Art Tripp

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Art Tripp, born Arthur Dyer Tripp III on September 10, 1944, in Athens, Ohio, grew up in Pittsburgh and became a versatile percussionist and drummer. He studied percussion at the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music and the Manhattan School of Music, and performed with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra as a young musician. Through connections in the music world, he joined Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention in the mid-1960s, recording several albums and touring the United States and Europe.

In the early 1970s he joined Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, recording and touring with them for several years. He later worked on other projects, including Mallard. Frustrated with the music scene, Tripp left the industry for a time and returned to Pittsburgh to work in his family’s insurance business, then moved back to Los Angeles to pursue studio work. Eventually he left music altogether and trained as a chiropractor, earning his Doctor of Chiropractic degree in the early 1980s. He practiced in Gulfport, Mississippi, as of 2024.