Gail Zappa

Adelaide Gail Zappa (née Sloatman; January 1, 1945 – October 7, 2015) was the widow of musician and composer Frank Zappa and the Trustee of the Zappa Family Trust. They met in 1966 through mutual friend Bobby Jameson in Los Angeles, and they were married on September 21, 1967, while she was pregnant with her first child, Moon Zappa. The marriage also produced children Dweezil Zappa, Ahmet Zappa and Diva Zappa. She was an aunt to model/actress Lala Sloatman. She made a very brief appearance with musician boyfriend Bobby Jameson in the 1967 documentary film Mondo Hollywood in 1965 or 1966 before she met her future husband.

Spouse: Frank Zappa (m. 1967; d. 1993)

Children:

Moon Zappa

Dweezil Zappa

Ahmet Zappa

Diva Zappa

Management of the Zappa Family Trust

Since Frank Zappa's death in 1993, Gail Zappa oversaw the release of his recordings, including multiple previously unavailable works, under the Zappa Family Trust. The trust holds title and copyright to Frank Zappa's musical and artistic products, as well as his commercial image.

Lawsuit

In 2008, the Zappa Family Trust sued the organizers of the Zappanale Festival, held outside Bad Doberan, Germany, demanding they change the name of the festival, remove their promotional posters (which contained an allegedly trademarked moustache similar to Frank Zappa's) and remove the statue of him that has stood in the city center since 2002. In January 2009 the court found in Zappanale's favor after their defense argued that as the Zappa Family Trust only sells products on the Internet and accepts only U.S. dollars they had not effectively exercised their trademarks in Germany for more than five years. The court also ruled that the use of the moustache was sufficiently different in Zappanale's merchandise so as not to cause confusion between the two.

Death

Gail Zappa died in Los Angeles on October 7, 2015. Rolling Stone and TMZ reported that she died following "a long battle with lung cancer".