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Post by gatheringking on Aug 13, 2009 11:18:52 GMT -5
Another music legend passes away.
Les Paul, the guitarist and inventor who changed the course of music with the electric guitar and multitrack recording and had a string of hits, many with wife Mary Ford, died on Thursday. He was 94.
According to Gibson Guitar, Paul died of complications from pneumonia at White Plains Hospital. His family and friends were by his side.
He had been hospitalized in February 2006 when he learned he won two Grammys for an album he released after his 90th birthday, "Les Paul & Friends: American Made, World Played."
"I feel like a condemned building with a new flagpole on it," he joked.
As an inventor, Paul helped bring about the rise of rock 'n' roll and multitrack recording, which enables artists to record different instruments at different times, sing harmony with themselves, and then carefully balance the "tracks" in the finished recording.
With Ford, his wife from 1949 to 1962, he earned 36 gold records and 11 No. 1 pop hits, including "Vaya Con Dios," "How High the Moon," "Nola" and "Lover." Many of their songs used overdubbing techniques that Paul the inventor had helped develop.
The use of electric guitar gained popularity in the mid-to-late 1940s, and then exploded with the advent of rock the 1950s.
"Suddenly, it was recognized that power was a very important part of music," Paul once said. "To have the dynamics, to have the way of expressing yourself beyond the normal limits of an unamplified instrument, was incredible. Today a guy wouldn't think of singing a song on a stage without a microphone and a sound system."
A tinkerer and musician since childhood, he experimented with guitar amplification for years before coming up in 1941 with what he called "The Log," a four-by-four piece of wood strung with steel strings.
"I went into a nightclub and played it. Of course, everybody had me labeled as a nut." He later put the wooden wings onto the body to give it a tradition guitar shape.
In 1952, Gibson Guitars began production on the Les Paul guitar.
Pete Townsend of The Who, Steve Howe of Yes, jazz great Al DiMeola and Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page all made the Gibson Les Paul their trademark six-string.
Over the years, the Les Paul series has become one of the most widely used guitars in the music industry. In 2005, Christie's auction house sold a 1955 Gibson Les Paul for $45,600.
REST IN PEACE
Last Edit: Aug 13, 2009 11:29:13 GMT -5 by gatheringking - Back to Top
Post by strumntheguitar on Aug 13, 2009 12:01:09 GMT -5
A truly monumental figure in the music industry. It's not too often a man comes along with one giant invention that forever changes the business, but it's even more profound when someone like Les Paul introduces two of the greatest inventions in music history with the electric guitar and multitrack recording. A terrible loss, indeed
"I had to build it, make it and perfect it"
"If you only have two fingers, you have to think, how will you play that chord?"
"I learned a long time ago that one note can go a long way if it's the right one, and it will probably whip the guy with 20 notes."
Post by lordrockinhood on Aug 13, 2009 12:13:54 GMT -5
He's been playing 2 shows a week, 4 blocks from here, every Monday night, right up until recently when he began to feel ill... I was hoping to go to see him sometime soon
Post by lordrockinhood on Aug 14, 2009 10:09:59 GMT -5
Aw, I just heard on the radio that Steve Miller is filling in for Les at this Monday's Iridium gig, because Les was his godfather and gave him his first guitar
Post by strumntheguitar on Aug 14, 2009 10:20:20 GMT -5
I had no idea Les Paul was Steve Miller's godfather, that's pretty neat
I mentioned this is the Phish thread (err... one of them...) but during last night's show they busted out How High the Moon. A very classy move by them, I'd say. It actually gave me some goosebumps when I saw they were playing it. I really hope someone recorded it and will put it on youtube, I'd love to see it