Les Paul 1915-2009

Leslie Cheung over 15 years ago

Les Paul, the father of electric guitar, has died at a New York hospital on Thursday (August 13), at the age of 94. He died of of complications from pneumonia.

He played harmonica and banjo in his early musical career, and later turned to guitar. However, he was not satisfied with acoustic guitar which were sold in the 1930s and in 1939, he invented "The Log" - a piece of 4" x 4" wood with a bridge, neck, pickup and strings attached. He later modified the sharp to make it look like traditional guitars. In 1952, Gibson Guitar began to produce Les Paul guitar models, which have become most popular guitar model to date.

Besides inventing the electric guitar, which gives rock'n'roll foundation for Elvis, the Beatles and many more to come, he also helped developed the technology of overdubbing and multi-track recording in the 1950s.

Musically, with his wife Mary Ford on vocal, the pair scored a string of hits in the late 1940s and early 1950s, including "How High The Moon", "Bye Bye Blues", "The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise" and "Vaya Con Dios". In 1978, Les Paul and Mary Ford were inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame.