Napoleon Murphy Brock
Napoleon Murphy Brock (born April 23, 1943) is an American singer, saxophonist and flute player who is best known for his work with Frank Zappa in the 1970s, including the albums Apostrophe ('), Roxy & Elsewhere, One Size Fits All, and Bongo Fury. He contributed notable vocal performances to the Zappa songs "Village of the Sun," "Cheepnis," and "Florentine Pogen."
Also recorded as Napoleon M. Brock
Napoleon Murphy Brock

Jazmin Million · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Name
- Napoleon Murphy Brock
- Birthplace
- San Jose, California, U.S.
- Born
- 23 April 1943
- Occupation
- Musician, songwriter, record producer
- Nationality
- United States
- Fields
- rock music · popular music · experimental music · rhythm and blues · jazz
- Honours
- Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q283061 · wikipedia · Napoleon Murphy Brock
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Napoleon Murphy Brock • Birth Name — Napoleon Murphy Brock • Birthplace — San Jose, California, U.S. • Born — 23 April 1943 • Instrument — Vocals, saxophone, flute, clarinet, guitar, synthesizer bass, Fender Rhodes • Genre — Experimental music, rock, R&B, jazz, pop • Occupation — Musician, songwriter, record producer • Associated Acts — Frank Zappa, Zappa Plays Zappa, George Duke, Captain Beefheart, The Grandmothers of Invention, The Stinkfoot Orchestra
Career
Career
• Illustration — 2006 Zappa Plays Zappa concert Brock's musical career began in the San Francisco South Bay Area in the late 1960s with a seven and eight piece band he had organized named "Communication Plus". He was the lead singer, songwriter, and arranger of the band's strongly R&B-influenced rock performances. He also played the saxophone and flute. He played in a variety of local clubs including The Brass Rail, The Mecca, and Gary R. Schmidt's, The Odyssey Room. He was discovered playing for a dance band in Hawaii in the early 1970s by Zappa's road manager. The participation of George Duke and Jean-Luc Ponty convinced Brock to join the band as lead singer. Brock's numerous performances with Zappa include the role of the "Evil Prince" on the Thing-Fish album. He has also performed with George Duke, Captain Beefheart and more recently with Neonfire and. He remains a regular performer at Zappanale. Brock appeared in the 2005 film Rock School, a documentary about The Paul Green School of Rock Music, an extracurricular music program that he and Project/Object have closely supported for several years. In 2006, he toured with Frank Zappa's son Dweezil on the latter's Zappa Plays Zappa shows. He also regularly tours with fellow Zappa alumnus Ike Willis and others with Andre Cholmondeley's Project/Object. Other Zappa related projects in which he has been involved include the Tampa, Florida based band Bogus Pomp, and the 16 piece Ed Palermo Big Band from New York City.
Solo albums
Solo albums
• Year — Album — Credit • 2002 — Balls — Flute, piano, keyboards, alto sax, tenor sax, vocals, whistle (human), producer, harmony vocals, Fender Rhodes, synthesizer bass, screams
Appearances on Zappa albums
Appearances on Zappa albums
• Year — Album — Credit • 1974 — Apostrophe (') — Saxophone, vocals • 1974 — Roxy & Elsewhere — Tenor sax, flute, lead vocals, co-writer of Dummy Up • 1975 — One Size Fits All — Flute and tenor sax, lead vocals on Florentine Pogen and Andy, background vocals on other tunes, flute on Inca Roads • 1975 — Bongo Fury — Saxophone, vocals • 1976 — Zoot Allures — Saxophone, vocals • 1979 — Sleep Dirt — Saxophone • 1979 — Sheik Yerbouti — Saxophone, vocals, background vocals • 1984 — Them or Us — Guitar, saxophone, vocals, harmony vocals • 1984 — Thing-Fish — Saxophone, vocals, cast • 1988 — You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 1 — Saxophone, vocals • 1988 — You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 2 — Saxophone, vocals • 1989 — You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 3 — Saxophone, vocals • 1991 — You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 4 — Saxophone, vocals • 1991 — You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 6 — Saxophone, vocals • 1996 — Frank Zappa Plays the Music of Frank Zappa: A Memorial Tribute • 1997 — Have I Offended Someone? • 2002 — FZ:OZ — Tenor saxophone, vocals
Appearances on George Duke albums
Appearances on George Duke albums
• Year — Album — Credit • 1976 — Liberated Fantasies — Vocals • 1978 — Don't Let Go — Vocals • 1979 — Follow the Rainbow — Vocals • 1979 — Master of the Game — Vocals

Napoleon Murphy Brock a Zappa Plays Zappa 2006-os koncertjén (Petőfi Csarnok)
Marosi Bálint
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1943
Napoleon Murphy Brock born.
Film
Brock has appeared in several Zappa documentaries and movies. They include: • Baby Snakes (background) • The Dub Room Special • A Token of His Extreme • The Amazing Mr. Bickford (on a television screen in the background) • The True Story of Frank Zappa's 200 Motels (background) • Roxy the Movie [DVD, 2015] • Cheaper Than Cheep [2025]
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q283061: Napoleon Murphy Brock
Reputable secondary · Wikidata
- “Napoleon Murphy Brock”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority file
Grammy Award
At the 51st Grammy Awards on February 8, 2009, Napoleon won a Grammy for his performance of the song "Peaches en Regalia" with the band Zappa Plays Zappa, which also featured Steve Vai and Dweezil Zappa. The song originally appeared on Frank Zappa's 1969 Hot Rats LP.
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Napoleon Murphy Brock, revision 1372778625 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Planetzappa interview
- 2.Ulrich, Charles. The Big Note. New Star Books. 525. 2018. 978-1-55420-146-4.
- 3.Project/Object Lessons Zappa Veterans Keep Rock Iconoclast's Music Alive. Albany Times Union (Albany, NY). October 24, 2002.
- 4.Napoleon Murphy Brock recalls Zappa on 27-May-2007. Archive.org.
- 5.Grammy.com. 51st Grammy Awards winners.
References
Citations
References
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authority file
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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