Who Was Ricky Lancelotti?

Ricky Lancelotti was a musician that was featured on many songs in Frank Zappa’s band. He is most notably known (in my opinion) as the voice of the Zomby Woof on the song of the same name.

Ricky was born in New Jersey, on August 25^th, 1944 (though some records state that he was born on August 23^rd) as Anthony Richard Lancelotti. Not much seem to be known of his early life. Between 1965-66, he went by the name ‘Ricky Lancelot’, and released several singles for RCA Records, unsuccessfully. During this time, he also appeared on the show ‘Shindig’, a music series on ABC-TV; he was the in-house singer. Ricky also sang on the show ‘The Banana Splits’ (a late 60’s early 70’s kid’s show), as one of the unaccredited lead vocalists, he also appeared on the album released in 1968 for the show.

The Banana Splits Theme:

The Banana Splits-Doin’ The Banana Split:

I’m Gonna Find a Cave: 

 

With Zappa, Lancelotti is featured on the albums, ‘Over-nite Sensation’, ‘The Lost Episodes’, and ‘Lather’. As stated before, Lancelotti was on the song ‘Zomby Woof’. He also features on ‘Fifty-Fifty’, ‘Wonderful Wino’ on the lost tapes (the original version of the song? The final version is on Zoot Allures. I prefer Lancelotti’s vocals better honestly.)

Zomby Woof:

 

Fifty-Fifty: 

 

Wonderful Wino:

 

On April 7^th, 1980, Lancelotti passed away at the age of 35. Wikipedia doesn’t list a cause of death. It barely touches on the time that he spent with Zappa. Wiki Jawaka almost doesn’t talk about him all.

[Anecdotal]

 When I first got into Zappa in my teens, ‘Zomby Woof’ was one of the songs that I played constantly, especially on trips to other high schools on my debate trips. Lancelotti had a voice that was very distinct, and I noticed that it was missing in the later albums by Zappa. Since I knew that Zappa had a plethora of musicians that worked with him, I figured that this unique voice had perhaps went on to do other things. It wasn’t until many years later, that I read he had passed away.

The saddest part to me, is that with such a unique and strong voice, Lancelotti has relatively little known about him. Yes, 1980 is almost 40 years ago now, but he was also on one of Zappa’s most famous albums. It always interested me how there was relatively nothing said about him, even in 2019 internet.

Thankfully, through the power of the internet, I found some information earlier this year that talks a bit more about what happened to him.

[/Anecdotal]

On this google group link ( https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.fan.frank-zappa/Ix71sn_dEEo ), a person asked about Lancelotti, curious about him much like I was. Interestingly, this question was first post in 1995… I didn’t realize that google groups were that old. The initial question was posted in 1995, 15 years after Ricky’s death. A person responded, saying that Lancelotti “auditioned, passed, was in the band for a couple weeks, and flunked out.” under what is presumed to have been drug or alcohol use. Unfortunately, the user said that Lancelotti OD’s sometime later in the 70’s or 80’s (I’m assuming they didn’t know his exact date of death). 

Way over a decade later, really, almost 20 years later, a person replied to the google group message, and stated that they were Lancelotti’s only son, having been born in 1965. They claimed that their mother was his girlfriend, and Lancelotti crashed his car in 1980 after having overdosing on drugs, on Mulhulland Road. They also posted that Ricky was a great artist, had eating disorders and substance abuse problems, and was sidelined instead of getting an intervention that he needed, and that Zappa actually cared for Ricky.

 Three years after that a person replied to the alleged son of Lancelotti, stating the poster was a poser-not really Lancelotti’s son. The final person stated that Ricky was their cousin, and he passed away way too soon. The final poster goes on to say that Ricky was in their parents’ wedding, and while he does have a son, the previous person was not them.

On the United Mutations website, it talks a bit more about Lancelotti. He recorded with Zappa in 1973, on the albums mentioned above. It also talks a little about the liner notes of The Lost Episode’s version of ‘Wonderful Wino’, which said, “The version of this song is especially notable for the presence of one of the most powerful and disctinctive singers to perform with any Zappa band, the late Ricky Lancelotti.”

Frank himself had said, “"He auditioned for the band, passed, went home and got ripped, and broke his arm. I said 'Rick, you're not going to make the tour.' He used to carry a .45. He had a cassette in which he imitated 100 cartoon voices in 60 seconds. I thought he was really talented. He wanted to get work as a cartoon voice guy, but never did. O.D.'d. An old New Jersey tough guy."

In the final paragraph, it talked about a time in 1972 at the Hollywood Palladium MOI concert, where Ricky and Frank did a bit where Frank would move his hand like a mouth, and Lancelotti would magically appear on stage and begin “bellowing”.

At the bottom of the page, there are recollections of Ricky, where people who either played with him, lived with him, or were related to him, talked about his life. 

In the end, Ricky Lancelotti seemed to be a happy and fun person, who may have overindulged himself a bit. It is extremely unfortunate that he passed away that he did, and that it is still so hard to find much more about him. He had many friends and family that seemed to love him, and enjoy being around him . It honestly saddens me that he passed away the way he did. I respect his music greatly, and am now finding myself listening to The Banana Splits music, just to hear him. While I know no-one will read this, I just personally want to thank the people out there who took the time to talk about him in the past. It keeps his memory alive. 

Photo Courtesy of Find of Grave

Ricky Lancelotti is buried in San Fernando Mission Cemetery, in Mission Hills, California.

video: https://youtu.be/ejWD5-Dszkg

[SOURCES]

united mutations

wikipedia

wiki jawaka