Lowell George was born in Hollywood, California, the son of Willard H George, a furrier who raised chinchillas and supplied furs to the movie studios.
15 Facts About Lowell George
2.
Lowell George had already started to play Hampton's acoustic guitar at age 11, progressed to the electric guitar by his high school years, and later learned to play the saxophone, shakuhachi and sitar.
3.
In November 1968, Lowell George joined Zappa's Mothers of Invention as rhythm guitarist and nominal lead vocalist; he can be heard on Weasels Ripped My Flesh, Burnt Weeny Sandwich, You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol.
4.
Lowell George earned his first production credit on Permanent Damage, an album recorded by "groupie group" The GTOs.
5.
Lowell George later asserted that "he performed no real function in the band" and left the group in May 1969 under nebulous circumstances.
6.
Lowell George claimed to have played uncredited guitar on Hot Rats.
7.
Lowell George was a producer, and produced the Grateful Dead's 1978 album Shakedown Street, as well as Little Feat's records and his own 1979 solo album Thanks, I'll Eat It Here; he co-produced a couple of tracks on Valerie Carter's 1977 release Just A Stone's Throw Away.
8.
Lowell George contributed to Barbara Keith's 1972 self-titled debut, John Cale's Paris 1919, Happy End's Happy End, Bonnie Raitt's Takin' My Time, Harry Nilsson's Son of Schmilsson, James Taylor's Gorilla, The Meters' Rejuvenation, John Sebastian's Tarzana Kid and Jackson Browne's The Pretender.
9.
Lowell George led an overindulgent lifestyle of binge eating, alcoholism and speedballs, and he became morbidly obese in the last years of his life, weighing 308 pounds.
10.
On June 15,1979, Lowell George began a tour in support of his solo album, Thanks I'll Eat it Here.
11.
On June 29, the morning after an appearance at Washington, DC's Lisner Auditorium, where the bulk of Waiting for Columbus had been recorded in 1977, Lowell George collapsed and died of a heart attack in his Arlington, Virginia, hotel room at the Twin Bridges Marriott.
12.
Lowell George's ashes were flown back to Los Angeles, where they were scattered from his fishing boat into the Pacific Ocean.
13.
Everybody in the band shared a cheese pizza but Lowell George bought a large pizza with everything on it, carried it to the back of the bus, and he ate the entire pizza by himself.
14.
Lowell George met Susan Taylor during his days with The Factory.
15.
Lowell George was stepfather to Levy's son Jed Levy from her previous marriage to Tom Levy.