Lowell George died of a heart attack on this day in 1979.

George founded Little Feat at the suggestion of Frank Zappa in 1969 after Zappa heard some of George’s songs. George was in the Mothers at the time and he took Roy Estrada Zappa’s bass player into Little Feat. The line up for Little Feat was completed by drummer Richie Hayward and Bill Payne (who had failed an audition to join the Mothers).

After a couple of albums Estrada left to work with Beefheart (strange how most posts seem to have a Beefheart/Zappa connection, well, maybe not too surprising) There were another 5 or 6 albums the most successful of which was 1978’s Waiting for Columbus. The band finnally split in early 1979.

At the time of his death George was on tour in the USA promoting his solo album Thanks, I’ll Eat it Here.