Adrian Belew

It wasn't until the 1970s that Belew began going with Adrian as his first name. His birth name was Robert Steven Belew.

During an interview with The New York Optimist, Belew offered fond thoughts of his former band leader, Frank Zappa. "Musically speaking, he took me under his wing and he was very generous to me. He was a great teacher and motivator. He told me a lot of stories which generally were funny stories, but they had lessons to be learned in them."

Belew served as Talking Heads touring guitarist for a spell. There were rumors that he would replace David Byrne in the band, but Belew took up Robert Fripp's invitation to join forces, which eventually led to a new version of King Crimson.