Elliot Ingber

{{Infobox person

| name = Elliot Ingber

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| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth_date|1941|08|24}}

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| death_date = {{death date and age|2025|01|21|1941|08|24}}

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| other_names = Winged Eel Fingerling

| occupation = Guitarist

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| known_for = The Gamblers
Fraternity of Man
The Magic Band

| notable_works =

}}

Elliot Ingber (August 24, 1941 – January 21, 2025) was an American guitarist, best known as a member of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention (1965-66), founder of the Fraternity of Man (1968-69), and then a member of Captain Beefheart's Magic Band in 1972-73.

Biography

Ingber grew up in Los Angeles, where he attended Fairfax High School alongside such musicians and later music business figures as Phil Spector, Lou Adler, Bruce Johnston and Sandy Nelson. He played guitar in local bands including Kip Tyler and the Flips, and The Gamblers.[http://culturecatch.com/node/4411 Gary Lucas, "In Memoriam Elliot Ingber", CultureCatch, January 31, 2025]. Retrieved February 28, 2025

In 1966, he joined Frank Zappa's band the Mothers of Invention and appeared on their debut album Freak Out!.{{cite web |url= http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/zappa_frank/artist.jhtml|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071217175912/http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/zappa_frank/artist.jhtml|url-status= dead|archive-date= December 17, 2007|title= Frank Zappa |publisher= MTV|access-date=7 April 2011}} He was fired from the band by Zappa following an incident onstage (according to drummer Jimmy Carl Black) when he tripped on LSD and was unaware that his amplifier was not switched on. After that he co-founded Fraternity of Man, which released two albums. With singer Lawrence "Stash" Wagner, Ingber wrote the track "Don't Bogart Me", later used (as "Don't Bogart That Joint") on the soundtrack of Easy Rider.

He then joined Captain Beefheart's Magic Band under the stage name Winged Eel Fingerling, given to him by Beefheart. In the sleeve notes to The Spotlight Kid (1972), Beefheart likens Ingber to "a chrome black eyebrow / rolled out real long" and also "a paper brow magnifying glass / fried brown, edge scorched, yoked / like a squeak from a speaker / behind forehead of the time."Captain Beefheart, The Spotlight Kid, ©1972 Warner Bros. Records Inc. In 1995, Ingber reformed Fraternity of Man with Lawrence "Stash" Wagner, the original vocalist and co-author of "Don't Bogart that Joint", to record and release a third album released under the Malibu Records label.

Ingber later abandoned music and worked as a postman in Los Angeles. He died on January 21, 2025, at the age of 83.{{cite web |title=R.I.P. Elliot Ingber |url=http://www.vivavincent.de |website=Viva Vincent |access-date=1 February 2025}}