker. Marty also brought in Smothers, owner of a limousine service in Baltimore, who went on to work as Frank’s body guard through the ‘70s and early ‘80s. He could be seen in the 1979 movie documentary “Baby Snakes.”
