Les Paul
Les Paul, American inventor and musician, died recently aged 94.
A very fine guitarist in the jazz and rock fields, he also played harmonica as a young man and invented the harmonica harness to go round his neck so that he could play both simultaneously. This was the harness that Bob Dylan famously used many years later.
He was the inventor of the solid body guitar that bears his name, having previously experimented with amplification of conventional guitars.
And he invented multi-track recording, particularly with his wife, the singer Mary Ford. Among their very well known hit records were "Vaya Con Dios", "The World is Waiting for the Sunrise" and "How High the Moon".
His techniques influenced other successful producers from Phil Spector to Mike Oldfield.
He was still performing well into his nineties.
Les Paul was without a doubt one of the most influential figures in twentieth century popular music.
Posted by colin on Saturday 22nd August, 2009 at 5:16pm