If you're a guitar fan, you'll be saddened to hear about the following news.
Four time Hall of Famer, pioneer of the shift from acoustic to electric guitar and inventor of multitrack recording, Les Paul, a virtuoso guitarist who shaped the sound of rock 'n' roll, has died in New York state.
Gibson Guitar company's statement called Paul "one of the foremost influences on 20th century sound and the Father of the Electric Guitar."
Reading through his bio, Les Paul was born Lester William Polsfuss in Waukesha, Wisconsin on June 9, 1915. Paul was a child guitar prodigy who dropped out of school at 17 to play with Sunny Joe Wolverton's Radio Band. He played jazz and hillbilly picking, made his first recordings in 1936, and in 1938 moved to New York to star on national radio. By his mid-30s, Paul was one of the country's most sought-after guitarists in a career that saw him play alongside greats like Nat King Cole and Louis Armstrong.
Combining jazz, western swing and hillbilly sounds, he formed the Les Paul Trio, a regular guest on Bing Crosby's hit radio show. His first number one record, 'It's Been A Long, Long Time', topped a million sales.
His biggest achievements, though, were in the technical realm, where he helped pioneer solid-bodied electric guitars and multitrack recording, a technique allowing groups to record different parts at different times, then mix them together. In honour of this maestro, Gibson Guitars began making the Les Paul model in 1952 and the guitar soon became a rock music standard. Some of the more notable Les Paul guitar users include Clapton, Page, Beck, McCartney, Townshend, Zappa, The Edge, Gilmour, Hetfield and Slash.
Les Paul also held the unusual honour of being the only person to be inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, the National Inventors Hall of Fame, and the National Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
He was 94.
www.gibson.com
Four time Hall of Famer, pioneer of the shift from acoustic to electric guitar and inventor of multitrack recording, Les Paul, a virtuoso guitarist who shaped the sound of rock 'n' roll, has died in New York state.
Gibson Guitar company's statement called Paul "one of the foremost influences on 20th century sound and the Father of the Electric Guitar."
Reading through his bio, Les Paul was born Lester William Polsfuss in Waukesha, Wisconsin on June 9, 1915. Paul was a child guitar prodigy who dropped out of school at 17 to play with Sunny Joe Wolverton's Radio Band. He played jazz and hillbilly picking, made his first recordings in 1936, and in 1938 moved to New York to star on national radio. By his mid-30s, Paul was one of the country's most sought-after guitarists in a career that saw him play alongside greats like Nat King Cole and Louis Armstrong.
Combining jazz, western swing and hillbilly sounds, he formed the Les Paul Trio, a regular guest on Bing Crosby's hit radio show. His first number one record, 'It's Been A Long, Long Time', topped a million sales.
His biggest achievements, though, were in the technical realm, where he helped pioneer solid-bodied electric guitars and multitrack recording, a technique allowing groups to record different parts at different times, then mix them together. In honour of this maestro, Gibson Guitars began making the Les Paul model in 1952 and the guitar soon became a rock music standard. Some of the more notable Les Paul guitar users include Clapton, Page, Beck, McCartney, Townshend, Zappa, The Edge, Gilmour, Hetfield and Slash.
Les Paul also held the unusual honour of being the only person to be inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, the National Inventors Hall of Fame, and the National Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
He was 94.
www.gibson.com
No comments:
Post a Comment