Henry Vestine

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Henry "The Sunflower" Vestine (December 25, 1944-October 20, 1997) was an American guitarist.

He was hired to play with The Mothers of Invention in the mid-1960s, but later left. Vestine's split with the Mothers has been said by the previous members to have been due to the music becoming "progressively stranger" possibly due to the experimental nature of bandleader Frank Zappa's compositions, and the gradual deviation of The Mothers from simple blues-based music. Leaving the Mothers gave Vestine the freedom as a blues guitarist which he strived for.

He joined Canned Heat as guitarist when the group formed in 1965. During 1969-70 he was replaced by Harvey Mandel. He played in 1967 at the Monterey Pop Festival but did not, as is sometimes assumed, play at Woodstock, as had already been replaced by Mandel at this point.

Following the death of Canned Heat Falsetto Style vocalist/harmonicist/slide guitarist Alan Wilson, in 1970, Canned Heat fired newer members of the band in favor the original members. Thus, around 1971, Vestine joined Canned Heat once more. In his later life, he played with The Vipers in their 1990s reunion tours.