Les Paul RIP

Welease

Just got news he passed away at 94 due to complications from pneumonia. RIP.

More details...

LUKE SHERIDAN

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — The Associated Press
Last updated on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009 12:30PM EDT


.Les Paul, the guitarist and inventor who changed the course of music with the electric guitar and multi-track 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 multi-track 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.

“I could take my Mary and make her three, six, nine, 12, as many voices as I wished,” he recalled. “This is quite an asset.” The overdubbing technique was highly influential on later recording artists such as the Carpenters.

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 labelled 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.

Standard Toaster

RIP
94 is a fine age

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8200385.stm

Rock guitar pioneer Les Paul dies



Les Paul, whose pioneering electric guitars were used by a legion of rock stars, has died at the age of 94.
Mr Paul died from complications of pneumonia in New York, according to Gibson, the firm that sold his guitars.
He is credited with inventing the solid-body electric guitar, which went on sale in 1952 and contributed to the birth of rock 'n' roll.
He also developed other influential recording innovations such as multi-track recording and overdubbing.
And he was credited with inventing the eight-track tape recorder.
Henry Juszkiewicz, chairman of Gibson Guitar, said: "His influence extends around the globe and across every boundary."
Gibson president Dave Berryman said: "As the 'father of the electric guitar', he was not only one of the world's greatest innovators but a legend who created, inspired and contributed to the success of musicians around the world."

mike65

Just saw it breaking....94. So he sure beat that Leo Fender fella!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foXSXOAfB4U

Dmullar

RIP.

dazberry

I was talking to my 'ol lad a couple of days ago and he was saying how he can't "belt out" the songs as he used to (it was his 68th birthday), and I said to him - hey look, Les Paul is still at it

RIP LP.

D.

feylya

Just read this. Very sad day. Passing of a legend! Rip Les

-=al=-

he was still at it up to a few weeks ago!

bring on the reissue and sig models!

Dord

Holy crap!

R.I.P. to a true innovator!

He lived a long and eventful life... sure isn't that what any of us wishes for.
I think I'm gonna go play my Les Paul now....

Dord

Just saw this posted on another forum... very funny.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8O5wZAd2z4

-=al=-

they should re release that add


looks kinda old, but good time too

Quattroste

RIP The Legend and who appeared to be a nice guy to boot.

rgjmce

R.I.P.

kwalshe

When you get up there Les don't be buggin' Hendrix 'cause he was a strat man. Rest in Peace

feylya

I recall a story a friend told me about either himself or someone he knew. Either way, this person was in New York a few years back and they went to the club where Les Paul played and somehow they got talking to him. Anyway, this person asked Les for a plectrum so he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pick. A few minutes later, Les had to go on stage and realised that he had given his only pick to this person (it was a large pick cos he suffered hugely from arthritis).

Short story but kinda apt at the moment.

ArthurGuinness

a true legend forget slash and page they owe it all to les RIP. now just wait for all the Gibson over-priced comeveritive les pauls.

brendansmith

RIP

Blazer

RIP...hope you're having a great session wherever you are

Alanstrainor

RIP
What a legend.

Quillo

Icon..
RIP LP

Dord

If they did do a commemerative model then it has to be a Les Paul Recording, which was Les' favourite model. His personal guitars had his own custom designed & wound pickups.

A legend, RIP Les Paul:(

Gandorf

Saw LP and his trio a while back in the Iridium in NY - A great showman, and his bass player is cute as well :-)
End of an era....

mike65

Les Paul - Chasing Sound
The life story of the late jazz guitarist, father of the solid-body electric guitar and inventor of multi-track recording. This programme narrates his rags-to-riches life story, set to a soundtrack of his greatest hits, from How High the Moon to Put a Ring on My Finger, as well as interviews with BB King, Jeff Beck, Tony Bennett and Phil Ramone
Category General Music/Ballet/Dance
Director John Paulson
Producer James Arntz
BBC4 10:00pm-11:30pm (1 hour 30 minutes) Tue 1 Sep

Dord

Ah carp... I don't have BBC4.