Jimmy Carl Black, former drummer in Frank Zappa's The Mothers Of Invention, has died at the age of seventy. He had been suffering from lung cancer, and his death on Saturday in Germany was confirmed by British musician Roddie Gilliard, who performed with him.
Born James Inkanish Jr in El Paso, Texas, Black was of Cheyenne heritage. He began his career playing backing music for strippers, before moving on to play in an LA band called Soul Giants; it was this group that Zappa took over and renamed The Mothers Of Invention. According to Black, Zappa told them "if you guys learn my music, I'll make you rich and famous", but, adds Black, "he took care of half of that promise, because I'm damn sure I didn't get rich". During this time the band he became known for the line, ad-libbed on the band's third album, "Hi, boys and girls. I'm Jimmy Carl Black and I'm the Indian of the group".
After The Mothers Of Invention disbanded in 1969, Black fell on hard times. He played in a rock and blues band, Geronimo Black for a while, but the band failed, and by 1972, Black was working in a doughnut shop in Texas. He went on, however, to work with Captain Beefhart, as well as working with Zappa again, and moved to Europe in the early nineties, where he found enough work to continue with a musical career.
He's survived by his third wife Monika, three sons and three daughters.