Alex St. Clair

Alex St. Clair (real name: Alex Snouffer born September 14, 1941, died January 5, 2006), was an American musician.

Twice guitarist for Captain Beefheart (real name: van Vliet), St. Clair was a contemporary of Frank Zappa at Antelope Valley Joint Union High School in Lancaster, California, where St. Clair played trumpet and Zappa played drums. They bought their first guitars within days of each other.

St. Clair's joined his first band, The Omens, around 1959; van Vliet did occasional vocals with them. St. Clair went to work around Lake Tahoe in 1964. He returned to Lancaster in 1965 and teamed up with Doug Moon, Jerry Handley, and Terry Wimberley in a blues band. After van Vliet was invited to sing with them and Vic Mortenson had been picked as drummer, the first incarnation of the Magic Band was formed. It was around this time that Snouffer changed his name to St. Clair and Vliet became Captain Beefheart. St. Clair claimed, "We changed our names because the police were after us for smuggling sponges into Nevada."St. Clair played on the band's first two albums, Safe as Milk (1967) and Strictly Personal (1968), before becoming both musically and financially disappointed after a botched European tour. Bill Harkleroad eventually took his place in the band.

St. Clair returned to music in Denny King's Boogie Band and appears on their album "Evil Wind Blowing". Surprisingly, he rejoined the Magic Band after the departure of Winged Eel Fingerling, and was with them for the Clear Spot tour of North America and Europe. St. Clair again left the band due to financial problems, as did Zoot Horn Rollo, Rockette Morton and Ed Marimba.

St. Clair was found dead in his apartment at the beginning of 2006.

The Captain Beefheart song "Carson City" is also known as "Owed t' Alex."

External links

* [http://www.beefheart.com/datharp/albums/mbmembers/snouffer_obit.htm Obituary by Steve Froy]