Les Paul: A Legend and Legacy
A humble tribute to a man…..
and his guitar….
Les Paul was much more than a legend. His talent and skill plus other contributions to music including the prolific Gibson Les Paul series of guitars and multi-tracking techniques in audio recording are for the record books. His legacy goes much further. Les Paul, thanks for everything.
A bit of background for the uninitiated is presented below…..
Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com
13 August 2009 |
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| Les Paul warms up with his quartet before a performance at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York City |
Legendary inventor, guitar player and recording artist Les Paul has died from complications from pneumonia. He was 94 years old.
Paul revolutionized the music scene with his solid-body electric guitar that he first built in the 1940s in his quest for a guitar with amplified sound. In 1952, Gibson Guitar company began production of the Les Paul guitar.
In an interview with Voice of America in 2007, Paul said he did not realize he was being a pioneer at the time, but did know that the “particular thing” he was looking for was not available. He marveled at how there were so many electric guitars in 2007- versus when there was only the one he invented. He noted how the guitar is the number one instrument in the world, but that when he was a child, it was the piano.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame says it is “safe to say that rock and roll as we know it would not exist without his invention.” The guitar bearing his name has been used by performers such as Eric Clapton, Eddie Van Halen and Jimmy Page. The Gibson Les Paul continues to be a top seller and preferred instrument of many musicians.
Paul was born Lester William Polfus in 1915 in the small town of Waukesha in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. He also was a pioneer in sound recording, developing techniques such as multi-track recording, echo delay and overdubbing.
He and his wife at the time, Mary Ford, were a popular performing duo with many hit songs, including Vaya Con Dios and How High the Moon.
Paul, a Grammy award-winning artist, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Recognized for a lifetime of achievements, Paul was honored with a 2007 National Medal of the Arts at a Washington DC ceremony hosted by then- U.S. President George W. Bush.